Seed-munchers

Been playing around with digiscoping garden birds through the double glazing...

Sometimes the results are pretty good, considering

Chaffinches

Rook

Good light seems to be the biggest factor (it's really dull today)

Greenfinch

Other times they are not very good, but it's nice to have a record of what's been visiting the garden

Yellowhammers

Reed Bunting

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

Spring ringing

This morning Jacqui came round to ring in the garden. It was a beautiful day but perhaps a tad too sunny for ringing (if the sun shines on the net, birds can see it more easily).

Things started slowly with a Dunnock we'd caught before.

But soon we hit the jackpot with a female Pied Wagtail! That was totally unexpected... I saw the male singing from the roof yesterday but never though we'd catch one! A lovely bird to handle... very soft feathers and with a beak totally ill-suited to vicious finger-pecking. Excellent.

We also caught four new Reed Buntings - all males. It was interesting to see the differences between them. One had lost almost all the brown tips to his black head feathers, but others were much scruffier looking.

It was a steady - rather than spectacular - catch, but that's just fine.

Here are the totals...

• Chaffinch, 5 new
• Blue Tit, 4 (+ 1 retrap)
• Pied Wagtail, 1
• Great Tit, 4 (+3 retraps)
• Reed Bunting, 4
• Goldfinch, 2
• Greenfinch, 5
• Dunnock, 1

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D

The white stripes

Just about every other pond in the country is stuffed with frogs at the moment, but not mine. So I went to have a look for newts instead. Yesterday evening, while pulling out sheets of blanket weed, I accidentally scooped up a smart little male Smooth Newt. I admired his bright orange belly before putting him back.

This morning, I saw another Smooth Newt (or maybe the same one) swimming about, and then a white stripe down at the bottom of the pond. I wasn't sure whether it was a root, but when I looked back again it had disappeared. So I'm hoping that was my first Great Crested Newt of the year - the males have silvery-white stripes down their sides. Must be quite useful when you're in a murky pond.

Plenty of beetles and Backswimmers to be seen, too.

Yellow and gold

Male Yellowhammer, hatched last year

Male Goldfinch, also hatched last year

Been ringing again, this time on our monthly visit to Beeston. It was really too windy to be very productive, but we did catch the first Yellowhammer for quite some time, an array of Greenfinches and Chaffinches, and a Goldfinch.

Yesterday, we were very close to catching a Sparrowhawk, but by the time we'd legged it to the net, it had got out and flown off.

To make up for the disappointment, we caught three Long-tailed Tits. Two of them had consecutive ring numbers - they were the same two we'd caught together at dusk the previous month! Everyone say 'ahhhhh'...

I've been so busy lately that I've barely had any time for photos during the week, and I haven't managed much at weekends either. Hopefully normal service will soon be resumed. Highlights in the garden have been up to 15 Reed Buntings and four Yellowhammers. No sign of newts in the pond yet, though there have been a few Backswimmers and Lesser Diving Beetles pootling around.

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D

When Blue Tits turn bad

We did some more ringing in the garden this morning. When Derek arrived it was raining steadily and we didn't think we'd be able to get any nets up at all. After a cup of coffee, things brightened up and we put up one 40' net.

We stood in the kitchen and watched birds flying over, under and round the side of the net. It was pretty dispiriting! Eventually we caught two Blue Tits and a Great Tit simultaneously, and then it got windy. So things weren't looking too good.

Fortunately, despite the wind and occasional drizzle, we did OK.

We caught two Reed Buntings (we've had as many as 15 in the garden at the same time this week), which was pretty good. This one's a male. The pale flecks on his head will soon wear away, revealing smart, plain black feathers underneath.

For a while it looked likely that the Reed Buntings would be the highlight of the morning. Then we caught this bird:

A Great Tit, you say. Not very interesting, surely. Well, the thing about this Great Tit is that it already had a ring, and it wasn't one that we'd put on. So it's come from somewhere else. In itself, that's interesting enough (we'll have to wait to find out where it was ringed).

The extra-interesting thing was that the ring was a size larger than normal - a B ring (AAs are the smallest, for things like Goldcrests and Willow Warblers, then As, and Bs are usually for birds like Greenfinches).

When young Great Tits are ringed in the nest as chicks (or pulli as ringers like to refer to them), they need the next ring size up. This is because their legs are actually fatter while they're developing!

The ring still fits OK now that the bird is a thinner-legged adult, but hopefully the person who ringed it will be really pleased to hear that one of their pulli has made it to adulthood. The reason that Great Tits have such huge families (up to 9 eggs) is because many of them - 62% on average - will die in their first year. So this guy has beaten the odds.

Now you want to know what happens when Blue Tits turn bad, right?

We take great care when handling birds, but it's a shame that Blue Tits do not reciprocate. Everybody thinks they're cute and fluffy, but this is the truth: they are fierce biters and nippers. It wouldn't let go and actually made Derek's finger bleed.

