South Downs Way, Day 2 Meonstoke to Buriton - A bird in the Hand

I fancy myself as a bit of a birder.

One of our main reasons for halting as we tromp along is for me to watch a lark circling in the blue, or set my Merlin App to identify a medley of birdsong emerging from a thicket.

Today on the South Downs Way we were passing between a tree-lined hedge and a bank of tall grass. Robin and yellowhammer were singing in the hedge.

But then very loud and very close by came the unmistakable call of the eponymous chiff-chaff.

'That's weird. Chiff-chaffs usually sing from a tree but this one sounds like it's coming from the long grass.'

'Yes. It's really loud, like it's really close too.'

I thought maybe my ability to locate sounds was deteriorating with age.

'Mmm - it's playing tricks on my hearing too.' 

For a number of minutes, we peered about us for the little bird.

But finally we needed to get going.

However, as we strode on, the chiff-chaff appeared to be coming with us.

Wait a minute.

I put my hand in my pocket and drew out my phone. One of my bird apps had switched on and was playing the song of the chiff-chaff. 

A bird in the hand is said to be worth two in the bush. But what about a bird in the pocket?

When Birds Watch You Back

Last weekend, it was the RSPB’s Big Garden Bird Watch – the biggest citizen science project.

In previous years we have struggled to fit it in amid the bustle of a January weekend.  This year, however, we were still in isolation following Covid, and it seemed like the epitome of excitement.

We picked an hour towards the end of the day when we knew the little chaps would be mobbing our birdfeeders trying to consume enough calories to see them through a long winter night. 

We spotted most of our regulars – blue tits, great tits, long-tailed tits, coal tits, dunnocks, robins, goldfinches, woodpigeons and blackbirds.

None of our more unusual visitors surfaced – the nuthatches, woodpeckers and goldcrests must have appeared on somebody else’s entry.

However, the species we saw most was our own doves.  And we also were not prepared for their reaction.  When they saw us sitting in front of the French windows, they came and watched us right back.

We could only guess at their conversation,

‘The two regulars are there – the old ones.’

‘Yes, wonder if we’ll see any of the brightly-plumaged young ones today.’

‘Doesn’t look like it – they must be in a different house today.’

‘That’s always the way – we never see anything out of the ordinary when we do the Big House Human Watch.’