The century

Well, we've finally done it, after nearly four years.

This morning I went to stand outside - in the frost - to see if I could hear any Lesser Redpolls flying over. It looked to be a good morning for a bit of visible migration.

And lo and behold, after 10 minutes, a couple of redpolls - got to presume they're Lessers - did indeed fly over, calling as they went. And that brought us to Number 100 on our garden bird list.

To tell the truth, it couldn't feel any more underwhelming.

I'm not really sure what number 101 might be. There are some reasonably obvious things that we ought to target next... Turtle Dove, Merlin, Marsh Harrier, Tree Pipit, waders, wildfowl, Mediterranean Gull, perhaps a passage Sedge Warbler (I'll have to grow some Phragmites). But none of them seems particularly likely, especially not for the next few months.

What will spring bring?

And number 98...

This takes the biscuit, really. Getting ready to go to work, I was gazing out of the window over the garden and into the field of unharvested oilseed rape behind it.

Goldfinches, Greenfinches and a few Linnets have been nibbling on the pods lately, so when I saw a bird fly over and perch on the top I wasn't surprised.

Still, something made me look at it in the scope, and it was a chat! There was still mist on part of the outside of the window so my view was blurred. It took me a few seconds to be sure it was a Whinchat and not a Stonechat, but it didn't matter, to be honest - either would have been a garden tick (not that it's all about listing...).

What a lovely bird. It even had the decency to fly into the garden and sit on a shrub right outside the window! Sadly I was too slow off the mark to get the camera and scope aligned for a photo.

But I'm still astonished. This garden is ridiculously good, but pond aside, it's not really anything to do with me. Perhaps it lies on some bird-attracting ley lines...

Whinchat!

photos taken with Canon Powershot A640 + Leica Apo Televid 77 with 20x eyepiece

And here's number 97!

Surprise, surprise, I've put the moth trap out again tonight. I rigged it all up and went indoors to check the circuit-breaker and switch it all on. Then I went back outdoors to check that it was actually on and the light wasn't illuminating our neighbours' house.

When I stepped outside, I heard a faint, very distant call: a Quail! I really didn't expect that. We only had a garden tick last week (also in conjunction with moth trapping activity). Will there be another very soon? That would bring us tantalisingly close to the ton.

Here's a fascinating article about the weird things that Quail do. So it's possible that this bird might only have hatched this year in southern Europe or north Africa, and has headed up here to try its luck already!

Uncertainly rustic

Yellow Shell

After seeing this, I quite fancied a rare hawkmoth for the garden. But I didn't manage to catch any hawks at all, for the first time this year.

Numbers were down on last week's dizzy heights, with 282+ moths of c48 species waiting for me when I got up this morning. The Yellow Shell (above) was one of the prettier ones.

As ever, there were some I couldn't ID, and all help will be received gratefully...

While I was sitting by the trap, I heard high-pitched calls and then watched two Green Sandpipers fly over together. Garden tick!

photos taken with Canon Powershot A640

Moth list follows.

Another bird that wasn't a Robin

Last April a Black Redstart turned up in our garden - a very nice surprise. I was digging the veg patch and it was pure luck that I saw a little bird perching in the ash tree.

This morning I was innocently looking out of the bathroom window (no frosted glass, you see) for no particular reason. I saw a small brown bird perching near the honeysuckle. From a distance it looked pretty much like a Robin, but its tail shivered.

Then it disappeared into the foliage. I knew what it ought to be, but I told myself I'd probably got it wrong (no binoculars in the bathroom, even in our house).

I got my bins from the study and watched for a couple of minutes, hoping it'd pop up out of cover. It didn't, so I got on with washing my hair.

I couldn't help looking for the mystery bird again before going to work. Something perching on our neighbours' fence caught my eye. I trained the scope on it (ready for precisely this kind of emergency) and I knew immediately that my earlier gut reaction had been correct!

A female Redstart sat on the fence, half-hidden by the leaves of a nearby tree. It was sod's law that some leaves completely obscured its head, but the warm buff colour of its belly was the important thing. The tail shivered again.