Anyway, here are today's totals:

• Blue Tit, 17 (+ 4 'retraps' we'd caught before)
• Great Tit, 11 (+ 4 retraps, including the special one)
• Greenfinch, 1
• Dunnock, 1
• Reed Bunting, 2
• Coal Tit, 2

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D

Galloway

Just back from a few days in Dumfries & Galloway, in south-west Scotland. Lots of lovely stuff to see...

Red Squirrels. Irresistible...

Lovely Loch Ken

Willow Tit! This bird visited the feeding station of our host, Brian

Black Guillemots fighting in Portpatrick harbour. Imagine if I'd had a 500mm lens... ;o)

Mochrum Loch, where we watched a pair of Otters playing

We'd only stopped there for a few minutes on the offchance that there might be some ducks (there were a few Goldeneye), but then Derek spotted something 'porpoising' and it turned into a pair of Otters frolicking in the water. We watched them swim to an island, chase around a bit and then swim off out of sight. Magic...

Looking up Loch Ryan towards Ailsa Craig on the horizon

The River Bladnoch flowing into Wigtown Bay

Black-headed Gull in Stranraer harbour

So the geese know which way to go from Carsethorn...

In three days of birding (with a quick visit to Leighton Moss, kind of on the way home), we notched up about 85 species, including...

• Black Guillemots chasing around Portpatrick harbour
• Thousands of Barnacle Geese at Mersehead
• Lots of Pintail
• Purple Sandpiper at Carsethorn
• Red-breasted Mergansers and Goosanders in several places
• Loadsa Red Kites and Buzzards
• Willow Tit and Nuthatch at Brian's feeders
• Slavonian Grebe, Eiders and a big flock of Scaup at Loch Ryan
• Bittern and Little Egret at Leighton Moss

But we didn't see Sparrowhawk or Mistle Thrush.

See Flickr for more photos

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

Wings

Another sad-but-interesting addition to my frozen menagerie - a Redwing that had died after flying into a window.

Before I put it in the freezer (for later study - not eating), I stretched out its wings and wondered about

the night-time journey on which the same feathers, muscles and bones carried it across the North Sea
where did it make landfall? Scotland? Yorkshire? Suffolk?
where it hatched last year - Sweden or Russia, perhaps?
and saw how it still had fragments of soil stuck to its toes.

I suppose it must have been foraging amongst the leaf litter until a few minutes before it died. It's really quite sad.

photo taken with Canon EOS 30D

The doves from above

It may seem amazing to you, dear reader, but to see Collared Doves in the garden is a rare treat for me. We're just that bit too far out into the sticks for them to consider our garden suitable habitat. They turn up occasionally but never stay for long.

These ones (well, I assume they're the same ones) have been visiting the garden sporadically for two or three days now, so maybe 2010 will be the year they colonise this remote outpost. It's only 54 years since they first bred in the UK.

I am actually enjoying watching them.

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

Big Garden Birdwatch

Did my Big Garden Birdwatch this morning. It's bitterly cold today, clear and breezy, and I went out first thing to top up the feeders, scatter seed and oats on the ground, and put out some water.

I was thrilled to count a whopping SIX Reed Buntings hopping around with the Chaffinches. One of them was [presumably...] the bird we ringed last weekend. So that was good, but where were all the Great Tits? And why didn't any of our Marsh Tits turn up?

The totals...

• Chaffinch, 16
• Jackdaw, 11
• Reed Bunting, 6
• Blue Tit, 5
• Greenfinch, 4
• Great Tit, 3
• Robin, 2
• Blackbird, 2
• Dunnock, 2
• Pheasant, 1
• Great Spotted Woodpecker, 1
• Carrion Crow, 1
• Magpie, 1
• Coal Tit, 1

Annoyingly, I've just seen a Marsh Tit. Too late now...

Sunset

photo taken with Canon Powershot A640

Wot no Marsh Tit?

Did a bit more ringing in the garden this morning. With a total of 37 birds caught (of which 8 were ones we'd ringed before), it wasn't one of our most impressive sessions.

A tactical error (of leaving a fat block out in the bush where the birds hang out) meant we had a slow start. Moving the fat block over to where the others feeders were sorted that out.

We even failed to catch a single Marsh Tit, when last time we'd caught one before we'd even finished putting the net up!

So the adult male Reed Bunting we did catch helped to make up for that disappointment. He's a nice example of feathers and how their wear affects a bird's appearance. See, all those browny-buff bits on his head will wear off in time for the breeding season. Like this. Weird as it seems, the Reed Bunting will look dapper once his feathers have worn away a bit more.

People get confused when they see birds that don't match exactly the illustrations or photos in their books. But feathers are constantly changing and wearing away, so birds hardly ever match the books. After all, nobody's told them what they're supposed to look like.

