Year List Update

 Yesterday, I added a few more birds to the Year List. The first four were all at Rufford CP, yesterday, and included my first site record of Raven. The final addition, Greenfinch, was seen in the garden today.

The additions are: Canada Goose (92), Lesser Black-backed Gull (93), Raven (94), Goosander (95) and Greenfinch (96). 

Garden Blackcap

I was watching the birds in the garden this morning for the BTO's Garden Birdwatch Scheme, when I spotted a small bird hopping around the bottom of the buddleia. I noticed the brown cap immediately, and thought Blackcap!

I grabbed the camera just as the bird flew up and landed in the Mahonia bush, where it stayed for about 30 seconds, before it dropped back down into the hedge and was lost from view. A nice "year tick" for January.

Blackcap

Year List update:
58: Blackcap

Starlings have gone

Last Thursday morning (30th June) I heard the  young Starlings in the nestbox on the side of my house. When I got home from work in the evening it was all quiet, so I had a look in and saw that the box was empty.

Empty box

As you can see, all 3 of the chicks have managed to fledge, taking this year's total to 8, the highest number in one year, and the first time this box has been used twice on the same season. I haven't seen any of the birds from either nesting attempt in the garden yet.

The details have been added to the BTO's Nestbox Challenge.

House Sparrow Nest

As well as the Starling nest box I also have a House Sparrow Terrace on the side of my house. It was used last year, and I managed to ring a couple of pulli (see here). This year I noticed birds attending the box and yesterday I had a quick check to see what was happening. Here's what I found:

House Sparrow eggs

I've entered the details into the BTO's Nest box Challenge scheme and will continue to monitor the outcome of the nest, and hopefully ring the chicks later in the season.

Garden Finches and a juvenile Woodpigeon

I watch and record the birds in my garden every week for the BTO's Garden Birdwatch Scheme. I don't blog about the results often, but this last week has been so good I wanted to share the news and a few photos.

Chaffinches, Greenfinches and Goldfinches are regular visitors to the garden throughout the year, with weekly winter totals averaging 15, 5 and 20 respectively. This year, however, these 3 species have been joins by their much less common cousins; Siskin, Lesser Redpoll, Brambling and Bullfinch.

Siskin in particular, have been very numerous this winter, with sightings in every week since the end of January. Numbers started off quite low, with 1s and 2s, but have steadily built up, culminating in a superb 14 birds this morning!

4 of today's 14 Siskins

Lesser Redpolls are not so numerous, but have again been present on and off throughout much of the Winter/early Spring.The maximum count so far being 6 present on 2nd April, including this very colourful male bird.

Lesser Redpoll and male Greenfinch

Bramblings were first recorded in mid January, with just 1 present. This built up to 3 birds; 2 males and 1 female, in February, until this afternoon, when I looked out and saw 7 birds, 2 males and 5 females, feeding on the lawn. This is my highest ever count!

Brambling

Bullfinches are the least common finch species in the garden, with just a few sightings each year. So far this year, I've recorded them on just s couple of occasions, including a pair today. Unfortunately, neither bird would pose for a photo.

Along with all the finches, the garden also attracts several other species on a daily basis, including Dunnock (3 today, singing and wing flicking to each other), Blue Tit (2), Coal Tit (1), Great Tit (1), Blackbird (4; 2 males and 2 females, 1 of which was collecting nesting materials), House Sparrow (1 male and 2 females, inspecting the nest box), Starling (4, including 2 nest building in the box), Collared Dove (1) and Woodpigeon (7, including the year's first juvenile bird!).

Juvenile Woodpigeon (complete with downy chest!)

2016 Starling Season Begins!

Last year the bird box on the side of my house was used by a pair of Starlings, and they managed to raise 5 healthy chicks (click on posts called Starling Nest 2015 for details). The birds have been back again over the winter period, singing around the box, and today, when I went out of the back door, I noticed some dry grasses on the doorstep. I decided to take a quick look in the box, and this is what I saw....

2016 nest started

As you can hopefully see, the birds have started a new nest- hurrah!!! 

Looking back at the records for 2015, the first signs of a nest were built in March (see post here). Perhaps they've built a bit earlier this year because of the mild winter? Anyway, whatever happens, I'll keep an eye on the box, record the details for the BTO's Nest Box Challenge, and hopefully, ring any chicks that the birds produce.

Garden Lesser Redpoll

The number of birds coming to the feeders in my garden has started to increase again in the last few weeks. When I got home from work this afternoon I filled the sunflower hearts and five minutes later spotted this- a Lesser Redpoll!

Lesser Redpoll

This is my first garden record since February, so it'll be a good record for the BTO's Garden Birdwatch Scheme. Other birds seen recently in the garden are: Blackbird, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Blue Tit, Coal Tit, Magpie, Dunnock, Starling, House Sparrow, Woodpigeon and Collared Dove.

