The Ring Ouzels on Cleeve Hill 22nd April 2019

Moth called me during the week saying he had a mind to go and try to see some Ring Ouzels that were frequenting Cleeve Hill which lies not far from the Oxfordshire border in the neighbouring county of Gloucestershire

Cleeve Hill is part of Cleeve Common and is the highest point in the Cotswolds, reaching to 330m and giving a clear view west, overlooking Cheltenham, the River Severn and into Wales. The wide, rolling, open and airy expanses of the common stretch away into the distance and are a designated SSS1 and contain the remains of an Iron Age hill fort and a Neolithic long barrow. Part of the common has been home to a golf course since 1891.

We made our way up a tortuous, narrow road, its winding progress shrouded below grey trunked tall beech trees, their bright green foliage shivering in a strong breeze, and came to a small car park below some communication aerials. Leaving the car here we entered, via a gate, onto an open, windswept and sunny landscape, the land initially flat then sloping downwards in the middle distance into gentle gullies and expanses of open grassland with isolated bare trees and areas of vibrant green bushes and splashes of yellow gorse.

The Ring Ouzels currently here, depending on what report you read, numbered anything from two to eleven individuals and were to be found near an area called the 'heather enclosure' of which we were unsure where to find as I had never been here and Moth had only visited once, but just walking across the grassland from the gate we soon disturbed two dark looking thrushes that flew up and perched high and prominently in  the bare branches of a large and distant ash tree.

This was typical Ring Ouzel behaviour and it was no surprise to me that on training my binoculars on the two birds I could clearly see a prominent white crescent on one of the bird's chests. The other was less distinct and decidedly browner looking so we surmised they were a male and female Ring Ouzel. Thus within a few minutes of our arrival we had found our main quarry.

Trying to get closer to them posed a more tricky problem as Ring Ouzels are decidedly wary and generally do not allow a close approach. Even if you get reasonably near to them they will then unfailingly and frustratingly fly a considerable distance before pitching in another tree to warily watch you once again.

Only when they consider you distant enough not to be a threat will they descend to the ground to hunt for food in a very similar fashion to our more familiar Blackbird.

Nevertheless we pursued one particular male as well as we could but really we needed to adopt an alternative strategy and conceal ourselves to wait and hope it would descend to feed near where we were hidden but try as we might we still failed to get anywhere near. We also had the distinct disadvantage that today was a Saturday and very soon these currently deserted expanses would be welcoming other birders, dog walkers, joggers and ordinary folk out for a stroll. 

We wandered around and did our best to get decent views of the wary ouzels, locating them by their throaty chuckles of alarm which gave their presence away, hidden deep in the foliage of a hawthorn. We estimated that we had seen at least four, possibly half a dozen but they fly such distances and usually singly that it was difficult to be sure of our accuracy in estimating their number.

After some time, wearily walking up and down the steep slopes of the hill we found ourselves on a bank looking down and across a sunken track to another large grassed bank rising steeply on the other side. I could hear a Ring Ouzel chattering away in the bushes by the track and then saw it fly to the bank opposite and commence to feed with a rather truculent Blackbird.

Eventually, after some chivvying from the Blackbird, the two thrushes settled down and here was our chance to get a better photo and view of a Ring Ouzel. It was never what one could call near but just about near enough to get a decent look at it and being unaware of our presence it remained on the bankside for some time before flying off for no apparent reason.

Ring Ouzels are migratory spending their winter in North Africa usually at some elevation.I have seen them in flocks of up to fifteen in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco. They come north to breed in northern Britain and Scandinavia and every year they are to be found breaking their long journey by making landfall, descending unseen in the night, on traditionally higher areas of southern England such as Cleeve Hill or Linky Down in Oxfordshire. Here they can remain for a few days. before moving onwards and are always shy, concealing themselves in bushes for long periods, sitting silent and still. Many a birder, myself included have been fooled into thinking there are none around due to this habit but I have now learned to be patient and wait and often am rewarded as a hidden Ring Ouzel appears as if by magic from the density of a juniper or hawthorn bush.

To my mind they are slightly more streamlined than Blackbirds. Presumably because they are migratory they have slightly longer wings and slimmer bodies and the males are distinctive with a bold white crescent across their breast and an obvious pale panel on their closed wings formed by the paler edges to their wing coverts and secondary flight feathers.

Usually it is one or two that arrive first in early April on Cleeve Hill and elsewhere in southern Britain but gradually others join them until there can be double figures but then one night they leave and it is all over until next year.

After the Ring Ouzel flew off Moth saw a male Yellowhammer that was feeding on the bank we were stood on and we took the opportunity to stalk it and get some images of its lovely and startlingly yellow head and richly coloured, streaked brown upperparts.

Seen close, a male Yellowhammer is extremely handsome, some would say almost gaudy with its predominantly bright yellow head, breast and underparts shining in the early morning bright sunshine The rest of the bird is also  a pleasing combination of variable reddish browns liberally streaked darker which, merging with the ground, give the bright yellow head and breast a disembodied appearance which doubtless is confusing to a predator. This male was the first and as it turned out the only one of its kind to allow us to view it in the open as it busied itself fussing around amongst the violets, nibbling shoots and seeds from the ground.

We had heard males regularly, betraying their presence with their distinctive and monotonous chizz ... chizz ... chizz alarm call,  hidden in gorse and hawthorn bushes as we wandered about in pursuit of the ouzels, and despite their bright yellow head and breast they were surprisingly hard to see in the foliage. .

Yellowhammer-male

Other summer migrants were also here, setting up territories and singing to proclaim their patch and attract a mate. A Common Whitethroat was displaying energetically from some bare hawthorn sticks. Flinging his tiny body high and skyward in a wild jerky flight whilst singing his scratchy warble, irrepressible in an ecstacy of testosterone fuelled ardour. I regarded his tiny form and marvelled that such a small bird could travel from southern Africa to here. Would that I could let it know the joy it brought me.

Common Whitethroat - male

Even smaller Willow Warblers sang their wistful melodic cadence from nearby trees joined by an unseen Blackcap's rich warble, its notes coming pure, loud and clear from deep in some tall hawthorn bushes.

We wandered around in the hope of encountering more Ring Ouzels but it was not to be apart from one brief encounter where a male flew right over our heads but sadly did not land anywhere near.We thought we heard one chuckling on the other side of a hedge but on investigating found to our surprise it was a late departing Fieldfare.

A brief encounter with a singing male Common Redstart, inhabiting a group of beech trees on the way back to the car brought this pleasant morning to a close and found me feeling much better about life.

Such is the inspiration and solace that this time of year can bring.