The annual Bucks Bird Club visit to Greenham Common in West Berkshire on 25 May followed the traditional formula of a walk in three parts. The target species were Dartford warbler, nightingale, woodcock, and nightjar, and all were seen, though not by everyone.
Part 1 started from Greenham control tower in the afternoon. Led by Rob Hemsley and Bill George, 16 of us walked west on the gravel path. There were many people and dogs, but we saw and heard a lot of birds.
The list included goldfinches, greenfinches, starlings, linnet, and stonechat, while overhead I saw my first house martins of the year, and others saw a sparrowhawk.
When we came to the denser gorse we watched for Dartford warblers and some were lucky to see one (not I).
We turned south past the ponds at the western end where a swallow dipped into the water, and we heard whitethroat and willow warbler in the nearby scrub. Rob thought he heard a woodlark. Returning east past more gorse we saw many linnets, meadow pipit, and again a Dartford warbler or two, though I only had a fleeting glimpse. Having seen them clearly on the Isle of Wight three weeks before I didn’t mind too much.
The linnets were the highlight of the day; they were everywhere. Two years ago when I last visited with the group the most prevalent bird was stonechat.
We returned to the car park, having taken three hours to walk about two miles.
For part 2 we drove in convoy to Crookham Common. Rob said that on last year’s visit (which I did not attend) they had heard a nightingale in the woods alongside our parking spot. Amazingly one of our group heard one making an angry call because a cat had passed nearby. We were then able to see it flying with food and perching on a fence, in a somewhat improbable habitat next to excavations for road drainage.
It was only the second time I had seen one; the first time was in 2012 by the steam railway at Bledlow.
We did a short walk on Crookham Common, where Bill saw a kingfisher flash past, and then returned to the nightingale which was still busy providing food for its young.
Part 3 and our final stop was at Brackenwood, to the south-west of Greenham Common, where in the dusk we walked through woodland to a clearing and waited for woodcock and nightjars.
We soon saw a woodcock circling, and this was followed by another 15 sightings though we don’t know if it was one bird or several. A bit later we heard a nightjar churring and watched the tree where we thought it was, waiting for it to stop. After more churring we saw one briefly in flight. It was a short concert that night, and then all went quiet. When it was getting too dark to see we called it a day.
Thanks to Rob and Bill for leading us, and to all my companions who helped me spot more than I would have done on my own.
Total number of species seen or heard: 45 (38 for me).
CampaignerKate 
I’ve long intended to visit here so this has spurred me on
Great, this is a good time of year.