A Day at Thursley Common

18th May 2022 

After a wonderful morning with Colin the Cuckoo, time for a wander around the rest of the site to try and find some of the other specialities. I had expected to see a few Hobbys feeding on the newly emerged dragonflies but only saw two and they were sky-high.

Stonechats are fairly common although not all areas have them as a breeding species, but the habitat at Thursley is ideal for them and it took me a while to get used to their song which I don't normally hear.

Also happy to have their photograph taken.

I am not sure whether I heard a Sky Lark but definitely heard a number of Wood Larks and at one spot came across a group of recently fledged youngsters as can be seen by their fluffy appearance. Posed here better than they do in The Brecks.

And one of the site specialities which we don't have as a breeding species in Hertfordshire is the Redstart. There are quite a few pairs at Thursley and the males are particularly stunning. Here is one taking some of Colin's mealworms to its young.

And here collecting some more natural food.

The female was also quite busy bringing food to the nest.

But my main target today was a bird which although I have seen a few times I have never managed to photograph well, the Dartford Warbler. Dartfords breed in reasonable numbers at Thursley so not so difficult to find, but a lot more difficult to encourage them to pose for the camera.

This bird disappeared into the Gorse bush and re-emerged with a ball of fluff attached to its bill, although didn't seem to be bothered by it.

Well reasonably happy with that selection and once again Thursley Common has come up trumps. What a fantastic site.