Monday 29th April 2024 9.15 to 9.50 a.m.
It is the end of April and I take a chance on a slightly windy and overcast day to visit Jubilee Stone Wood.
Lower Jubilee Stone Wood can be accessed by following the bridleway sign on the level part of Church Town road, up from the Church. The sign points up a short piece of road leading to a particularly steep stony track. As I approach the gate at the top I try not to sound too breathless.
Happily the sound of birdsong and calls reach me even before the top of the climb. Blue Tits are flitting between trees and bushes with their multitude of spring time calls, a Robin is singing close by as is a Nuthatch and a Great Tit. In the woods to the left, a Song Thrush is belting out its morning tune and lambs are baaing in the field beside the wood. High above in the tall trees are the Jackdaws. Although Jackdaws generally reside in the quarry by Badgers Wood, they particularly like to spend time hanging out and calling from these Jubilee Stone Wood trees where they have a fantastic vantage point over Backwell.
Up the bridleway through the woods, past the stile on the left, there is a rustic wood bench. Perfect for sitting, catching the odd glimpse of sunshine and listening. Chiff Chaffs are in full song now and can be heard in every part of the wood. Blackbirds, although also in good numbers, are by contrast much quieter. The females are hardly seen now and as a male Blackbird swoops past me I get the feeling he is very busy on family duties. Goldfinches pass overhead chattering as they go, I catch a brief song of a Blackcap and then another Robin and then the rasp of a Greenfinch.
All of a sudden, as the sunshines briefly, I catch a most unexpected sound. Listening carefully I can definitely hear the song of a Skylark. Skylarks have never appeared on our Woodland bird surveys so I pause to listen carefully and realise that although the sound is close, it is coming from the adjacent field. 
But what a joy! Skylarks are, to me, very attractive birds. On first glance they are small and brown but on closer inspection you can see they are have a pretty speckled chest and brown wing feathers. Their distinguishing feature is their delightful brown streaky head crest which can be raised in alarm.
Skylarks are red listed birds which means their numbers have dropped significantly - thought to be because they nest on the ground often in open fields and therefore suffer from disturbance. However, they persist where they can and their complicated and melodic high-pitched and vertical song flight is one of the joys of spring.
I sit for a bit longer and note how the the bird sound drops as the clouds roll in. As I head back down the path and out the woods I am accompanied by the not unusual reverse song of “Chaff Chiff”.