Goodbye, 2009...

January is Big Garden Birdwatch time and a gang of Jackdaws turned up to demolish my bird food stocks


This bee found some early-flowering Chaenomeles in February


At the end of March, I spent a few days in and around Tarifa in southern Spain. Here's a view across the Estrecho to Morocco


Tried a bit of pond-dipping in April, and found lots of these guys - diving beetle larvae.


Also in the garden, this maturing male Broad-bodied Chaser perched on a nettle on a May day


In June I somehow managed to take this arty photo of a Blue-tailed Damselfly, which won The Guardian's competition and got printed! Woohoo!


July was the time for Large Skippers and long evenings



While in August, we watched broods of young Swallows in the garden


The summer was over, but there were still Small Coppers to see in September


And October brought its own delights in the form of autumn leaves


We caught some more House Sparrows during ringing in November


Er, here's one I took earlier this month: hard weather in December made life hard for birds
You can browse the whole year's photos here

Ice

photos taken with Canon Powershot A640

It's cold outside

Going outside is interesting now we've experienced an Extreme Weather Event (TM). People living outside the UK may be amused to hear that we've had about five inches of snow locally (though some other areas have had almost twice that) and again, we can't really cope.

I managed to get to work (where I took the above photo) in about twice the normal time but we got sent home early in case it got any worse.

At home, I've been out in my jimjams (and a fleece) to feed the birds before doing anything else. At the moment we've got black sunflower seeds, peanuts, niger seed and a fat-filled coconut out, and I've also found some porridge oats and sultanas (I'm not sure if anything has eaten the sultanas - maybe the Jackdaws).

It looks festive and fun for us humans, but I'm sure the birds don't appreciate the thick coating of white stuff everywhere. Hopefully my small efforts will help see them through the tough conditions.

Who scared away all the birds?

photos taken with iPhone 3GS + Leica Apo Televid 77 with 20x eyepiece

A tail of two Marsh Tits

This morning, the circumstances were finally right to get some more ringing done in the garden.

Conditions were not ideal - it's a bit windy today - but the weather has conspired against, well, everybody lately, and we seized the chance (tomorrow's supposed to be even worse).

Each time, we seem to have one species which outnumbers all others. It was Greenfinches last time (51 Greenfinches, 8 other birds), Blue Tits in February and January. And so it was again today: we caught 29 new Blue Tits and three 'retraps' that we'd ringed before!

Now, my fingers hurt from a thousand tiny perforations inflicted by the 'cute' little fellows. Most people think "Awww! A Blue Tit! How lovely!" It's just not true...

Next up were Great Tits, with 15 new birds, two retraps and one which seems to be a control. That's a bird ringed by somebody else, somewhere else. It's not likely to have come very far, but it'll be interesting to get the details in the near future.

It was also good to catch two Marsh Tits. I'd seen one unringed bird in the garden, furiously cacheing sunflower seeds; we caught one unringed bird and retrapped one of the three we caught back in January. Photos below.

Almost forgot to mention that the first Marsh Tit (and about four Blue Tits) was caught while we were still putting our net up - we were holding the other end of it!

Interesting that we did not catch any finches, though as I look out of the window now, there are a few Chaffinches and Greenfinches around.

So, the totals were:

• Blue Tit, 29 new, 3 retraps
• Great Tit, 15 new, 2 retraps, 1 control
  
• Coal Tit, 5
• Blackbird, 2
• Marsh Tit, 1 new, 1 retrap
  
• Wren, 1
• Dunnock, 1

which makes 61 birds, our second highest total ever.

A total of 327 birds have been ringed here in seven sessions since November 2007.

Scruffy tail of juvenile Marsh Tit (hatched this year)


Neater, broader tail of adult Marsh Tit
photos taken with Canon EOS 30D

Jackdaws rule the roost

The birdfeeder seems to be depleted fairly quickly these days. There are a few Chaffinches and Greenfinches around, but I think the main culprits are probably the Jackdaws (pictured) and a couple of Magpies. The Jackdaws are quite bold but the Magpies flee as soon as they spot me...

photo taken with iPhone 3GS + Leica Apo Televid 77 with 20x eyepiece

Fly Agaric

photo taken with Apple iPhone 3GS

A lunchtime walk

I took the less hilly route


Sun's gone in again...






Fairy satellite dish, pointing south










photos taken with iPhone 3GS

Phone + telescope + double glazing

Lots of Chaffinches around the garden at the moment, it seems.

photos taken with iPhone 3GS + Leica Apo Televid 77 with 20x eyepiece

Autumn

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D

Leaves 'n' stuff

Here's a brief digest of my wildlife experiences over the past couple of weeks...

• Enjoying beautiful Japanese maple leaves still on a tree at The Lodge
• Saw a Stoat climbing about 30 feet up a big pine tree right outside my office window. It seemed totally at home and scampered up as happily as any squirrel. I suppose this must happen more often during the bird breeding season, but it was new for me...
• Also in Stoat News, I saw my first garden Stoat, trying very hard to catch birds
  
• Acquired a dead Long-tailed Tit (which had flown into a car and broken its neck), now in residence in my freezer. I wonder how much it would cost to get it stuffed?
• Celebrated six years of ringing at Beeston last weekend by catching the first Redwing for the site! That was after about 30,000 Redwings were counted over Sandy in one day. Sadly I missed all that
  
• Watching squirrels carrying sweet chestnut cases - covered in big spines! - around. They must really like the contents to put up with the spikiness...
  
• Tawny Owls quite vocal at the moment - sounds like there's a female in our big ash tree. Wonder if she roosts in the hole used by Jackdaws in spring?
• One of the Great Tits we ringed in the garden in August has been found dead, just down the road, after crashing into a window, while one of 'our' Greenfinches has been caught three miles away, by Del who rings here!
  
• Awaiting the annual invasion of Harlequin ladybirds trying to get into our house...
  

photo taken with Canon EOS 30D

Cornwall 2009

The Brisons and Cape Cornwall, as seen from Nanquidno


Sennen Cove, home for the week

St Ives, and pumpkins in one of its greengrocers




Curlew at the Hayle Estuary - taken with the iPhone through my scope, Not too bad,,,

Hoverfly

photos taken with Canon Powershot A640

Mist clearing

photos taken with Canon Powershot A640

Green Woodpecker feeding

video taken with iPhone + Leica Apo Televid 77 with 20x eyepiece

Copper, red, yellow

Small Copper


Common Darter



Starting to get cabin fever, so it was a relief to get out with the cameras this lunchtime. What a lovely day.

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM or Canon Powershot A640