Autumn's arrival

There are many signs of Autumn arriving, some more obvious than others, and for me the most significant is a change in the birds and their behaviour. Often around September, after an exhausting breeding season and a subsequent moult into nice new feathers, some species which may have been largely absent in gardens during the summer will return in search of food. Large mixed tit flocks, often interspersed with goldcrests, treecreepers and chiffchaffs, descend on gardens as their natural food supply dwindles. Long-tailed tits will come in search of suet, while the coal and marsh tits favour black sunflowers or sunflower hearts to cache away for the winter. Nuthatches will do the same, and you may notice more regular visits than at other times of year, as they busily collect seeds to cram in to any nook or cranny they can find.

Long-tailed tit

Chiffchaff

Goldcrest

Coal tit

Nuthatch

Marsh tit

Squirrels and jays are both famous for their 'caching' behaviour, with the latter believed to be the reason for the wide distribution of oak trees in the UK.

October is normally the time when large charms of goldfinches appear in gardens, particularly in the south east, frantically feeding before some head further south to spend the winter. At Feathers we've had a charm of about 20-30 birds regularly visiting the feeders for the sunflower hearts.

Of course, Autumn is also the time for summer migrants departing and winter migrants arriving. We're still seeing the odd one or two house martins and swallows even now, while the first redwings and fieldfares we first spotted a couple of weeks ago.

Redwing showing how it got its name

Last out and first in

Although the number of breeding house martins has dropped here over the years, there were plenty of visitors up until mid October. Then, only a few days after the last hirundine had departed, the first of the redwings arrived - the characteristic 'seep' unmistakable as it flew over. I had heard and seen a few flocks on Ashdown Forest just a few days earlier so knew they were around in Sussex. During the same excursion, I became familiar with the flight call of meadow pipits, which were in good numbers at Old Lodge Nature Reserve. The next morning at work after getting out of the car, the first thing I heard was the same call before spotting a small flock flying around. Since then, I have heard and seen them on numerous occasions, so I can only imagine there are a few more around here in the Autumn. The addition of meadow pipit brought our species list at Feathers up to 95.

Probably the most notable change this month has been the increase in the number of coal tits. Their behaviour of caching food makes it hard to count, as they are 'in and out' in a matter of seconds, but the most we have counted at once up to now is 6. This is fairly unusual for coal tits in the south east, and the increase has been noticed by many customers too. Subsequently, sales of black sunflowers in the shop have increased exponentially. Sunflower hearts and niger seed are also selling fast thanks to the huge number of goldfinches around at the minute. Goldfinches are a resident species but many spend the winter in France or Spain, so October sees a huge movement of birds heading south, but feeding up in the south east before crossing the channel.

Goldfinch

Coal tit

Blackcap (female)

Goldcrest

Treecreeper

Winter Weather

Yesterday's horrendous rain turned to heavy snow at around 6.30pm as the temperature dropped, leaving a fair dusting greeting us this morning. This is the first snow of the winter, which has been mostly above average temperatures with a few short cold snaps. Off the back of a mild autumn and coupled with an abundance of natural food, feeder activity has been a bit short so far this season, with sales of food slightly below winter 2015.

We've had one brief visit from a Brambling so far (11th November) and a few Siskin flyovers but none stopping yet. Good numbers of Fieldfares and Redwings were present late in 2016 feeding on the yew trees, but after the food was gone they mostly moved on, though flocks can be seen most days flying over. A Grey Wagtail was regular from late October through to December, joining the resident Pied Wagtails, and a Red-legged Partridge was an unexpected visitor to the nature area on the 24th November.

After October's Buzzard sighting, our first 'perched' photos from Feathers, I was hugely surprised to find one sitting on the fence post in the Nature Area as I entered the hide one morning in December. The grubby windows seemed to help hide me, enough to at least manage a few photos and a video before it flew down to the ground behind. I managed to stay hidden as I crept around the hide for a few clearer pictures before it took off.

