Early Spring on the Local Patch

With the coronovirus having infected our shores, lockdown has meant that time outside has become a precious commodity. Forced to stay inside, that time of exercise we are allotted becomes something more, a breath of freedom.
Forced to go out within walking distance, I have come to know my local patch very well, visiting it every day. Along the many paths that criss cross the Patch I wander, in search of birds but at the same time just being out there and not at home.
The Patch has become one in my mind with something more than just bird watching, more than exercise, it has become an extension of my soul, a place of colour in a grey world.

ROBIN

Spring is beautiful this year, as with the turning of the equinox there has come sunny days.
What also comes with Spring is the start of British Summer Time which means its now light until half eight, such an amazing state of affairs after the short days of winter.
However this has also made spending time inside all that more frustrating, not being able to enjoy it. Sitting out in the garden wondering what to do is how I spend a lot of my days.

Pair of BLUE TITS

Its around the middle of March, when everything really turns on, like someone has flicked on a switch. At this time the birds all start singing as one like there is some kind of shared connection between the species. Waking up at dawn to hear their chorus is really a privilege. Its really amazing how an animal that could fit in the palm of your hand can produce something so loud and so complex. Bird song is one of the wonders of the animal kingdom, something we should never take for granted, because across a lot of places some are gradually falling silent, as one by one each member dies out.

YELLOWHAMMER

Birds are really singing on the Patch, every hedgerow and tree bursting with song, as they both establish their territory, and try to entice a mate. Populations of the true farmland birds are fairly stable with around 15 singing SKYLARKS, and around ten YELLOWHAMMERS, although  their numbers are small. The skylarks particularly are a most welcome accompaniment, as they rise into the air to proclaim their song throughout the countryside, they are enhanced by having no man made distractions to drown them out.
The Patch has around 35 species of birds breeding most years, most of them common, as there is nothing special about the landscape, it is just farmland, with few woods or wetlands. But its a good number because this is what you would expect from the general countryside away from the nature reserves.

One of the resident BUZZARDS in Suffolk Punch Field

The first CHIFFCHAFFS returned on 16/3, and after that  it seemed every available tree had a singing bird, with as many as 20 present, but a lot of birds were just brief visitors and soon moved on. BLACKCAPS were first heard in my garden, with a male on 3/4, just one day after Landguard, with a few scattered about on the Patch, there is less habitat available for them than for CHIFFCHAFFS. Chiffchaffs prefer anywhere there is a clump of trees, whilst blackcaps like large overgrown scrubby areas. Both species are bucking the normal trend and are actually increasing in number.

I have no idea what contraption this tractor is pulling

Spring is one of the two migration seasons, and although no real rarities were found, as inland migration can be rather uneventful,  a WOODCOCK on 1/4 was a good sighting, only my second for the Patch, flying over me in the Suffolk Punch Field.

The last vestiges of winter was a single REDWING on 31/3, which is about right considering how poor a winter it has been for them.

Looking from the Suffolk Punch Field to River Meadow

On 7/4 a LITTLE OWL was a surprise find. They used to nest on the Patch before the farmer cut down the tree they nested in, for no other reason than environmental vandalism. Just the one tree was cut, in a hedgerow, where there was no access issues. The birds departed the Patch thereafter and I thought that was the last I would see of this species.

However, in a little horse paddock, where the footpath turns off Old Norwich Road into the Patch, I encountered one staring right at me. As soon as it noticed me it flew off, but I saw it several times after that. This just shows that given time, given a population nearby, wildlife can return if allowed to. There is plenty of habitat for these birds, so there is no natural bar to their recolonisation.

A pair of HARES on Second Field

Its been a good Spring for BROWN HARES,with the odd individual moving through, however on 1/4, a very frisky pair were in Second Field, running and boxing with each other, giving me the hope they may settle here and breed.

A rare sighting - a hedgerow being planted rather than destroyed

The warm weather has been great for BUTTERFLIES, with many newly emerging in this period. Late March brought out SMALL TORTOISESHELL, PEACOCK and BRIMSTONE, whilst early April had LARGE WHITE, ORANGE TIP, SMALL WHITE and COMMA. These butterflies were all fairly common, around the neglected parts of the Patch, however they were only in single numbers. Way before my time, before the industrialisation of agriculture, butterflies were present in large clouds, with huge numbers of the common species present in most places. I feel its such a shame to have missed that, to have missed a time when nature was common in our countryside.

DAFFODILS in the churchyard

This is an ode to the local patch, that area of countryside within walking distance, that area that might not be good for birds, but is special and it feels like your own. I know the Patch so well now, I've seen the turning of the seasons, the ebb and flow of the birds that live in this area. Yes, it seldom has anything that surprises me, sometimes I walk round and don't see any birds, but it has this kind of soothing nature, a replenishing factor that few other places have. This is my entrance into nature and away from the modern world, and I am grateful.