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Sherwood Rough

Sherwood Rough is quiet, apart from the noise of a distant road and the persistent fluting of a Mistle Thrush. The flock of up to 60 Hawfinches present in this area of wooded downland since mid-October appears to have gone.

That said, this area of seemingly haphazard trees and clearings often appears more birdless than today, especially when a cutting wind makes it seem much higher than its elevation of 400 feet. Buzzards are displaying, their numbers hard to pin down as they cruise the treelines or soar dizzily against the massing clouds. A small party of Redwings is equally hard to count as the birds forage warily, but a Stonechat perched by the path isn’t shy at all. Not surprising maybe, it is the devil’s companion.

Beyond the cleared ground where the Stonechat sits is Yewtree Gate, one of the entrances to the long-gone Great Park of Arundel. A gate still straddles the path, though bypassing it is hardly difficult since the bank that bore the park paling has almost disappeared in places. It has been here a long time, this boundary between lost dominions, as the ancient yews growing out of its mossed surface bear witness.

With rain threatening it is time to reverse the journey and head back through Sherwood Rough, Screen Wood and Water Wood. Crossing the cleared ground a large flock of finches flies over, ninety birds at least. Not Hawfinches, though, the birds are all Linnets.

It’s getting late for Hawfinches, which go to roost early. But a Marsh Tit calling from a clearing south of Sherwood Rough requires a brief diversion, and on the other side of the dell a Hawfinch is sitting near the top of a tree. More join it, coming in ones and twos before flying off in small groups. Not so many as before maybe, you can never tell with Hawfinches, but they haven’t gone.

As I watch them four more birds fly across the clearing, but these are not Hawfinches. Two perch and show themselves to be Crossbills, not common birds here. Not a bad day at all, I think, as the last Hawfinch flies off and the first spots of rain spatter against my binoculars.

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