DISCOVERING ‘THE DELL’.

7^th January 2017.

 The main reason for visiting Fishponds today was to complete yet another survey for the SDBWS Winter Bird Count. I cannot believe that I am already half way through the season!

 

Getting up nice and early, I was pleased to see that the really cold and frosty weather had been replaced by a relatively warmer, if overcast and grey, day. It had been raining overnight but had now stopped and it was quite pleasant outside. The first thing that I noticed was the traffic noise; being a Saturday morning traffic was quite heavy on the Ewell Road and I was to be able to hear this (and from other adjacent roads) clearly throughout the morning.





Dandelions and other plants were in flower.

Photo: Reg Norman

 

 

The North Green and its’ boundary were strangely quiet with just the one Robin to be seen or heard. This was not to last as there was a sudden influx of Ring Necked Parakeets. They even drowned out the noise of the traffic and seemed hell bent on waking all the residents of the surrounding blocks of flats!

 Moving along to the Quarry and Small Pond area I was greeted by a small mixed flock of Tits, a single Wren and two Goldfinches who appeared to be playing a game of ‘tag’.  A few Woodpigeons were high in the trees but there was no sign of any of the Thrush species. I got a bit of a shock here as a young lady dogwalker had come up behind me; she got quite a shock herself as she hadn’t seen me until I had moved. It turned out that she had a visual impairment and my ‘cammo’ had obviously rendered me almost invisible!

I continued along the Brunswick Lodge Boundary towards the Long Pond as I had seen some Mallard walking across the grass towards the cover by the pond. As I approached, a large dog ran into this cover and the ducks flew out in all directions; the owners seemed to find this immensely funny.

 

I found out by chance that I was able to follow the Long Pond all the way round. I had always thought that it finished at the park boundary found that the was in fact a little path that I could follow. This would save me some time in future as I have always retraced my steps, back by the ‘Redwoods’, crossing the pond via one of the, dry, waterfalls.

 



From the North end of Long Pond.

Photo: Reg Norman

 

There was a solitary Blackbird in the trees by Cottage Corner and nothing on the feeders there. So I moved up Dell Hill. I was glad to note that there was quite a large mixed flock of Tits moving around area; they were pleasantly vocal and were joined by a small group of three Robins who rolled along with them.

The feeders had obviously been replenished recently although the only customer was a, rather fat, squirrel! This may be because there was now an almost constant stream of unhealthy people jogging past.

I had thought that it would be somewhat quieter up in this area (being furthest from the traffic) but I could now hear what appeared to be a fleet of dustbin lorries in the surrounding streets. I will try to stick to Sunday mornings in future!

 

In the last blog I said that I would find out where the road went from Nuthatch Corner; nothing surprising, it was, of course, the continuing service road (which I will call Fishponds Hill at this point) that runs through the park to Fishponds House! The real discovery was to come at the bottom of the hill. What I had previously taken to be a tiny garden was in fact quite a large area; a cultivated Dell!

 

Terraces in the Dell.

Photo: Reg Norman



 

This area must be quite impressive when in bloom; the whole area is terraced and there is evidence of some quite good plants. It forms a naturally windproof area and there were quite a few small birds taking advantage of this.

 

I walked back up the hill to Nuthatch Corner and on to the West Wood. It was very quiet here and apart from a few Robins being heard nothing seemed to be about. I followed the path round to the Big Pond which was covered to about fifty per cent with ice. The usual Mallard and Moorhens were here but there was no sign of the Canada Geese.

Fishponds House from the Big Pond.

Photo: Reg Norman

 

Both North and South Greens and their boundaries were also quite empty of birds; I believe that this was due to the amount of noise and the, now, very evident dogwalkers!

 

BIRDS SEEN: Robin, Ring Necked Parakeet, Jackdaw, Herring Gull, Black Headed Gull, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Woodpigeon, Goldfinch, Wren, Blue Tit, Moorhen, Great Tit, Blackbird, Long Tailed Tit, Mallard, Mistle Thrush, Collared Dove, Song Thrush, Dunnock, Nuthatch, Starling, Feral Pigeon.