Mistle Thrush

Blast From The Past - Thrushes.

Blackbird

Mistle Thrush

Ring Ouzel

Recent Garden Sightings.

Redwing

At present we still have about 25+ Redwing that are in or around the garden on a daily basis, a varied selection of berries seems to attract them from garden to garden whilst trying to avoid 2 very protective Mistle Thrushes that are always guarding their territory. The Mistle Thrushes don't pay much attention to any of the Blackbirds but as soon as a Redwing appears they do their best to chase it off, the Redwings out-number the Mistle Thrushes so they do seem to get at the berries while the Mistle Thrushes are busy elsewhere.

Mistle Thrush

A flock of approx 9 Goldfinch and 8 Greenfinch are still feeding on the Rose hips and can be found together most mornings busily feeding on the seeds inside the hips, in the evenings they can often be seen washing in the large puddles accumulating outside. Despite the abundance of food about Chaffinch numbers seem to be very low, whether they are getting their pickings elsewhere is a mystery and over the last month I have only seen 4 in the garden. A small flock of Starlings can often be found and heard on the nearby TV aerials and tree tops with numbers fluctuating between 5 and 9 birds, certainly an added extra to the morning chorus of bird song. 2 Robins continue to follow me round the garden whilst I'm gardening and while they won't feed from my hand they are very happy sitting on the floor next to me waiting for me to uncover the odd earthworm, with the odd muttered warble when I uncover something interesting they quickly devour whatever's on offer. I think there must be a saying in Robin dialect that's says "if it wriggles I'm eating it" as there is little that escapes the attention of an on-looking Robin, the wet weather will obviously be bringing a few worms to the surface and aid their feeding at the moment and under the leaf litter hides an array of creepy-crawlies. 2 Goldcrests continue to feed around the Holly bushes and a pair of Nuthatches are regular visitors as is a Green Woodpecker and 2 Pied Wagtails. When then rain has held off during the evenings both male and female Tawny Owls have been calling to each other from the garden, I guess their finding it a little difficult to hunt at night with the weather being so bad. I haven't found anymore Owl pellets recently and after finding a helpful skeleton guide on the internet will soon dissect the ones I have found.

Robin

The nearby fields have been dredged of the stubble that Larks and Buntings rely on so much and have reduced bird activity hugely, a few months ago I was watching large numbers of Linnet, Skylark and the odd Yellowhammer in these very fields, now I'm lucky to see a few Skylark since they have been lightly ploughed, even the Corvids seem to be avoiding them with the exception of a few Jackdaws. Apart from 2 Little Owls, Bullfinches and Tit flocks the only other activity are the spread out flocks of Redwing, still no Fieldfare in the area although a flock of 26 flew over this morning heading south-east.

Jackdaw

A sad find this afternoon was a dead Common Buzzard, it looks to have been dead for a couple of weeks as the carcass is bare but the wing feathers remain in place. It's entire skeleton is still attached and the yellowish legs and talons are still visible but it's so wet that it's difficult to look at without the feathers falling out, if the weather improves and it dries out the head might be a worthy edition to the collection of bird anatomy!

This Mornings Sightings

Nuthatch

Another interesting morning whilst working in the garden at Coleshill.

Before I started the endless task of raking the leaves up at the property I work and live at I had a quick scout around the grounds and found the following-

A pleasing sight of 23 Starlings perched together in the top of a now leaf bare Horse Chestnut started the morning off, they were chattering and clicking quietly amongst themselves with the odd whistle thrown in for good measure. A good group of Finches that I accidentally flushed from a row of wild Rose bushes contained roughly 18+ Greenfinches and 16+ Goldfinches which circled up and in to some of the nearby trees, this gave me the chance to see what they were feeding on and found that some of the larger hips had softened up and contained some large seeds in, some of seeds in the biggest hips were almost as big as sunflower hearts which must be attracting them, there's about 25 of these large Rose bushes and still plenty of hips on them. 2 Jays were soon the next on the list as they squabbled over Acorns in a nearby Oak followed shortly by 2 Resident Mistle Thrushes which were 'rattling away' at each other.

Mistle Thrush

So by 8:30 a mini orchestra of bird song and calls are simmering away soon to be joined by 20 or so Redwing high up in a Horse Chestnut and adding their 'tsseep' calls to the mix. During this time a Blackbird has hopped across the lawn in front of me 'tutting' as it disappears in to the bottom of a bush. It was at this time that I realised I should've started work and headed off armed with my rake ready to take on the piles of fallen leaves, tedious to say the least but a good chance to observe nature as it unfolds.

At 9:00 a Green Woodpecker can be heard calling from the garden next door and a quick peer through the hedge finds it sat on the rear lawn with 2 Pied wagtails bobbing across the grass a few metres away from it, the leaf raking is now not such a mundane job, okay it is but I'm getting a few fringe benefits along the way in bird sightings.