Female Siskin

My last post gave details of an adult male Siskin that had appeared in the garden at the weekend. Well, yesterday he was still present, but had now been joined by a female bird! Here's a couple of pictures. The first picture shows the 2 birds together, whilst the second picture shows the female bird on the feeder.

Siskin

Another great record for the BTO's Garden Birdwatch Scheme.

Unseasonable Siskin

On Sunday evening, whilst having tea, I glanced out of the window and noticed this beauty feeding on the sunflower hearts- a male Siskin!

Siskin

Normally, I see Siskins in the garden in March and April, so it was quite a surprise to see this one at the start of July. To make it even more interesting, it turned out to be a "year tick". The bird was present again this morning, and has been added to this week's count for the BTO's Garden Birdwatch Scheme. Hopefully it'll hang around.

Year List update:
145 - Siskin

Garden Youngsters

The nice thing about watching the garden birds at this time of the year, is the fact that young birds start to fledge from nearby nests and appear in the garden. So far this year I've seen young Blackbirds, Starling, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Bullfinch,  Woodpigeon, Dunnock and House Sparrow. All records have been entered into the BTO's Garden Birdwatch Scheme.

Here are a few photos.

Blackbird

Dunnock

Starling

Goldfinch

Woodpigeon

Bullfinch

Starling Resighting

A couple of weeks ago I ringed a brood of 5 Starlings that had been raised in the box on the side of my house (see here). The birds fledged from the nest on 20th May (see here), and, although the garden has been full of Starlings every day, including 16 juveniles yesterday, I'd not seen any of the ringed birds.... until today.

Juvenile Starling

Whilst watching the garden for the BTO's Garden Birdwatch this morning I spotted one and then a second ringed bird. Now the chance of the birds having been ringed elsewhere was pretty slim, (I've never seen a ringed bird in my garden despite watching it every week since 1995!), but I still needed to get some proof that these were in fact "my" birds, so out came the camera.

After roughly an hour, and a lot of frustration, I managed to get photos of both birds' rings, giving me enough of the ring numbers to see that I did in fact have two of the birds ringed in the box, numbers LE57022 and LE57024. Here are a couple of the best pictures showing the last 2 digits of the rings.

Ring number LE57022

Ring number LE57024

Starling Update

A couple of weeks ago, I blogged about a pair of Starlings that have built a nest in a nestbox on the side of my house (see here). At the time, I wrote that the birds had just started to incubate a clutch of eggs, and speculated that the chicks would hatch sometime around about now! Well, on Thursday evening I got home from work and could hear noise coming from the nestbox. I had a quick look in this evening and got this picture.

                                                                      Starling chicks

If you click on the photo you should be able to count 5 yellow mouths or gapes, which the young birds use to encourage their parents to feed them. I've been providing mealworms fpr them, so hopefully this will give the chicks abit of a headstart.

Unfortunately, the weather has taken a turn for the worse this afternoon, and started to rain. The rain is forecast to continue through the night and into the morning, so I'm keeping everything crossed that the parents can do a good job at keeping them warm and dry tonight.

As always, I'll add this development to the BTO's Nestboxes Challenge website.

Starling Nest 2015- First eggs!

I've had a "Starling nestbox" on the side of my house since 2010. In the first year, it was used Great Tits who managed to raise a brood of six. It wasn't used in 2011 or 2013, and 2 failed nesting attempts took place in 2012. 2014 was the most successful year so far with 4 young raised to fledging, and this year will hopefully see another good season.

The first signs of nesting began on 8th March, when this photograph was taken (sorry about the lens cap!) As you can hopefully see, the "nest" at this time is just a few pieces of grass.

8th March 2015

 

By the time this second picture was taken some 2 weeks later there is a much more recognisable cup shape appearing.

22nd March 2015

 

The third picture shows a well developed nest and the final picture, taken this evening, shows the first 2 eggs of the 2015 season.

 

8th April 2015

14th April 2015

 

The average brood size is between 2-5 eggs, with each new egg laid daily, so I'll check back at the weekend to see how the clutch has developed.

 

As in previous year's I'll be monitoring the nest for the BTO's Nestbox Challenge, and, if the young survive, I'll ring this chicks as I did last year (see post here).

Last March Visit

Yesterday morning the weather wasn't conducive to ringing, so instead I had a walk around all three reservoirs at Linacre. It was just 7 degrees, grey, overcast and windy when I arrived at 6am, but the Chiffchaffs were singing (3), as was a single Skylark (my first Linacre record of 2015), several Goldcrests (also my first singing record this year), and a few spring flowers had begun to flower (Cowslip, Coltsfoot and a single Marsh Marigold flower).

In addition, there was a pair of Canada Geese on the middle reservoir, along with a Moorhen that was sitting on an empty nest. The 2 Great-crested Grebe pairs were still on site, and I also managed 5 Mandarin Ducks ( 4 males and a female), which are always a bonus at this time of the year.

