Dartfords 19th March 2026

Thursday and with the dawn came the promise of another Spring day of mild temperatures and sunshine. Last night I had mulled over how to take full advantage of this week of benign weather and decided to head for Greenham Common in the neighbouring county of Berkshire.

The incentive was to encounter the Dartford Warblers that have replaced the bombers, live there year round and now should be busy setting up territories for the upcoming breeding season.

It all seemed so simple and straightforward.

I set off early from my home, driving south for an hour on a chilly early morning in order to get to the Common at 7am which would grant me a couple of hours before the inevitable dog walkers arrived at around 9am. I have a theory that many of the dog walkers, being women, turn up at this hour presumably after having seen husbands or partners off to work and the kids off to school. It really is quite noticeable how many fit this profile..

I was in fact a minute early getting to the Common and had to wait for a warden to unlock the barrier to the car park at 7am sharp but once in I parked up and with camera and bins headed off into a virtually deserted reserve. My primary focus when visiting Greenham Common is on the former main runway, its 1.9 miles now reclaimed by nature and home to a profusion of fauna and flora and at this time of year a blaze of golden yellow flowering gorse as far as the eye can see.

Now one would not unreasonably expect Greenham Common with such a plethora of suitable habitat to hold many Dartford Warblers and it may well do but locating them for some reason, possibly unique to Greenham, is far from easy while other places such as Thursley Common in Surrey and The New Forest in Hampshire prove much easier places to encounter them.

Despite regular visits, only once before have I seen Dartford Warblers well on Greenham Common and that was through sheer luck and only for a few minutes see here

I wandered the considerable length of the runway but heard not a note of its scratchy little warble or sight of its tiny form atop a spray of yellow gorse. Why are they so silent and shy at this time of year when all other birds are singing for all they are worth?

Woodlarks and stonechats were not a problem, making themselves very obvious by singing from exposed perches or in the case of the Woodlarks also flying on high, in circles, broadcasting their beautiful song from the sky. Of the Dartfords there was nothing until I caught the briefest of glimpses of one perched in the bare twigs of a birch sapling standing proud amongst the gorse.It remained in the birch for a few seconds and then was scared off by a Meadow Pipit and dived back into the gorse.

That was the sum of it.

Another factor that inhibits any searching for the Dartfords is that much of the Common is quite rightly out of bounds from the beginning of March to the end of July to allow ground nesting birds to have a chance of breeding successfully, so pursuit of any Dartfords, should you see one in the gorse is usually not possible. It's just a shame that some dog walkers do not care to take much notice of the signs asking for restraint or make any attempt to control their dogs.

After an hour of aimlessly walking back and fore hoping to catch a brief snatch of song but hearing absolutely nothing I was in mild despair and considering leaving. The runway area with its main gravel track down the centre is very popular with the public especially dog walkers and maybe the Dartfords, skulking and shy by nature are deterred from making themselves obvious or maybe that is just the way Dartfords are, preferring a brief sortie to the top of a gorse bush or twiggy sapling, to sing for a minute and then retreat into the re-assurance of the dense gorse. They really are an enigma. Who knows why.. What is irrefutable in my experience, is that on Greenham Common they are extraordinarily difficult to find let along photograph.

I persisted with my searching but I was losing motivation fast as it looked increasingly unlikely I would be successful. I returned to the 'turning circle', a wide circular area of tarmac where in former times the planes would stop at the head of the runway before takeoff, adjacent to the control tower nearby which is now an exhibition centre and cafe manned by volunteers

The Common also runs for a long way in the opposite direction to the turning circle with a large area of gorse close by which is accessible and this was my last slim chance of finding a Dartford. I had found one here on my last visit a few years ago, again after a long, dis-spiriting search, so maybe lightening would strike twice.

There was only one way to find out.

For thirty minutes I saw or heard nothing.Twittering Linnets were busy reconnoitering the gorse and a Woodlark's mellifluous notes came from afar. I slipped down into a sun warmed alley of golden, pepper scented gorse and then I heard the unmistakeable song of a Dartford Warbler close by. It repeated its short song, over and over but where was it? Finally I saw it as it moved up to the top of a bare twig. I moved closer and it continued to sing. An exquisite tension took hold of me. After all the searching here  was a Dartford but would it remain as I crept closer. Please do not fly away. Please.

To my immense relief it remained where it was and eventually flew but only to perch atop a nearby explosion of yellow gorse flowers. 

The classic pose that embodies the very essence of the bird. 

Perfection.

It never remained in one place for long but moved around the gorse giving occasional bursts of song and mainly perching in the open as if to survey its surroundings.

It was briefly joined by a female, presumably its mate but she soon flew a distance away to another area of gorse while he remained and slipped down into a sheltered sunny alcove of gorse twigs to idle and commence a spell of feather maintenance, his brown upperparts and dull reddish brown underparts rendering him almost as one with the spiky tangles of dead gorse and convoluted branches. 

,

He flew to another fist of gorse flowers. perching there to give a brief snatch of song and then was gone.

It was over.

I never saw or heard him again despite waiting in vain for twenty minutes or more. Nor did  I see any other Dartford Warblers despite searching other areas of the Common for another half an hour.

It seems so strange that they sing and show so intermittently on Greenham Common or maybe I am just unlucky.