Chris and I have long had an interest in birds. Woodcock Wood has allowed us to dig deeper. This combined with our life in northern Portugal and Spain gave us the opportunity to compare observations of birds in both places. Of special interest are raptors. There was a time when their distant silhouettes seemed an impossible challenge. After 5 days with Martin Kelsey identifying the raptors of Estremadura, we now feel up to the challenge. An amazing teacher and friend: https://www.birdingextremadurablog.com.
Why this blog site?
For several years I wrote an occasional blog on woodland birds for Woodlands.co.uk. These were “chatty” pieces about the birds we typically see in Woodcock Wood, but they gave a somewhat limited view of our birding experience. For more than 10 years we spent much of our time at our cottage in França, a village in the mountains in north eastern Portugal. Therefore, I decided to write a series of blogs on our wider experience of birding in the UK, Spain and Portugal starting by updating my original woodland.co.uk blogs, and including more detail on the birds that capture our interest.
| Our Latest Posts are listed on the right of this page … and for those interested in birding in Spain, we manage the following website in Spanish (it’s worth a look just for the beautiful photos) which records the monthly bird count by a team of volunteers who record birds along the Rio Del Arlanzon, Burgos. https://avesdelrioarlanzonespana.website/el-conteo-de-marzo-de-2024/ |
Woodcock Wood:
Woodcock Wood is 9.5 acres of coppiced chestnut, semi-mature oak and Corsican pine which we bought in May 2017. It is part of a stand of 60 acres near Biddenden in Kent.
We bought the wood for the purpose of recreation and conservation, but in a small way it is a working woodland. Our eldest son James spends much of his spare time at the wood. He has coppiced a small section of the wood around a number of large oaks in order to create a glade. We’ve put up more than 20 nest boxes, and use trail cameras to explore the woodland life.
The Village of França:
Aldeia de França is located 17 km north of the Medieval town Bragança. Its current population is about 80 people. We bought a house there in 2005, and until we retired in 2012, visited it two or three times a year for short holidays. After 2012 we split our time between there and UK. One of the many attractions of França is walking and birdwatching, and we were able to take full advantage of seeing França and the hills of Montesinho Natural Park across the seasons.
The house itself is a great venue for birding. The small back balcony overlooks the village communal vegetable gardens that host Serins, Blackcaps, Black Redstarts, Greater Spotted Woodpeckers and many other occasional visitors. Closer to home, our bird feeder hung among grape vines about 10 metres from the balcony, with its regular visitors of House Sparrows, Great Tits, Blue Tits, and Nuthatches. A low oak-wooded ridge rises beyond this and we would see Booted Eagles, Common Buzzards and Ravens using its thermal lift to soar and display.
The first-floor kitchen window looked into the depths of a mature walnut tree, and this is where we’ve installed a nest box designed for the Nuthatches – it was certainly birdwatching in comfort.
Our neighbours:
Our neighbours in França were country people. They may not know their names, but they are very aware of the birds that share their village. Although they were too polite to say it, they probably thought we are maluco (mad) putting up bird feeders, but over the time we were in França we shared our enthusiasm. Using the excellent book “Aves de Portugal” published by SPEA (the Portuguese equivalent of RSPB) we and they learned the Portuguese names of the local birds, shared photos and we showed them the birds inside the nest box on camera. They probably still thought we were a little maluco, but it became a lovely shared experience.
http://www.spea.pt/catalogo/detalhes_produto.php?id=620
We find birds endlessly fascinating, and I hope I can share a little of this in what I write.
Chris and Chris Saunders
April 2020
End Note – Casa de Ponte has been sold
For nearly twenty years França has been a central part of our life. For personal reason and with great sadness we sold our house in 2023, but we were pleased it was to our Portuguese neighbour, Maria, who we have known for many years.
Chris and Chris Saunders
April 2024