Summer roundup

June's fine, warm weather seemed to be the best of the summer as it made way to cooler temperatures and plenty of rain throughout the school holidays. Apart from the odd day, the feeders in our new 'nature area' outside the shop have remained busy throughout the season. The bulk of the birds using the feeders have been Blue Tits, Great Tits, Coal Tits, Collared Doves, House Sparrows, Robins, Dunnocks, Chaffinches and Goldfinches. We do see Greenfinches occasionally, although of course their numbers have declined dramatically over the past 12 years thanks to Tricho. The Great Spotted Woodpecker family have mostly disappeared, going back to natural food which is most abundant for them at this time of year, as is also the case for Blackbirds and Starlings. Nuthatches visit fairly regularly but are always in and out in a flash.

Blue Tit

Coal Tit

Great Tit

Non-feeder visitors include daily Goldcrests & Chiffchaffs, with Swallows and House Martins overhead. The Swifts departed some time in August without so much as a goodbye. Our first Spotted Flycatcher sighting of the year came on the last day of August down by the cow sheds where the Chiffchaffs have been so active. Unfortunately the bird didn't stay long!

Spotted Flycatcher, 31/08/17

A week later on the 9th September, in the very same spot, came our 95th addition to our species list. Once again the Chiffchaffs were actively searching for insects when another warbler arrived, sat and had a quick preen before flying off. The visit lasted no more than 10 seconds but fortunately I managed to get a few photographs to confirm its ID as a Reed Warbler.

Reed Warbler, 09/09/17

Last week saw our first sighting of a Treecreeper in a while. I recognised the call immediately and managed to find the bird on the Oak Tree in the car park. My photos aren't particularly good but it was nice to see none-the-less!

Treecreeper, 15/09/17

Most likely the same pair of Grey Wagtails which successfully raised a brood here in May/June have been back recently too, joining the Pied Wagtails.

Pied Wagtail

Grey Wagtail

Finally, this afternoon I have seen a pair of Marsh Tits back for the first time since February. I had gone out after hearing the Treecreeper again, and while looking for it in the oak tree I spotted the Marsh Tit at the feeder. They were going for Black Sunflowers, presumably caching them for the winter.

Marsh Tit, 19/09/17

Shop News:

At the start of September we became a Premier Dealer for Zeiss binoculars. This addition to our range furthers our reputation as the best place in the county for trying out optics, and gives customers an opportunity to compare two alpha brands in Swarovski and Zeiss. We now have around 60 pairs of binoculars in stock so the cabinets are looking pretty grand!

Summer roundup!

It's fair to say I haven't kept up with the blog this summer, for some reason it has been pushed to the back of the queue, even though I told myself I wanted to keep better records of our sightings at Feathers.

It seems this breeding season was fairly successful for most species locally, although there was certainly a shortage of House Martins and Swallows attempting to breed here. There were no sightings of Spotted Flycatchers in Spring/Summer, which have at least attempted breeding in the past 5 years. None of our Tit/Robin nest boxes were occupied this year, though once again they found other cracks and crevices around the farm to nest. The Kestrels successfully raised another brood in Salehurst Church (which also houses the Swifts), although one juvenile was taken in to care with a broken wing and another was found dead shortly after. We're not sure whether there were more than 2 juveniles, let's hope at least one made it. Juvenile Great Spotted Woodpeckers once again provided great entertainment outside the shop, allowing for close photographs. Mixed flocks fed in the oak trees over the road, with a family of Treecreepers present in late July. The feeders on the whole remained fairly active throughout June and in to July, but the warmer weather which graced us late in to the month and is still going strong now (29° here yesterday!) caused a huge decrease in activity. As lovely as it is, we are looking forward to cooler weather returning and the feeders become busy once more.

Juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker

Juvenile Kestrel

Juvenile Goldfinch

Juvenile Treecreeper

As we entered early Autumn, signs of migration increased. The Swifts were first to go, whereas many others are feeding up in preperation for their long journey ahead. Good numbers of House Martins have been feeding in the blue skies, joined by young Swallows. Our first sighting of a Spotted Flycatcher was on the 6th September, the same day a pair of Wheatears made a surprise visit to Parsonage Farm. This was only our second record here and our first 'from the shop'. Chiffchaffs have been singing and feeding in the sycamore tree, also enjoying the flurry of insects the warmer weather is providing. All, I'm sure, will be heading south as soon as the cold arrives.

Wheatear

Spotted Flycatcher

Chiffchaff

Robins have changed from their summer 'look at me' to their winter 'stay well clear' song. Lots of territory battles taking place outside the shop and in the Nature Area.

 Find our more about Feathers Wild Bird Care on our website www.featherswildbirdcare.co.uk

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June Birding

June is normally one of our busiest months of the year, both in the shop and for birds on the feeders, as all the fledglings arrive in gardens. It seems this year is significantly quieter, very few Blue Tits or Great Tits, the Sparrows are busy but not a whole load of youngsters, the Starling youngsters were out in May and have slowed down too. The Great Spotted Woodpeckers have brought one juvenile in though, which is always nice to watch, and the Nuthatches are certainly regular at the minute too.

Adult Male (left) and juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker

A brief but nice surprise in the Nature Area was a male Blackcap, just staying long enough for Allan to get a nice photo.

Unfortunately the Spotted Flycatcher's attempt to breed was unsuccessful, the nest was built but then destroyed, presumably by a corvid or rat. A big disappointment for us as they now haven't bred here for the past 3 years.

The Pied Wagtails didn't breed in the same place as last year and so far we have seen no young, though they are seemingly now gathering nesting material so we're keeping watch on that.

The Kestrels, however, did breed in the same place again as the Church tower evidently provides a safe home. Though we haven't kept up with their progress as well this year, they are certainly very active now and it seems the young are out flying now, though not venturing too far from the safety of the Church, particularly as the Jackdaws give them a lot of grief!

Allan had an unusual event in his garden recently as an adult Great Tit was feeding a couple of baby Blue Tits. This is known as cross-species feeding and according to the linked BTO article can be down to a number of factors, including mixed clutches and nest failure.

Cross-species feeding: Adult Great Tit feeding fledgling Blue Tit

Spotted Flycatcher

In 2013, the Spotted Flycatchers investigated the nest site they had used previously but disappeared without attempting to breed and in 2014, we only spotted one a couple of times during the summer. So this year we were hoping they would return to breed once more, as unlikely as it seemed. Much to our delight, Allan spotted one by the Oast House on the 27th May and a pair together on the following day. They have now built a good nest which will hopefully withstand any further miserable weather we seem to have been getting recently. They're not always around the nest site at the minute and are obviously venturing further afield to find food, and after having last week off, I'm now back and hoping to get a few nice pics. Today's fine weather presented my first opportunity and Allan has taken some nice pictures too.

The Oast House is also home to a pair of Blue Tits, at least one pair of Wrens and numerous House Sparrows. The Blue Tits in the nest box in the nature area fledged late in May.