July Birding and other wildlife

Following on from a quiet June, July hasn't been particularly busy for bird feeding either. Still, the nice weather has been good for photography and many of the birds can be found enjoying the sun too. A family of Wrens fledgled the nest just under the roof at the back of the shop next to the road, the youngsters were regularly over by the log pile near the hide, one evidently finding the sun a bit tiring!

Juvenile Wren

Yellowhammers and Whitethroats can be heard calling from down on the farm, only a short walk to where they are singing but not easy to get close to photograph!

Whitethroat

We never had Siskins visit the Nature Area this winter, though I had them visit on a few occassions at home. For some reason, they are now visiting at home much more regularly, though just a male and female still. Allan has a whole family visiting his garden at the minute and has been watching the fledglings being fed by the adults.

Male Siskin

When the birds are quiet, it's quite nice to search for and photograph other wildlife. A dock leaf plant just outside the shop was covered in Blackfly (Black aphids) which are a favourite food of the Ladybird and ladybird larvae, though the Ants provide some protection for the aphids as they former feed off the 'honeydew' the aphids produce.

Seven-spot Ladybird larvae

Seven-spot Ladybird

There are a few more butterflies around now too, though they are still not in abundance. Large and Small Whites, Large and Small Skippers, Red Admirals, Meadow Browns, Small Tortoiseshells and Commas.

Comma

Comma Butterfly underwing, showing the 'comma' it gets its name from.

Our resident Pied Wagtails are doing well with their nest in the pallets, the eggs have hatched and the adult(s) are now bringing food in. I question whether there are two adults left as a Sparrowhawk flew off with a bird in its talons and one of the Wagtails in pursuit, and I've only seen one adult bird since...

Pied Wagtail

The Nature Area needed a bit of tending; some light gardening, a few feeders needed cleaning and a few things moving around. Overall, there's now a better view of the feeders from the hide and better opportunities for photography.

Juvenile Great Tit

(Crested) Blue Tit

Great Tit and Goldfinch

Robin

We are well prepared for our Owl Display & Barbecue on Saturday, the forecast for 20° and sunny spells promising a fine day. You can find out more about the event on our previous blog post here: www.blog.featherswildbirdcare.co.uk/2015/06/owl-display-beer-bbq-sat-18th-july.html

Hawke and Vanguard Optics will both be here on the day displaying their range of binoculars, in the meantime you can browse our entire range of binoculars online here: www.shop.featherswildbirdcare.co.uk

First frost...

Last winter we only had (that I can recall) 3 frosts, to say the winter weather never really arrived wouldn't be far off the mark. This morning's frost, therefore, was very welcome.

At home, a flock of Fieldfares passed over and the feeders were very busy, with the small garden birds refuelling after losing body heat overnight. Here at Feathers, the Starlings are gathering in numbers as European birds join our resident population to form large flocks, or murmurations, as they are properly known! Song Thrushes and Mistle Thrushes (pictured below) are becoming a more regular sighting, especially the latter, with the odd small group of Redwings passing over but not yet staying. A relative rarity for us is the Coal Tit, though this little beauty has now started turning up regularly outside the shop. The idea of this blog is to keep better records of things like this, so it will be interested to see if the same thing happens next year.

As we enter November, Christmas ads start appearing on our screens and the much anticipated one in recent years has been the John Lewis advert. This years has lived up to the reputation, featuring #MontyThePenguin, a (very realistic) CGI Adelie Penguin:

Many of you may remember these little penguins from Frozen Planeta few years back, stealing stones from other Adelie Penguin's nests!

Don't forget our Winter Sale is now on, most of our range of binoculars have something off and with Christmas 7 weeks away now, now's the time to shop!