The first Willow Warblers, Blackcaps and Swallows have appeared locally whilst most of the winter visitors seem to have taken advantage of a break in the weather and flown back to Scandinavia. With one exception......
Several times over the last week or so I thought I'd caught a glimpse of a Brambling feeding on the ground on spilt seed with our local Chaffinch flock. I'd even convinced myself I'd heard one call but I couldn't see it. Friday morning dawned sunny and bright and a quick stake out over breakfast and there it was - a very elusive and shy female brambling!
I haven't got round to downloading this picture form the camera yet so this is a back of the camera record shot - in fact its the only shot I got! It was very elusive and literally came to feed for a few seconds at a time before flying off again. Still, a nice garden and patch year tick!
A walk round the lanes was rewarded with three male Yellowhammers on territory, including two singing birds. One of the local ponds was home to a pair of Tufted Ducks and a field of winter wheat held a pair of Hares. Fantastic to see them still around this year.
Another crap shot taken with the phone through the binoculars. Two more mammal species were recorded in the garden with the first Hedgehog of the year making an appearance whilst a nest box inspection gave me shock when two Wood Mice jumped out over my shoulder.
Sunday dawned misty but with the threat of sunshine breaking through and no wind so I took the opportunity to do some ringing as, besides the Brambling, there were good numbers of Goldfinches, Greenfinches and Chaffinches in the garden.
Some of the Chaffinches were very big suggesting a Scandinavian origin and were almost as bulky as the Greenfinches. This 2nd calendar year male (Euring 5) was easily aged by the presence of two old (juvenile) greater coverts that are browner than the darker adult inner ones it moulted last autumn. The primaries and tail were also very worn as can be seen from the photo below.
Incredibly I caught 5 different Great Spotted Woodpeckers - three males and two females with another un-ringed female turning up later once I'd taken the nets down. Only one of these birds had been ringed previously - in July last year. As we don't have any large woods within a km of the garden this was quite impressive. Its not often that the 2nd most numerous bird in a ringing session is Great Spotted Woodpecker!
Spending a lot Sunday outside also resulted in me adding (heard only) Green Woodpecker to the patch and garden year list with a bird 'yaffling' distantly several times. They're pretty scarce locally but this bird was probably one of the pair that are frequently seen a couple of km's away at Chester Zoo.
Lots of birds are now beginning to settle down to breeding and a Robins nest with 5 eggs in a dwarf conifer in the front garden was no surprise as they'd nested nearby last year. Jackdaws have been scouring the blackthorn hedges for clumps of sheep's wool and flying off to line their nests. With the drier weather the Little Owls put in an appearance and the male could be heard singing for the first time this year. He's also been hunting in broad daylight so the female is either on eggs already or he's making up for lost time and feeding up whilst the weathers dry.
Last autumn I put aside part of the lawn to plant wildflowers in. I bought a load of plug plants - Betony, Oxeye Daisies, Knapweed and Cowslips and they're all beginning to come up. I also planted quite a few Snakehead Fritillaries but this one is not one of those! A beautiful flower whatever its origins.
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