Leaving the scope in position, I had to charge downstairs to get Darren (I suppose I could have phoned him, but that would have been silly). We saw it again for a few seconds before it flew out of sight again, never to be seen again.

Like the Black Redstart, the amount of luck involved in seeing this bird is almost scary. If I hadn't looked out of the window at that moment, if it had been on the opposite side of the fence, if I'd ignored it, if I hadn't had my glasses on...

I can't help but wonder where it hatched, where it's going to breed - a Scottish or Welsh oakwood, perhaps? - and where it spent the winter. I'm quite certain there's nothing special about our garden, so how many other Redstarts are making their way through Cambridgeshire at the moment?

What's that white thing flying over?

Sometimes you just have to be lucky. Like this evening. We were standing chatting to Mark while flocks of Black-headed Gulls passed overhead to their roost at Paxton or Grafham. All of a sudden, I caught sight of another white bird, flying the other way: a Little Egret!

If I hadn't got a lift home, if I hadn't popped in for a chat at Mark's and if we hadn't been standing outside the house... we'd never have seen it and it would never have made it onto the garden list.

Number 94!

Holy... badger!

Well... that's a turn-up for the books.

D was sitting on the back step, smoking and watching a Barn Owl float by, when he suddenly spotted movement in the dark underneath the bird feeders.

Is that a Pheasant? he thought...

'And then I saw it had a black and white face! A badger! I can't believe it!'

This is the first time a Badger has been seen in the garden. A cause for celebration. We've seen them not-too-far-away but never on our premises. I was more than a bit sceptical when I read that one in ten participants in a recent RSPB survey had seen badgers in their gardens, but maybe it is true!

In other news, a Lesser Whitethroat was heard singing distantly this evening, thus adding itself to the number 93 slot on our garden bird list.

A funny day

Blackcap, Robin, Wren and Mistle Thrush woz ere

In a last-ditch attempt to squeeze in my early Breeding Bird Survey visit before the mid-May deadline (nice weather has been in short supply lately), we got up at 4.45 this morning.

It started well, with a Grey Wagtail lurking (breeding?) around the sewage works, but unfortunately it wasn't quite within the boundaries of my square. I resisted the temptation to cheat, but never mind, it'll be in the atlas instead.

There were plenty of Robins, Blackbirds, Wrens, Blackcaps, two Yellowhammers, a Whitethroat and Lesser Whitethroat in the first few bits of the transect. So far so good.

Transect section number 4 brought us into a pleasant pasture, which contained a horse. It came to see what we were doing, which was fine. That was perfectly OK until it tried to chew my foot, through my welly. I went off it a bit after that.

Next, two members of the landed gentry came to interrogate Darren about what were doing. I was trying to find the correct route out of the field (the footpath signs had vanished), but he'd already climbed over an electric fence. Ouch. They were concerned about the horse. Maybe they should have worried about whether it was trying to gnaw innocent passers-by.

Anyway, it was good to see that the signage below (photographed last year) is still in place, though the car has gone:



Moving on, we started the second part of the route, in the village. The contrast between the farmland and woodland, and the built-up area was striking. So many more birds, of more species! We added House Sparrow, Starling, Swallow, Swift, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Collared Dove, Long-tailed Tit, Moorhen and Stock Dove.

The best finds of the square came late on. Walking between two tall, old hedges, it was hard to see what lay the other side. Ears are really important for surveying. 'Prrrrrrrr, prrrrrrr, prrrrrr, prrrrrrr' went the Turtle Dove. Yessss! I was really pleased with that. Turtle Doves are getting hard to find in many areas.

Then, a bit further on, a Lesser Redpoll called as it flew over. I wonder where that came from, or where it was going? Breeding hasn't been confirmed in the county since 2002...

So that was the first part of the day, until 8am.

At Sutton Village Hall, that well-known nitespot, I witnessed some of the most extraordinary, extravagent, outrageous dancing I've ever seen, and from someone I perhaps wouldn't have expected it from. 'nuff said. That was funny. I only wish I'd videoed it.

