Garden Birding

Sunny, 13°, light NE.

Have been watching the garden for the last couple of days and not venturing out and not doing too bad. Fortunately we overlook Whitehead Meadow and so have a good vista to look out on.

Birdwise, there have been 39 species in, over or near the garden, including Chiffchaff, Grey Wagtail, Sparrowhawk, Buzzard, Coal Tit, Nuthatch, Jay, Green Woodpecker, Tawny Owl and Canada Goose to name a few.

A few butterflies present with many Brimstone, 2 Small Tortoiseshell, an Orange Tip and a Comma but none staying too long.

Plenty of Hoverflies around but none staying still, so no id’s yet.

A single Spotted Bee-fly seen briefly.

Female Blackbird

One of the four Stock Dove that regularly visit.

Blackcap

Sunny intervals, 12°, light NNW.

A visit by a male Blackcap to the garden this morning. I am assuming it is one of the overwintering birds that is still around rather than a newly arrived migrant.

Several species singing in the garden today: Coal Tit, Treecreeper, Goldcrest, Song Thrush, Chiffchaff, Robin and Great Tit.

Garden antics

Sunny, 20º, light SE.

A day in the garden today and as mentioned in the last post the Moorhen family visited the garden this morning and again this afternoon. The adult Moorhen would not tolerate a Crow in the garden near the young and chased it off.

 (courtesy Loren)

Later one of the resident Carrion Crows flew into the garden from the meadow with a beak full of bread and proceeded to dunk it in a bowl of water that had been put out for the Mallards. The Crow ate some of it and gathered the rest back up and flew off with it, presumably to feed to young? 

 Several Wood Pigeon frequenting the garden and utilising the bird bath!

 

Stock Dove, Collared Dove also visiting and 3 Blue Tit nests found in the garden now.

A Jackdaw briefly in the garden, Great-spotted Woodpecker, also a Song Thrush and the usual residents, Robin, Wren, Great Tit, Dunnock, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Chaffinch and Blackbird present.

Some of the young Rooks in the rookery next to the garden are fledging now.

30+ Starling feeding (that included a fair number of young birds) in the meadow this morning and both Blackcap and Chiffchaff in song.

 4 Swift, 6 House Martin, up to 8 Swallow, 4 Red Kite, 1 Buzzard and a Peregrine overhead.

                                                    Stock Dove

More garden stuff.

Overcast, 1º, light NE.

Well it never got above freezing today, I took a perfectly formed circle of ice off the birdbath and placed it against it and it has kept its shape all day.

Did not venture far today as I’ve had some computer work to catch up on, did a brisk walk around the village for some exercise and noted fourteen Red Kite over Crescent Way, I guess someone was feeding them.

The garden was busy today with a few species feeding and more passing over, am fortunate to overlook the garden whilst being busy on my laptop.

So today the garden had: a Moorhen, a Pheasant, two Stock Dove, twenty three Wood Pigeon, three Collared Dove, a Great-spotted Woodpecker, two Song Thrush, nine Blackbird, three Blue Tit, four Great Tit, two Long-tailed Tit, fifteen Chaffinch, ten Goldfinch, eight Greenfinch, two Mallard, two Carrion Crow, two Robin, two Dunnock, two Blackcap and a Wren.

Overhead and in the meadow were: Lesser Black-back Gull, Black-headed Gull, Red Kite, Buzzard, Rook, Jackdaw, Magpie, Green Woodpecker, Starling, House Sparrow, Mistle Thrush, Redwing and Fieldfare.

And a thank you to the dog walker who walked around the meadow this afternoon and collected all the litter, Thanks.

Garden and South Moreton

Have not been out birding for several days due to various circumstances but have some observations from driving around locally and the garden.

The weather has turned colder now we are in to December and the garden feeders are being attended far more frequently. Goldfinch are prominent with numbers growing and several Greenfinch have started to turn up regularly, up to six Blackbird feeding in the garden now it has got colder and an irregular Song Thrush. Will put a few apples and sultanas out tonight. The usual Wood Pigeon and Collared Dove along with one or two Stock Dove, other regulars include approx ten Chaffinch, a Robin (always singing at dawn), Wren, two or three Dunnock and a Great-spotted Woodpecker that feeds frequently on suet balls. Blue, Great, Coal and Long-tailed Tit also regular visitors.

Even though the level of the Thames has dropped, the floods at South Moreton are still widespread and it is still attracting large numbers of birds. At peak times there are approx several thousand Gulls, mainly Lesser Blackback Gull and Black-headed Gull. Still a large plover flock with roughly five hundred of each Lapwing and Golden Plover but may well be more, also some Common Snipe and what looked like several Dunlin and a few Teal. The area I watched from has a limited view and some areas are distant so there may be other species present and numbers may be higher.