When I got home, I spent some time watching the garden birds for the BTO's Garden Birdwatch Scheme, and was treated to another visit from this beautiful male Sparrowhawk, this time sitting on the feeders for 10 minutes, before chasing, unsuccessfully, after a Blackbird.

Sparrowhawk

I'm pretty sure its the same bird as last week, as it has 2 white spots on the back of its head. Just need to get a ring on it!!

Garden Sparrowhawks

Regular readers of this blog will know that I've been recording the wildlife in my garden for the BTO's Garden Birdwatch Scheme on a weekly basis since 1999. One species of bird that has become a more frequent visitor during this time is the European Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus). When I first started recording the birds this species was still quite uncommon, but I can now see one most days, if I'm not at work!

Just recently I've managed to get a few photos of different birds that have been visiting the garden looking for something to eat.

Sparrowhawk (2nd year bird?)

Sparrowhawk (adult male?)

The first picture was a bird seen on 3rd March 2015, and is, I believe, a bird born in 2014. The second picture was one that was seen yesterday, and is an adult bird with no signs of any juvenile plumage. Both birds are males.

I also managed to get a photo of a much larger female back in October 2014 (see here), which I also think is a juvenile bird. See this  gallery of pictures that can help with ageing this species.

Garden visitors

Whilst sitting having breakfast, and watching the birds for the BTO's Garden Birdwatch Scheme this morning,  I was lucky enough to spot this beauty. He flew in to the garden, hopped onto the feeders, fed for a few minutes and then disappeared.

Bullfinch

 

Other birds seen this morning were: Blue Tit (2), Great Tit (2), Coal Tit (2), Long-tailed Tit (2), Blackbird (8), Goldfinch (7), Chaffinch (9), Greenfinch (4), Lesser Redpoll (1), House Sparrow (2), Wren (1), Starling (4), Dunnock (2), Robin (2), Magpie (2), Sparrowhawk (1 male flew through), Woodpigeon (3), Collared Dove (2).

Big Garden Birdwatch

Every week I take part in the BTO's Garden Birdwatch Scheme, and record all the wildlife that uses our garden. This weekend, in addition to this, I've also completed the annual RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch.

The following birds were counted: Blackbird (9), Blue Tit (2), Coal Tit (1), Great Tit (1), Dunnock (2), Starling (9), Collared Dove (1), Woodpigeon (2), Robin (1), Goldfinch (8), Greenfinch (3), Chaffinch (9), Magpie (1), Carrion Crow (1) and Lesser Redpoll (3).

All but one of these species are present every week. The exception being the Lesser Redpolls which were my first record in the garden this year and therefore also  a "year tick". Here's a photo of one feeding with a couple of Goldfinches, just a few feet from the back window. I think this is a female bird, nicely showing its "redpoll".

Goldfinch and Lesser Redpoll

Here's  close up of the same bird.

Lesser Redpoll

Year List update:

61 - Lesser Redpoll

Garden birds in the snow.

We've had a bit of snow here over the last few days, so I've been watching the garden intently to see if we got any different visitors. Luckily today I spotted a Song Thrush and a Brambling, both very infrequent visitors to the garden.

Here are a couple of pictures.

Brambling

Song Thrush

 As well as these two species, I also had all the "usual suspects"; Chaffinch (15), Goldfinch (18), Greenfinch (4), Collared Dove (2), Woodpigeon (1), Magpie (2), Blue Tit (1), Blackbird (8), Dunnock (2) and House Sparrow (2).

Starling

Goldfinch and Greenfinch

 

As always, I'll be sending the records into the BTO's Garden Birdwatch Scheme.

Garden Brambling

Whilst watching the birds in the garden this morning for the BTO's Garden Birdwatch Scheme, I noticed my first Brambling of the winter.

Brambling

This is my 17th record of Brambling in the garden, my first since last winter. Hopefully, it'll hang around.

I also managed to get a decent shot of a male House Sparrow today that I thought I'd share.

House Sparrow

Garden Mega!!

I don't blog that much about the birds in my garden, but today's an exception because I had a "mega" bird in - a Great-spotted Woodpecker!

Great-spotted Woodpecker



Looking back in my BTO Garden Birdwatch notes, the last time I recorded a woodpecker in the garden was in July 2001. Today's bird, as you can see from the picture, was feeding on fat pellets, which I only put out on Thursday, so hopefully, if I keep them topped up, it will return over the winter.

Other birds seen this afternoon, included this female Sparrowhawk, a male Sparrowhawk, that I didn't manage to get a photo of, 4 Greenfinch, 3 House Sparrow, a Robin, 2 Collared Doves, 3 Woodpigeons, 4 Blackbirds, 4 Starlings, 3 Blue Tit, 2 Great Tit 1 Coal Tit, and 15+ Goldfinch. A flock of approximately 30 Redwings were feeding on the Hawthorns behind the house. Hopefully, I can encourage a few into the garden over the winter. Bring on the snow!

 

Sparrowhawk (female)