17th May 2022: River Webburn, Ponsworthy

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 Another repeat from last year, exploring the incredibly scenic river Webburn at Ponsworthy. Fortunately the path was substantially drier than last year and the walk was quite magical. A scented sea of azure bluebells flowed across the open woodland floor as the river bubbled and flowed along its way and an abundance of birds sung lustily from the branches.

Beautiful Bluebells

River Webburn at Ponsworthy

Our key target bird here was the Dipper and it didn’t take long to spot one dashing upstream and out of sight. We continued cautiously on and Andy soon alerted us to a young bird, characteristically bobbing on a mossy rock in the middle of the river. It slowly hopped away, using the rocks as stepping stones, An adult soon appeared, it’s mouth stuffed full with insects, and looked somewhat bemused, possibly at the absence of its young offspring, before it too disappeared, perhaps alerted by a begging call. 

Juvenile Dipper

A magnificent male Yellow Wagtail in spectacular breeding plumage also caught the eye, and another Pied Flycatcher was located by a nest box on a stretch of boulder-strewn water on our hots brother’s farm.

In the afternoon we headed to Emsworthy Mire, where Cuckoos had been reported regularly in preceding weeks. The morning weather had been better than anticipated, so we were undeterred by a few drops of rain as we set off from the car park. What a mistake that was! We started well with a Wheatear bouncing along the grass, a new tick for Andy. Then the heavens opened and in no time we were utterly drenched - a boggy mire is not ideal terrain in such conditions and the phrase ‘waterproof boots’ turned out to be a complete fallacy. It was three days before they’d dried out enough for me to wear them again! We did spot a Cuckoo, but in such dire conditions we didn’t bother to hang around to enjoy it. 

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