A Wander on the Wildside: Silver DofE: Practise Expedition, Ashdown Forest; 19th-21st April 2019

As some regular readers to this blog may know, I quite enjoy going walking and hiking, even if not explicitly birding. Last year I completed my Bronze Duke of Edinburgh, where I spent 2 days and a night out in the North Downs of Surrey, using a map to walk around and then camp overnight. This year I began my Silver DofE, where I would spend 3 days and 2 nights out navigating around the wild countryside, and then camping overnight with friends. It got better - as we had to do a practise expedition first of all as well, I had 3 days of walking around the Ashdown Forest to look forward to!!!

Ashdown Forest

Ashdown Forest

Ashdown Forest

Ashdown Forest

Ashdown Forest

Ashdown Forest

Ashdown Forest

Ashdown Forest

Ashdown Forest

Ashdown Forest

Ashdown Forest

Ashdown Forest

So on the 19th April, the start of Easter Weekend, my school were ready in the Crowborough station Car Park, leaving at around 9am with our DofE assessor (who tried to convince me not to take my camera..!) The start of our walk was quiet as we mostly went through alleyways in the town itself, with the huge numbers of Chiffchaff and Blackcap already showing. Although I recorded the species seen in my birding notebook, I couldn't do anything but a prediction for these 2 species. I reckon I underestimated their numbers by a lot...

Barn Owl Nest Box?

m Redstart photographed by a friend...

Moon

Grass Snake

Marsh Tit

Siskin

Whitethroat

It was quiet for a long way through our first 2 hours of the journey, with plenty of Song Thrush heard on the route. A golf course was slightly better, with the first singing Willow Warbler of my year heard, while a few Swallows were also seen as was a Grey Wagtail along a small river. A few Garden Warblers were also noted. Eventually we reached the heaths of the Ashdown itself, where Chiffchaffs and Willow Warbler were in greater numbers, and I spotted 2 pairs of Stonechat within a few minutes in, while Linnets were seemingly everywhere. It took a little while of walking to spot the first Tree Pipit, singing away at the top of a tree. It was the best view I'd had of the species, which was pleasing.

Tree Pipit

spot the Tree Pipit

Walking onwards we encountered a further few pairs of Stonechat and another Tree Pipit, while my first Whitethroat of the year was also seen. We then approached a car park, where Willow Warblers were singing in good numbers, making it a pleasant start to the 3 days.

After lunch, where a few lizards were seen, our assessor decided to take us into a bog, meaning we all got ourselves horribly muddy, with a flushed Snipe the best to be found. A Hobby then nipped overhead (my first of the year and my ONLY since!) A few more Stonechat were seen around this point, while a friend photographed a Redstart while I tied my laces!!! I didn't see anymore Redstarts that day amusingly, although we came across a Woodlark with food (attending to a nest,) while I was gutted to miss an Adder that had my friends yelling behind me!

As we reached the final leg of our journey, we didn't see much else by way of new birds. However, I managed a further few Willow Warbler, Treecreepers, House Martins, Skylark etc before we reached campsite at around 6pm. A long day was fairly productive in the field, and I more or less enjoyed it! It was nice to end the day with a stunning sunset and a few Tawny Owls.

Woodlark

Following a terrible night where I couldn't sleep due to hayfever etc, we left our campsite at around 08:15. The first part of the day was quiet with barely a bird seen, bar Marsh Tits, a couple of Skylark and numerous Woodpeckers. At around 09:45 we reached our second checkpoint making very good progress, covering around 7km in an hour and a half. At this point it was great to listen to a couple of Whitethroats that had alighted on the wires in surrounding fields, but the highlight of the day was yet to come. As we began walking again a small shape crossed the path ahead of us, and I got a nice view of my first ever Grass Snake.

We then had a long, gruelling path until lunch at a village, which was largely uphill and in less scenic areas. However, after lunch we made our way towards our next stop at Weir Wood Reservoir where I hoped to have a look for some decent birds.

At the reservoir, 2 pairs of Common Terns were on the rafts from the main centre area, as were a few Oystercatchers. There were a fair few Great Crested Grebes around as well, while the reeds had fewer Reed and Sedge Warblers than anticipated.

The rest of the day was tedious at times, with some woodlands making us feel disorientated and confused. As I ended up doing all the map stuff, I wasn't able to stop for pictures as much, although a small site near our campsite near a town called Forest Row was alive with birdsong, with Tree Pipits, Woodlarks, Skylark, Marsh Tit and Firecrests all present. We eventually reached our campsite at 5pm, after getting lost at a nearby golf course for over an hour...

Weir Wood Res

Common Tern

Weir Wood Res

The campsite itself was arguably the highlight of the 3 days. Good numbers of Siskin were seemingly preparing to breed in the trees there, while I was surprised by 2 late Brambling that headed over the site during the evening as well. There were also at least 5 Marsh Tit territories in the woodland, with the small, comfortable glades making the evening nice and relaxing. It even inspired me to wake up early that morning to have a walk around, and at 5am I nipped out of the campsite to have a look at the woodland and heathland nearby. I didn't get far, but I was pleased to find a singing Redstart a few hundred metres away from our tents, while a Cuckoo was heard a bit further away.

When we eventually left at 07:45, there were Siskins in the trees as we left, while Willow Warblers were in good numbers. The first 4-5km that morning were pretty awesome. It started with 26 Willow warbler along about 2km of road, each bird singing away emphatically. We soon reached a tiny cricket pitch hidden away in a woodland, where a Woodlark was strolling around, showing better than I've ever seen before, all while Marsh Tits continued singing in the woodlands. Frustratingly, we also spooked a Nightingale, which quickly flew deep into cover and gave a nice croak for me. I was annoyed not to get a good view at least...

The next part of our journey took us through the famous 'Winnie the Pooh' woods. It was surprisingly successful, with a few Redstart seen along the route as well as another Cuckoo heard. However, the highlight was hearing what I was sure was a distant Wood Warbler - another bird that's got a great song, so it was a shame to not get any recording or proof.

As we approached the finish, tiredness managed to overtake the need to look for birds, so I put my camera away for the final 7km. This was somewhat a mistake, as I had a face-off with a Firecrest that I would've got a nice picture of otherwise.

m Redstart

It was a thoroughly enjoyable 3 days of walking and birding, with some top birds along the way, and some fantastic experiences. For young nature enthusiasts, I reckon DofE is a great start to improving your understanding of nature as a whole. Being able to spend a few days walking around areas that aren't exactly famous nature reserves show what wildlife you can find, rather than twitch or photograph, even if they are birds or mammals that aren't necessarily rare.

The only worry/disappointment was seeing 0 Yellowhammer over the entire 55km covered... Writing 3 months later, having finished the final expedition, I can say I wish I could do it all again...