I enjoy sharing my wildlife knowledge with other people and I’m a strong believer that it is an important role in helping others to gain a better understanding of special places like Sherwood Forest.
The BBC’s Autumnwatch is always popular so it was good to have a walk at Sherwood Forest National Nature Reserve on Saturday 2nd November after the programme had been on in the week. The walk was fully booked and it was great families with children attended. Paul Cook, Nottinghamshire County Council’s Assistant Site Manager, and Carl Stirland, Shadow Ranger, joined me and my 11 year old daughter, Jessica, on the walk.
We had a stroll around the heart of the National Nature Reserve and saw birds typical of the Forest – nuthatches, jackdaws, blackbirds, robins, chaffinches, great and blue tits. Sherwood Forest has wonderful autumnal colours – from the yellows of birch leaves to oranges and browns and shades of green. Splashes of brighter colour come from berries and we all admired the bright red of fly agaric fungus.
Winter migrants are starting to arrive in numbers, including species we often think of as resident but winter here in greater numbers, such as woodpigeons and goldcrests. Small numbers of redwings were flying over giving their diagnostic high-pitched ‘seep’ call and goldcrests were very vocal in the canopy of oak trees but too shy to show themselves.
A highlight of the walk was saved until last. Approaching the visitor centre there was a small flock of chaffinches feeding on rowan berries and with them were two bramblings – a winter visitor and cousin of the chaffinch. They performed well as they fed on the bright red berries, showing off their orange wing patch, a very fashionable autumnal colour, and their white rumps when they flew off to a nearby tree.
An enjoyable walk and great to round it off by having an all day breakfast in the Forest Table restaurant.
There are further winter bird walks at Rufford Abbey Country Park and the next one is a Hawfinch Ramble on Saturday 18th January 2014.
Also, check out Nottinghamshire County Council’s Sherwood Forest webpage for the bird records we provide and do let us know if you see anything interesting.
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