I Went to the Woods 18th August 2025

Monday and after a restless night with sleep evading me I left the house early in a grey and still dawn and headed south towards where Oxfordshire meets the adjoining county of Berkshire.

Various aspects in my life are troubling me at the moment and solace if indeed that was to be found was for me at the Warburg Reserve near Bix, another of BBOWT's (Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust) wonderful reserves, in this case one that lies deep in a wooded valley and is accessed by a tortuous road, the kind of road that goes on for so long into apparently nowhere you wonder if you have taken the wrong direction.

I have been here before but usually to see  rare orchids in early summer or search out fungi in autumn for which the reserve is well known. However today I had another plan and that was to sit in the tiny bird hide that is hidden away in the trees at the very bottom of the valley.

Arriving in the car park at shortly after 7am, all was calm personified. Here in the sheltered valley any wind was absent. The tranquil quiet as I walked amongst the silent trees put me at ease but I still harboured a mild anxiety about the hide and its limited capacity.Would it, like yesterday be full of people? 

Normally the hide is hardly occupied. maybe the passing curious walker or casual visitor to the reserve will look in  but lately the presence of Hawfinches has been noted and this has inevitably attracted more people than usual to come and try to see this most elusive of finches. The hide itself can accommodate four people at a squeeze, who can then peer out through three viewing slats at a shallow, much vegetated pond in front of the hide where the birds  reassured by the security provided by the trees that surround the pond and hide come to drink and bathe, utilising branches fallen or strategically placed in the water.

The view from the hide

The hide's viewing slats are almost at ground level and give a fabulous view of birds coming to the water, a scarce resource that is especially desirable and attractive to wildlife in this year of drought. As a consequence there is an almost continuous presence of many species of woodland birds.

My foreboding about the hide proved groundless as there was no one inside its stygian depths.Yesterday I was told that it was standing room only but that was a sunny Sunday whereas today it was a grey Monday.

Opening the viewing slats brought some light into the dark interior and I selected a chair and settled in a  corner away from the door and awaited whatever would come to refresh itself at the pond.

Obviously it would be nice to see a Hawfinch but there was a good variety of other bird species visiting. Their constant comings and goings plus a very entertaining Bank Vole ensured the time never passed slowly for, as always distracted by the natural world, my world slowly pieced itself back together and all was well.

Below are some of the avian visitors that came and went in what turned out to be an enjoyable marathon nine hours of contemplation, photography, idle chat and quiet reminiscences with the few other visitors that came and went from the hide throughout the day.

Bank Vole

Having intimated this blog is mainly about birds I could not possibly ignore mentioning the Bank Vole that entertained one and all with its high speed antics, literally feet and even at times inches from the hide's windows, feeding on seed put out for the birds. It was present for virtually the whole time I was there, its entire world existing in the debris of a few square metres of grass, fallen branches and leaves either scurrying through the grass or dashing out from under a rock to seize some seed and then retreating at high speed back under cover. Its actions and reactions were so incredibly fast it was difficult to follow it at times as any slight movement or sound would send it  scurrying at high speed for cover, in fear of its life which considering the amount of predators it has was entirely justified.

I grew rather fond of it over the time I was in the hide, well who wouldn't as they do look very cute.I can see Chris Packham rolling his eyes even as I admit to this but sometimes sentiment can live alongside objective science.

Male Bullfinch

Juvenile Bullfinch

Female Bullfinch

Bullfinches were regular visitors coming to drink and especially to bathe in the shallow water. After becoming familiar with the mainly brown and subdued colours of most of the other birds, the male  Bullfinch's shock of salmon pink underparts and contrasting shiny black cap shone like a beacon and when they arrived was always a cause of excitement with other occupants in the hide .They are shy birds but here they felt emboldened to lose that innate shyness and showed up fairly frequently. It was impossible to ascertain if they were the same individuals that came each time but I do not think so and over the day there must have been ten or so, a mixture of juveniles, females and males, visiting.

Juvenile Green Woodpecker

It was around mid morning when a large bird, no more than a shadow swooped low through the trees behind the pond and disappeared. A clue as to its identity came when, soon after a familiar maniacal cry came from the same trees. It was of course the call (yaffle) of a Green Woodpecker and shortly afterwards its powerful form swooped down to a low branch just above the pond. From its plumage of subdued green and grey, with charcoal grizzled face and mottled underparts I could see it was a juvenile.

They are large birds and the other smaller birds present scattered in alarm as the woodpecker dropped further onto a log where it remained stood upright and very much on the alert to any possible danger. Being on the ground is not natural to a woodpecker even one such as a Green Woodpecker which feeds on ants in short grass. For quite some time it stood unmoving with head raised, the epitomy of nervous volatility,its white eye enhancing the impression of an unpredictable alien presence

Satisfied all was well, it cautiously moved via laboured hops down to the water's edge and began to assuage its thirst. Filling its bill with water, it then tilted its head back and upright so its bill pointed skywards to allow the water to run down its gullet. For all the world it looked like a connoisseur savouring every last drop of some hugely expensive elixir and it remained thus, sipping and swallowing for a considerable amount of time before with a suddeness that brought a shock of surprise, it took off heavily and in a bounding flight that was both fast and low, fled back to the trees

Spotted Flycatcher

A pleasant surprise was to discover at least a half dozen Spotted Flycatchers coming to the pond throughout the day. They were mainly juveniles of various ages some having divested themselves of their early spottiness whilst others were still in their initial fledging plumage of buff spots and streaks.

Self effacing birds they kept very much to a low profile, only coming to the pond when it was less busy. As always when watching them now, I cannot but feel a great regret that this once common woodland bird has become so scarce its individual presence is something of note and to see half a dozen is now something to be remarked upon.

Still I enjoyed seeing them so close and in a less than usual circumstance and activity

Marsh Tit

Marsh Tits were present throughout my time in the hide, constantly coming and going.They are on the decline and since 2022 have been placed on the Red List as a UK Bird of Conservation Concern but here they were anything but and how many individual birds were involved is impossible to say. Different birds come at different times of the day so any number could be involved although always small..

A wooden post right outside the viewing window proved a favourite and a Marsh Tit would often perch there before descending to the seed spread out below

There were three visits from Hawfinches during my time in the hide, these birds being without doubt the stars of the show. They arrive in a whirrr of wings and without ceremony, dropping out of the trees above into the open and there is always that element of delightful surprise at their sudden appearance

One arrived just before 8am and remained for a minute or two drinking from the pond before flying back into the trees. Another arrived around 11am.Remarkably it perched on a long branch artificially placed for the birds to perch on and remained here for almost five minutes apparently quite content and doing very little apart from occasionally looking around. Finally it flew down to the water to drink but took flight when there was a general alarm amongst the other birds. Half an hour later it or another returned for a brief spell of drinking and once it had departed I saw no more of these celebrated Hawfinches.

More used to the briefest of views of what is a notoriously secretive bird it was the definite highlight of the day to see them so well and in one case for such an extended period in the open. Hawfinches just do not do this! It was only when watching the individual perched for so long and complacently on its branch that I realised just how big they are compared to other finches. Definitely the king of british finches.

I can recall mentioning to a fellow occupant of the hide it reminded me of a miniature parrot, big of bill and short of tail, as it perched in splendid isolation on its branch

There was of course a supporting cast and the pond was rarely devoid of birds. Here are some of the other species that graced the pond and its surrounds throughout the day

Garden Warbler

Female Blackcap

 Male Blackcap 

Goldcrest

Common Chiffchaff