The scores on the doors:

• Blue Tit, 10 (+ 7 we'd ringed before)
• Great Tit, 8 (+1 retrap)
• Chaffinch, 5
• Greenfinch, 4
• Dunnock, 1
• Reed Bunting, 1

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D

What colour is your pecker?

Fantastic, but very noisy and wriggly birds.

photo taken with Canon EOS 30D

Fantastic Mr (or Mrs) Fox

A fox came into the garden this morning to eat some of our birdfood. It stayed so long it seemed stupid not to sketch it. So I did.

When it arrived, it was only just getting light outside. It's horribly foggy today as well. I watched through the telescope and it looked like a black and white fox.

The fox sat down and ate, and watched Darren making his cup of coffee in the kitchen. And stayed and ate some more. Its luxuriant white-tipped tail brushed the ground. And eventually, there was enough light to see that it really was red and - of course - very beautiful.

I got my sketchbook and a pencil and started work. Fortunately, foxes have vaguely triangular faces, and triangular ears. So I'm quite pleased with the sketches, since I haven't done much drawing for a long time.

Just when I was embellishing one of my fox-doodles, I looked up and it had gone.

photo taken with Canon EOS 30D

Times are hard

...especially if you're a bird. In case you haven't noticed, it's flipping cold outside.

I've been doing my bit to help at home. Garden birds here have been offered a full variety of foodstuffs, including apples, table mix (includes wheat, oats, sunflower hearts, maize etc), black sunflower seeds, fat balls, fat block things and, best of all, porridge oats. Porridge oats are dirt-cheap and loads of birds eat them. Even Reed Buntings, as I've discovered.

Much of the water locally is frozen up. It's hitting birds like Kingfishers, wildfowl, waders and herons especially hard, as they simply can't feed.

From the Bedsbirds email group:

"Sadly a frozen dead Grey Heron was seen by the bridge still standing in the water tight up against the bank and still in hunting posture"

There are plans in place to help Bitterns, amongst other things; they're getting sprats put out for them at key locations. Which reminds me - stay off the whitebait.

Perhaps things will get better this week, as it's due to get up to about 3 degrees C on Friday!

Despite - or perhaps because of - the terrible weather, there have been interesting things to see. The garden list for 2010 (if there was such a thing) got off to a good start with our regular Marsh Tits putting in an appearance, plus the rarer species House Sparrow, Starling, Sparrowhawk and a female Bullfinch briefly. The latter is a garden mega!

We've had up to three Reed Buntings coming to feed, too. I've even seen them seeking out the seeds from the long grass surrounding the pond, which was nice to see. Now the garden's untidiness is justified entirely.

I visited my parents on New Year's Day. This was a very pleasant experience, but tinged with jealousy. They have two Fieldfares coming to their windfall apples. We don't get Fieldfares in our garden, only in the big tree briefly. If that was not bad enough, one came within three metres of the house to eat pyracantha berries. And I had left my camera at home.

Next morning I saw a female Blackcap coming to bathe in their pond. Haven't had a wintering Blackcap in my garden. Grrrr,

On Thursday lunchtime I watched a flock of 30 Redwings burrowing into snow-covered leaf litter in search of bugs to eat. They were getting right among the leaves, so must have dug through the snow to expose the leaves and their inhabitants. I like to think that birds are tougher and more adaptable than we give them credit for...

photo taken with Canon EOS 30D

The pain, the pain...

The first ringing session of 2010 in our garden yielded lots of interesting things, but the pain was all mine.

We caught a whopping 39 Blue Tits, and my fingers still sting from their frenzied pecking... 14 of those were birds we'd caught before (known as 'retraps').

The three Robins have appeared from somewhere - we hadn't caught one since March. I've seen four at once in the garden in the past week, alternating between an uneasy truce and all-out war.

We trapped another three juvenile Marsh Tits - they just keep coming!

Starling (adult female) and Great Spotted Woodpecker (adult male) have been infrequent visitors lately, so it was lucky to catch them. I received a good pecking from them both, with the woodpecker drawing blood and leaving my fingers covered in pock-marks.

One of the Greenfinches (pictured) was already ringed, but not here! Del had caught it in his garden, 6 km away. That means it's a 'control', the first for the garden!

We missed a female Reed Bunting, which dodged the net, and a Sparrowhawk that's been hanging around for the past few days. Just seen it this afternoon, though - you can't catch 'em all.

The totals:

• Blue Tit, 25 new ones and 14 we'd caught before
• Great Tit, 12 new and 8 retraps
• Robin, 3 new
• Marsh Tit, 3 new
• Dunnock, 3 new, 1 retrap
• Coal Tit, 1 new, 2 retraps
• Starling, 1
• Great Spotted Woodpecker, 1
• House Sparrow, 1
• Greenfinch, 2 new, 1 control
• Blackbird, 1 retrap

- a total of 79 birds caught in 50 feet of net - our biggest-ever catch.

photo taken with Canon EOS 30D

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