Pussy willow

Common Toads

I was driving home from the shops in the dark on a wet Friday night when I first noticed the toads. Fortunately, I managed to avoid running them over and watched as they crawled their way towards my pond. Later, I found this amorous couple, plus hanger-on, scrambling through the grass in the morning.
Not bad photos from the phone, with lighting from my head-torch in this case.

Jaydward strikes again

Looks pretty, sounds horrible.

Up close and personal with garden birds

With the tree seed (alder, birch etc) finally running out, Siskins are flooding into gardens. This male was a 'control' - a bird already ringed somewhere else when we caught it

Here's a female Siskin - less colourful but still beautiful. See how fine the bill is for getting those seeds

Another male, the first I caught in my garden

Here's another tree seed-munching finch, a Lesser Redpoll

and a female Goldfinch

Here's a Nuthatch, the third I've caught in the garden

I 'retrapped' her 15 days later. Here's a close-up of the claws that mean Nuthatches can climb down trees headfirst

I originally caught this Treecreeper on New Year's Day 2012, so it was good to see it's still going strong

A Goldcrest, Europe's smallest bird, weighs about 5g (the same as 5 paperclips)

And a male Great Spotted Woodpecker

Read more about bird ringing in the UK on the BTO website

Early morning

photo taken with iPhone 4S

Hazel catkins

photo taken with iPhone 4S

Reeds at Woodwalton Fen

photo taken with iPhone 4S

Snowdrops

photo taken with iPhone 4S

She's got her eye on you

Female Great Spotted Woodpecker

photos taken with iPhone 4S

Frost on my car roof

Frost on my car roof, a photo by Katie Fuller on Flickr.

Just had time to grab a quick photo with my phone before going to work this morning. I assume the wind created these patterns while temperatures dropped overnight.

Foot It

I've been taking part in Foot It, a bit of a competition to encourage interest in local birding. I had to predict how many species I could see within a 4-mile radius of my house, all on foot. 

I had a bit of a think about what was feasible and guessed at 95 species. As it turned out, 97 species were recorded on my patch during the month, so my guess wasn't too far off... Not too bad for Bedfordshire, is it?

Aside from walking to work, my last Foot It outing was on Sunday. A Smew had been seen at Blunham the day before, so I dragged myself out there to peer through the trees from behind a barbed-wire fence. No Smew for me, but I did get terrible views of a few Shoveler, so it wasn't entirely a wasted journey (a round trip of nearly 8 miles).

The route I'd taken to the lake had been pretty terrible (unkempt footpaths littered with canine deposits) so I decided to return through town. It turned out to be a good call as I bumped into seven Waxwings by accident - extra pleasing as I'd found 15 a week earlier but while I was in the car...

I'm pretty happy with my score - should have got a few more but ran out of time. Commuting aside, I walked nearly 29 miles (all in a new pair of Muck Boots - they are awesome), explored some footpaths I should've done a long time ago, and got to know my local area a lot better. I also found Otter tracks not far from home, which might even be my highlight of the month.

It's got me thinking about maybe trying to do a patch year-list - I think 150 could be possible in theory - but we'll see...

Thanks, Foot It!

(Full list follows, if you're interested)

Snow at The Lodge

photo taken with iPhone 4S

Footprints in the snow

Badger and fox prints on my way to work.





photos taken with iPhone 4S

Jay meets Jedward

Look at my crest!

I caught a Jay in the garden this afternoon. They are gorgeous birds at any range, but when you're right up-close there's another dimension to them. As well as the dazzling azure blue of the coverts, there are tiny, hidden-away traces on the secondaries and the top of the tail.

Added to the constant, ear-splitting screeching and fierce biting and pecking, it's a feast for the senses. Just as well they don't smell nasty too.

photos taken with iPhone 4S

Frost at The Lodge

photos taken with iPhone 4S

Mr Pointy-beak

Here's a close-up view of a Goldfinch that you don't normally see. The long, pointy bill is ideal for tweezering out seeds from teasel heads. The dark nasal hairs at the base of the bill, and the red extending behind the eye, show that it's a male.

photos taken with iPhone 4S

Autumn leaves at The Lodge

photos taken with iPhone 4S

The eyes have it

I went to a friend's garden to try doing some ringing there for the first time. We didn't expect this - a male Sparrowhawk - to be the first bird in the net!

photo taken with iPhone 4S

All creatures great and small

Tiny froglet

Badger tracks

Leafcutter bee at work

Comma butterfly

Manx Loghtans just after shearing

Looking fleecier... just before leaving The Lodge

photos taken with iPhone 4S

Large, medium and small

Here are three birds I met recently.

Woodpigeon (600g)

I caught this Woodpigeon by accident. I decided to try putting up my recently purchased nets to break them in a bit (they are always a bit weird when you use them for the first time), so put one up in the garden in a really obvious position. But it seems this bird wasn't paying attention to where it was going...

Nightingale (21g)

Here's a Nightingale we caught during Constant Effort Site ringing at Paxton Pits.

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (21g)

And here's a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (a juvenile female) caught in Sussex. I didn't get to handle it, but what a remarkable bird!

photos taken with iPhone 4S