First post, last departures!

It's time we started keeping better records of our sightings here, which in turn will help us look back each year and compare when the first summer/winter arrivals turned up, which birds are most frequent at what time of year and of course to share all our sightings/photos with you all.

On Saturday 22nd October we saw a young Swallow hawking in the blue skies, unless we post otherwise this would be our last sighting this year for a Hirundine - the House Martins were in good numbers up until a couple of weeks ago but still up to 10 around earlier this week.

The 22nd also saw our first confirmed Redwing sighting - with other probables earlier in the week. Fieldfares are still absent, though we have Mistle Thrushes most days and an unfortunate Song Thrush fell victim to this female Sparrowhawk.

Temperatures are still above average for October, around 15 degrees during the day. This means the feeders are still relatively quiet, though we have noticed an increase in Goldfinches and Greenfinches feeding on the sunflower hearts in the Nature Area. Long-tailed Tits seem to be appearing more regularly too, a sure sign the winter is drawing near. A sedge/siege of Grey Herons passed over on the 24th.


We expect to be stocking Nikon binoculars soon on top of our current selection of Opticron, Hawke, Viking and RSPB. Check our website regularly for new models and perhaps, if you're lucky, sale prices: www.shop.featherswildbirdcare.co.uk