Summer sightings

It's been a fairly average summer, both weather wise and bird wise. There has been very little of note, but it does seem to have been a successful breeding season for many garden birds. Once again blue tits have been the most abundant, but we've been hearing reports of house sparrows, goldfinches and great spotted woodpeckers aplenty too.

Juv great spotted woodpecker 07/06/19

A pair of kestrels nesting in the church again this year, raising 3 or 4 young. Occasionally a hobby caused a stir, harassing the youngsters but soon seen off by the adults.

Hobby 04/07/19

The swifts, which also nest in the church, seemed to have another successful year, with a highest count of 16.

Swift 12/07/19

Green woodpeckers have been busy this summer, the farmhouse lawn the most common place to find them but one juvenile took a liking to sitting on the old wall.

Juv green woodpecker 13/07/19

Both male and female sparrowhawks have been swooping through, with an unfortunate sparrow falling victim to the male on one occasion.

Male sparrowhawk 19/07/19

Male sparrowhawk with sparrow prey 19/07/19

Buzzards had been oddly quiet early in the summer, but with the arrival of some finer weather later in August, sightings became more regular.

Buzzard 23/08/19

August was dominated by blue tits on the feeders, with species such as blackbird and great spotted woodpecker becoming notably absent as they found more natural food. By later in the month the long-tailed tits arrived back after a summer hiatus, and a few chiffchaffs starting appearing, feeding up before their long migration south.

Long-tailed tit 30/08/19

Chiffchaff 29/08/19

We are still waiting for our 100th species, having been on 99 now since spring last year. Bring it on!

Coal Tit Influx

I have to admit to having not known about Coal Tit migration, though in my defence it supposedly goes unnoticed most years. Even now I'm struggling to find much information about it. Numbers of British Coal Tits are bolstered in the Autumn/Winter as Continental birds arrive, apparently a subspecies, though very difficult to tell apart.

We certainly seem to be spotting more Coal Tits recently than usual here at Feathers, with last week's ringing session (the first in nearly two years) adding 5 new Coal Tits to the list, which itself stood at only 9 birds over a period of 3 years. Still we are spotting Coal Tits regularly without rings, suggesting there are a fair few in the vicinity.

Coal Tit 06/10/15 (not ringed)

 The ringing started sometime around 6am (I was of course still in bed at this time!) and by the time I arrived at work the wind had picked up so fewer birds were landing in the mist nets. Still I had the opportunity to photograph a Robin and Great Tit in the hand.

Great Tit (female)

Robin

Following on from last week's blog post, the Treecreeper(s) is now regular it seems, along with the Goldcrests.

Treecreeper

Treecreeper

Goldcrest

 The sycamore tree which overhangs the entrance to the car park seems to be the main attraction, with a late influx of Chiffchaffs finding plenty of food, but no sign of any Yellow-browed Warblers which are being spotted all over the place.

Chiffchaff

The Green Woodpecker, presuming it's the same young male bird, looked a bit tidier this week!

Young male Green Woodpecker

Young male Green Woodpecker

 A pair of Grey Wagtails were back today too, having been missed for a week or so, though the 10 Pied Wagtails are very active at the minute.

Still a dozen or so House Martins being spotted regularly (including today) so I will try to make note of the last sighting date.

No early signs of any Redwings or Fieldfares yet, though I've seen a few more Mistle Thrushes than usual as of late. I still hear Siskins flying over regularly too, and with the news that plenty are on their way south (along with Goldfinches) I expect we may have a few visiting soon. Many of both species will continue their flight from their northern UK breeding grounds through the south of England on to southern Europe, but hopefully we will hang on to a few this winter with the possibility of a Brambling joining in the mix too. Fingers crossed!

Photos from September

It's fair to say August and September were rather wet months, with warm, sunny spells thrown in on the odd occasion. This has meant the feeders have been relatively busy for what is normally a quiet time of year, but still just the usual visitors. I know there are Siskins around as they often fly over but we're still yet to see them in the Nature Area this year! Outside the shop, the Grey Wagtail has been visiting, the Green Woodpecker is visiting the farmhouse lawn in search of ants and the Treecreeper is flocking with a group of regular Goldcrests.

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First Brambling and other sightings

The first Brambling of the winter for us turned up on Saturday, unfortunately neither Allan or I were there to spot it but a keen young birder called Liam was on hand to spot and photograph it. He kindly sent us the photos he took of this beautiful bird.

A pair of Ravens were around late last week too, only a brief sighting as they passed over. The Grey Wagtail is back, always nice to see. A Green Woodpecker yaffled as it picked up from the lawn of the house over the road, and a Kestrel was calling just now as I type.

The feeders have been getting busier still, with daytime temperatures now around 9 or 10° and night time at 6 or 7°. Still perhaps a bit above average for this time of year and certainly no more frosts forecast but hopefully we'll see some colder weather in the next month or so which may bring the Brambling (and hopefully others) back. Our visiting 'charm' of Goldfinches is numbering 20+, though 1 photo doesn't always show how busy the feeders actually are. I took almost 100 of one feeder in the Nature Area and then stitched a few together in photoshop after to emphasize it!

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