The colder weather which arrived at the turn of the year seems to have increased the activity on the feeders significantly, especially with today's brief flurry of snow and 2°C temperature! A pair of Marsh Tits have turned up, quite a rare visitor for us, and are now taking beakfuls of sunflower hearts to store away. Flocks of Long-tailed Tits regularly pass through and Coal Tits are here most of the time too. Charms of Goldfinches, a few Greenfinches, plenty of Chaffinches, Robins, Dunnocks, Blackbirds, House Sparrows, Nuthatch & Great Spotted Woodpecker sum up the other regulars.

Seeing Red

Redpoll, Redwing and Red Kite - three not so common sightings for us, but all three spotted in the past few weeks. The Redpoll (Lesser) arrived on the 26th March amongst the many Siskins and Goldfinches in the Nature Area. The initial rush to get record photographs has proved unnecessary as it is still around now, with two couples spotting it from the hide yesterday morning. Still, an unusual visitor here, though perhaps not too much of a surprise with numerous sightings locally this winter, including a few here one or twice late last year. The Redwing was in fact in the Nature Area at the same time as the initial sighting, and though not as uncommon as the rest (certainly during a cold winter or in the Autumn as they demolish the yew berries) was still a surprise given the time of year.

Last Spring, Red Kites were not an uncommon sighting in East Sussex, with the SOS receiving many reports of most likely migrants arriving back in the UK after spending the winter in warmer climes. Even here we had a period of a week or two (around late March) where we were spotting them regularly, though between then and now we have only noted one sighting on the 10th October, perhaps a bird making its way back south. Yesterday morning (12th April) a single bird graced the glorious blue sky and was soon joined by 2 Buzzards - a delight to watch and made all the more enjoyable by the long time it spent lazily soaring in the thermals, allowing for some nice views through the bins and a few record shots with the camera.

Red Kite (right) with 2 Buzzards

The feeders have quietened down significantly as anticipated; April is always a quiet month as the birds have other things on their mind, along with a more plentiful supply of natural food. Still it's one of my favourite times of the year, with longer (plus hopefully warmer) days and the arrival of the spring migrants. Our first Cuckoo was heard this morning, Chiffchaffs chiffchaffing for perhaps a couple of weeks and a couple of local Swallows, though none here yet. You can see our spring first dates here which will be updated as new arrivals turn up.

Once again, the Kestrels are inspecting the church, and once again they are getting hassle from the local Jackdaws. It never seems to put them off so hopefully we will witness this space being used once again to raise another brood.

Binocular sales have been exceptionally good for us since adding Swarovski to our range late last year, allowing us to expand very recently with the addition of Vortex optics. On Sunday 17th April I will be attending Kent Wildlife Trust's Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve for an Optics Demonstration Day, and another on Sunday 1st May at Bough Beech, so do pop along if you can.

Another warm, wet winter?

Apart from a few cold days in November including a 2 minute flurry of snow (if you can call it that), so far this winter the weather has been mild with plenty of rain, much like the weather for the past 2 winters. Temperatures are still around 11/12° most days and not much cooler at night. Activity on the feeders has increased, yet without the cold weather, it's still mostly the regulars visiting, with no sign yet of any Siskins again. Hopefully the new year will see some proper winter weather and a few more exciting birds will visit.

None-the-less, over the last couple of months we have had a couple of visits from a Black Redstart, in fact even a pair came in October.

Female Black Redstart 20th October 2015

Female Black Redstart 20th October 2015

Spot the Grey Wagtail!

Black Redstart back again on the 26th November

The influx of Goldcrests which arrived in September/October has lead to daily visits from often more than 1 bird, not always easy to photograph as they constantly flit searching for food, even though they aren't all that fussed about getting too close.

We have had a few visiting Redpolls, mostly passers by, only once or twice stopping in the Nature Area. A good few Redwings, Fieldfares and Mistle Thrushes have been eating the yew berries and the Blackbirds have now started on the holly too. Again without the frost there are none visiting the Nature Area.

Redwing

Our winter sale continues on our range of Hawke, Opticron, Swarovski, Vanguard and Viking binoculars: www.shop.featherswildbirdcare.co.uk

Our prices are very competitive, our service is superlative and there's still time until the end of next week to have them arrive before Christmas!

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