Then, I drove home. While fumbling with the door key, at just gone midnight, I heard some trilling calls. 'Wiwiwiwiwiwiwi.' 'Wiwiwiwiwiwiwi.' One slightly lower-pitched than the other. It took me a while before I twigged that they must have been Whimbrels, migrating over in the bright moonlight, calling to each other. Garden tick number 92! Darren's gutted; he was in bed asleep.

And there ended my funny day.

photos taken with Canon Powershot A640

That's not a Robin...

There I was, minding my own business and labouring on the vegetable plot that doesn't contain any vegetables yet. Something made me pause and look up into the tree by the fence. There was a silhouette of a small, round bird which I thought would turn out to be a Robin.

That's funny, I thought. Its tail is quivering. Better keep an eye on it.

Foolishly, I'd left my binoculars in the kitchen while I thought I'd be busy with the garden fork and spade. I watched the bird fly off a short distance, and legged it inside to get the bins. I then had to wait a couple more minutes, while the bird was out of sight, to confirm which kind of redstart it was... Black Redstart!

Well, that was an unexpected garden tick...

digiscoped photo taken with Canon Powershot A640 + Leica Apo Televid 77 with 20x eyepiece

90 up

We reached no. 90 on the garden list today. I was watching the inhabitants of the pond - backswimmers, water boatmen and a few beetles - when two Mute Swans flew over. Conveniently they announced their fleeting presence with their loud wingbeats (Mutes are the only swans with noisy wings).

A total of 100 suddenly seems more possible, but I think it might take rather a long time...

Raving mad

Yet again, I've been punished for going to work. Darren was off sick this morning but managed to see a Raven heading west over our house. That's garden tick #89, hot on the heels of last week's Tufted Ducks. I think we'll struggle to make 100 species (seen or heard from or in the garden or house), but spring is coming and you never know what that will bring.

On the plus side, I did enjoy a veritable cacophony of birdsong today at work. I only stepped outside to top up the birdfeeder and my eardrums were assaulted by Robins, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Coal Tits, Chaffinches and my first Mistle Thrush of the year (a bit late, that). Which reminds me that I heard a Goldfinch singing at home yesterday.

It felt like spring today. I feel I can see the light at the end of the wintry tunnel.

Crossbill!

Surprise of the month, or even the year, was the juvenile Crossbill which greeted me when I got up this morning. I peered through the kitchen window to see a load of Greenfinches munching on sunflower hearts, and... a streaky grey-green Crossbill perching on an empty peanut feeder! Of course, it flew off before Darren could get downstairs to see it, but that's what you get for staying in bed too long.

#85 for the garden list (since December 2006)

Gulls, gulls gulls

Darren sat outside from 6.30 to 8.30 this evening with the express intention of getting Yellow-legged Gull for the garden list. Success! A second-summer flew over and he also saw:

• Black-headed Gull, 786
• Lesser Black-backed Gull, 90
• Great Black-backed Gull, 4
• Common Gull, 2

all heading in the direction of Grafham Water or Paxton Pits. There were also 10 Swifts west and two Hobbies

A stag in the garden

This magnificent beast was slowly crawling around on our wall the other evening. Thanks for spotting it, John!

Lesser Stag Beetles lay their eggs in and live in dead wood, so I think it had probably come from the garden next to ours, where there's plenty of that. I'm planning to build a woodpile near the pond which will hopefully attract beetles and other creepy-crawlies.

Speaking of the pond, it's now entered the green phase, where the nutrients that have ended up in the water (from soil, plants etc) have got going and algae has started to grow. With a bit of luck, it'll settle down soon. Not having fish should make it a bit easier to keep clear.

There are hundreds of little mosquito larvae wriggling around in the pond now. That's not so good for us, but great for the bats (pipistrelles?) that hunt over the garden after dark. Dragonflies also eat mosquitoes, both above and below the water.

