Thursday 31 March 2011

Waxilicious!

Looking out over the back garden at 11:30 this morning, I was surprised and delighted to see a Waxwing flycatching just a couple of gardens away.  In fact there were 2 birds.  They settled on top of the same tree that a single bird had alighted on back in December giving me my first Waxwing garden tick!  This time, they remained long enough for a quick record shot before being flushed towards the front side of the house.  From the front drive, I found them again sitting at the top of a large Ash tree about 80 yards away.  Now I could see that there were 4 birds.  They began flycatching again, always returning to this tree - their gentle trilling easily heard even at this distance.  After a further 10 minutes, the final tally was actually 5 birds.  I watched them until about midday, taking some more record shots, which was not easy, as the wind was getting up and making the Ash tree sway quite a bit - the best of a bad bunch is shown below.  I did not see them leave, but shortly after midday they had gone and had not returned by late afternoon.  At one point, my view through the scope held Waxwing, Brambling, Goldfinch and Greenfinch - an interesting mixed flock!

Monday 28 March 2011

Early House Martin

A run of mild sunny days has seen many of the year's first Spring migrants appearing in the country.  I was very surprised to look up on the afternoon on March 26th and see a hirundine flying over the north end of the valley and also over the garden.  Anticipating a Sand Martin, as they are the most likely early hirundine, I was amazed to see the white rump of a House Martin.  This represents my earliest ever House Martin and follows my earliest ever Swallow on the 22nd and more usual Sand Martin on the 24th (although the latter two were not from the garden!).  The House Martin was present for about 30 minutes before it moved on.

Redpoll Bonanza

This has been my best Winter by far for Redpolls visiting the garden. It has always been a sporadic visitor in very small numbers, with birds pretty much always seen feeding in silver birch, never on the feeders, rarely returning on a regular basis. This year has been no different, but larger flocks have been seen plus more regular ones and twos. At midday on March 17th a small flock of about 10 birds bounced out of the adjacent wood (as per usual!) into the birches and I had about 5 minutes to watch them before they spooked, never to return. This is the second largest flock I have had following 13 birds on Boxing Day. Whether they are always in the surrounding woods, which are vast, and just chance upon my garden occasionally, or whether they are transient flocks I am not sure. The flock today was binned and scoped during their brief feeding and of the birds I scrutinised, all were Lessers, but one was a Mealy - an obviously larger, greyer bird showing pale mantle lines and rump.  I keep hoping these birds will hang around a bit more, but they never seem to.  When I actually have a telescope and camera on hand to try and grab a record shot, there are only Lessers on view!  The shot below is another poor record, but shows a fairly typical worn Spring Lesser Redpoll exhibiting pale mantle lines, but a very brown colouration to the rest of the mantle, along with very white looking wing bars, tertial and primary feather edging.

Wednesday 16 March 2011

Spring has Sprung!

My first Brimstone of the year, a fine lemon yellow male, was in flight over the garden on March 12th.  It was a lovely sunny and mild day and another sign that Spring is here!

Continuing the Spring build up of Bramblings, 14 birds were present around the feeders on the 10th, including some males beginning to take on their summer finery.


In fact, finches are much in evidence at the moment, with regular flocks of up to 7 Siskins and the occasional Lesser Redpoll feeding with Goldfinches in the Silver Birch trees.

Also, with the continuing presence of spawning frogs, a Grey Heron continues to try his luck when not scared off by movement from the house.  Having said that a Common Buzzard has not appeared this year to feed on the frogs, a bird swooped in on March 13th and pounced on a poor unsuspecting individual before flying off to feed in a nearby tree.

Thursday 10 March 2011

Frog Snatcher

An adult Grey Heron was trying his luck at catching the spawning frogs in the pond again this morning.  I had thought that the frogs had finished for the year judging by the amount of spawn present, but in recent sunny days, another 10 to 20 have appeared.  With their outstanding eyesight, Grey Herons will spook at the slightest movement, even through double glazed windows, so this record shot was taken whilst lying on my stomach with up stretched arms.  When I stood up, he took off immediately with a loud 'craak' - but I'm sure he'll be back during a quieter moment.  (Although there are several metal ornaments surrounding him, I assure you that he is not plastic!)

Tuesday 1 March 2011

First Signs of Spring

Some very mild days over the past couple of weeks, with temperatures in double figures on several days, has helped with the onset of Spring.  In particular, in my garden, frogs have returned to the pond to spawn.  In fact, they have pretty much finished, which is quite early compared to other years.  In excess of 100 frogs have created a huge batch of spawn that covers the northern bank of the pond.  In past years, their frenetic activity has attracted one of the local Common Buzzards - it would swoop down, land in the water and walk about until it speared a frog in its talons, then fly up to a nearby oak bough and devour its catch.  After about 30 minutes it would repeat the exercise.  This would go on for many hours until it had had its fill.  This year is the first year in many that this has not happened, maybe put off by a local black cat that has also taken a fancy to the movement despite best efforts to remove it.

However, this morning, March 1st, I opened the curtains and disturbed a Grey Heron that flew off from the pond.  Another bird was perched on the garden shed, which followed its companion up and away.  No further frogs have been seen, so I guess they have finished off the stragglers between them.

A few bumble bees have been seen, including 2 sightings of the now regular Bombus hypnorum, Tree Bee.  It is surprising how over a few years this recent colonist has become firmly established.

Another recent coup has been the sighting of at least 4 House Sparrows, no more than 400 yards from the garden.  I thought that this species had become extinct from this area, with only 2 garden sightings, the last being 6 years ago, so this was very encouraging.  I even managed a scope view of a male and female in a distant hedge from the lounge, which is even better!

Blackcaps are quite regular visitors to the feeders at present, usually a lone female, but also a female and a male, so at least 2 maybe 3 birds.  Bramblings are also fairly regular, but in small numbers.  They usually build slightly in number in late Winter through March, but the maximum daily count so far is just 5 birds, 3 males and 2 females - still, always a delight to see.  Siskins are also more regular this time of year before they depart to their breeding grounds.





The other sign of Spring is the sound of the Tawny Owls' courtship song.  Described as a 'xylophone trill' this rather musical un Owl-like low trill is made by either sex and can be heard most evenings at present.  Hopefully, this is the precursor to another nesting attempt in the owl box - certainly at least one bird is seen fairly frequently roosting at the entrance to the box at the moment.