I was sitting by the pond this morning, eating my breakfast, when I heard and saw two Grey Wagtails fly over east. I've checked, and that's actually a garden tick. There isn't much running water nearby but they're not so fussy this time of year. Number 83 for the list.

photos taken with Canon Powershot A640

Garden list

The garden list has had several additions in recent weeks.

• About a month ago, I saw a Common Tern flying across the field at the back of the house. Not sure where it was going, or indeed, where it had come from
• About a few weeks ago, I was in the garden after work when I heard a Garden Warbler singing distantly. Under our rules, that's permissible - birds don't have to be in the garden to be added to the list, but we do
• On 11 June, Darren heard an Oystercatcher calling as it flew over in the dark
• And this morning, Darren caught sight of a Red Kite as it drifted past a couple of fields away. It didn't quite fly over us, but it was close enough. Perhaps our most-expected garden tick lately. It would be nice to think that we might get Turtle Dove next, but I'm afraid that it just won't happen in this modern day and age...

You can see the whole list here, which stands at 82 species in about 18 months now

Garden tick

Tree (left) and House Sparrows. Note how colossal the HS looks by comparison

Tree Sparrow!

Male House Sparrow

Exciting times in the garden over the past couple of days. Yesterday, D was at home feeling ill. He happened to glance out of the window and saw a Tree Sparrow sitting in the bush! That came as a bit of a shock as we didn't know of any others nearby.

We invited Mark round today to catch and ring a few garden birds, as there are quite a few around at the moment. He put up a single net between the bush and the two feeders and in a couple of hours we were quite successful: the expected Blue, Great and Coal Tits, Robins, Dunnocks, House Sparrows, Chaffinches and Greenfinches. Oh, and a Tree Sparrow!

We were probably unlucky not to get a woodpecker (one Green seen this morning, and three Great Spots all at once this afternoon), or a Sparrowhawk. I think the Jackdaws (which have been using both peanut and sunflower feeders) might be too canny to get caught. Perhaps we'll get them next time.

It will be really interesting to see whether the Tree Sparrow stays for the winter. Steve says it's typical for them to wander about at this time of year. This area has a number of features which should be good for them and we'll be getting some nestboxes in place for next spring.

Fingers crossed. Maybe this is the start of a new colony?

Totals:

• Blue Tit, 16
  
• Great Tit, 6
• Greenfinch, 6
• House Sparrow, 3
• Chaffinch, 2
• Dunnock, 2
• Coal Tit, 2
• Robin, 1
• Tree Sparrow, 1

photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995

Addition

Kitchen jobs are the best way to see birds in the garden, it seems. This evening, we were getting tea ready when D spotted a warbler in the bush up the garden. It flitted around, searching for insects, but eventually settled for long enough for us to confirm its ID as Reed Warbler... not a species that would have sprung immediately to mind for the garden list, but this must have been a bird passing through on its way south.

Bambi's older sisters

This morning was a good one for the garden.

Last night, they started harvesting the oilseed rape from the field at the back of our house. And this morning, these two female Fallow Deer were wandering around in the field, just over our back fence!

Fallow Deer

Green Woodpecker

When I looked out of the back window, the first thing I saw was this male Green Woodpecker digging in the lawn for ants. He then went and sat on the clothes line post and posed for a little while. Which was nice.

And finally... we were just about to get into the car when two Kingfishers flew past, calling. There are a few ponds and small lakes nearby so I guess they were commuting from one to another. Garden tick!

photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 77 with 20-60x eyepiece + bedroom window glass

Add another one...

... another predictable garden tick, in the form of four House Martins hawking over the house along with the usual Swallows. It would be interesting if they decided to stick around, too.

Whitethroat

Spring is a good time to have your windows open. This song of this male Whitethroat alerted me to his presence in the garden. He was actually in the garden, singing from the bird feeder bush, before he moved into next door's shrubbery.

Whitethroats aren't very tuneful but the Red-legged Partridge 'singing' from somewhere nearby is even less so...

This photo was digiscoped through the window glass. I really ought to think about getting a little hide in the garden.