The resident Robin has now joined me and is sitting on the wheelbarrow handle with it's head tilted towards the ground as I clear the leaves, it's watching for the slightest movement before darting down and grabbing a worm and returning to the wheelbarrow handle. It's very tame but won't come to my hand to feed yet, I'm hoping that by Christmas I will have trained him up and then I can get some good photos for this years Christmas cards:-)

Grey Heron

Ring-necked Parakeet

It was very grey and overcast when I'd started but by 9:30 a few spots of blue sky could now be seen poking through the clouds and the wind had dropped completely, a Grey Heron gave me a shock as it called from overhead, it continued west probably heading for the local village pond. Not long after 5 Siskin then passed over heading North calling as they went and shortly after a Magpie flew over. During this time the Starlings, Finches & Thrushes were still calling but getting louder, I'm not sure if this is to do with ambient sound from traffic and human activity but it seemed to happen just a the roads became busier. It got to a point where they seemed to be trying to outdo each other and I stopped to listen just as a flock of about 150 maybe more Redwings appeared overhead. They started circling round and seemed to pick up some of our Redwings that have been in the garden for a week or so from the nearby trees, Finches then took to the air and the noise was incredible and seemed that each and every one of them was calling. They circled round a couple of times separating into smaller groups with birds going off in different directions, I wondered if a predator was in the area but there wasn't anything in the sky except hundreds of Redwing & Finches. The Redwing circled round 4 or 5 times before forming a loose flock and heading off north leaving 20 or so Redwing to settle back in the tops of the trees, presumably the same birds that have been in the garden for awhile. It's great to see spectacles like that and a real sign of 'visible migration' on a small scale.

Wood Pigeon

Over the next hour or so I'd seen 2 Nuthatch, Bl & Grt Tit, 12 Chaffinch, 1 Black-h Gull heading south, only my 2nd sighting of Ring-necked Parakeet in the area as 2 flew over from the east and heading west, 1 Red Kite, 1 Great spotted Woodpecker and heard 2 Goldcrests. By 10:45 the Robin had acquired a friend and both were watching me from the garden wall, a few worms that were unearthed made a tasty treat and as they weren't fighting I presume that they are a pair.

The skies were now quite clear and mainly blue and whilst gazing in to the distance I noticed a large group of birds heading towards me from the south, a quick scan with the bins showed that they were Wood Pigeons and quite a few of them. Within a minute or so they were approaching overhead but difficult to count as they were widely separated and a best estimate would be somewhere in the region of 200-225 birds which flew over heading north. As there is a lot of Wood Pigeon migration at the moment It seemed a bit strange to see them heading in that direction rather than south, I don't think they are local as I only seem to see handfuls rather than flocks of 25 upwards. An added bonus was finding a Tawny Owl pellet in the garden to add to the 2 I've found recently near local woodland. So it was quite an interesting morning despite the fact the Oak trees still haven't shed their leaves yet and so I've got it all to do again!!!

Birds & Butterflies.

The garden as usual is busy with activity, Chaffinch, Great Tit, Blue Tit which are all regular visitors are now joined by small numbers of Greenfinch, 2 or 3 Goldfinch, 2 Coal Tits, 2 Robins, 3 Blackbirds and a single Dunnock. The evergreens next to the cottage are still occupied by at least 3 Goldcrests and a small flock of Long-tailed Tits has been seen on a number of occasions.

2 Nuthatches are now daily visitors along with 2 Marsh Tits, it's taken me sometime to see both Marsh Tits together as they rarely sit still for long and after taking food from the feeders disappear over the hedge and out of sight. Within 30 seconds they are back at the feeders making me think that they might be storing food somewhere nearby, quite a common trait but hard to observe.

Nuthatch
Chaffinch

Chiffchaffs have continued to pass through the garden throughout the month in one's and two's, 2 sat on the phones lines outside our bedroom window on the morning of the 5th Oct. I've certainly not seen this many pass through the garden before and I would estimate well over 25 individuals have been seen since the beginning of September. I've also watched some interesting behaviour with many of the Chiffchaffs that have turned up recently, one in particular that I've never seen before, let me explain. We have hedge 10ft away from the feeders which is also next to the living room window, birds often take there pickings from the feeders in to the hedge to eat them out of harms way. You can watch them closely as they tuck in to a sunflower heart and while their eating another group is visiting the feeders and so on and so on. As I'm watching a Marsh Tit in the hedge I notice a Chiffchaff about 1ft above it, the Marsh Tit flies out of the hedge towards the feeders with the Chiffchaff following swiftly in hot pursuit, the Chiffchaff being much more agile almost cuts the Marsh Tit off at the feeders and diverts him away, almost like a Kestrel harrying a Barn Owl for it's food. This happened continually with Marsh, Great and Blue Tit on numerous occasions. It's not a one off either as I have witnessed this with different Chiffchaffs on different days through September and in to October.

Great-spotted Woodpeckers can be seen and heard most days with 2 often around the garden and on the feeders, a single Green Woodpecker has been making the most of the damp weather and the many dug up lawns caused by the local Badgers, this has also been advantageous to many of the local Corvids with Jackdaw, Carrion Crow and Rooks all searching for food in the upturned soil.

Rooks

For much of the month 6 Mistle Thrushes remained around the garden and surrounding fields, often coming to roost in the trees near to the cottage and very seldom found apart. Early evening on the 30th an incredible 17 were counted on the telegraph wires next to the orchard, although a regular around the cottage I have never seen that many at once and can only assume that some of these birds would be migrants.

Mistle Thrush

A male Sparrowhawk was successful in plucking an unsuspecting Blue Tit from the top of the feeder pole early morning of the 26th, poor fella didn't see it coming and it was all over very quickly, after holding it's prey whilst perched in a tree outside our cottage the Sparrowhawk flew off. This doesn't happen too often here despite the Sparrowhawk making regular attempts. Both Red Kite and Buzzard are still daily sightings with 2 off each often circling the fields. Although I haven't seen a Kestrel in or around the garden for awhile there does seem to be good numbers about nearby with one's and two's being seen perched on telegraph poles throughout the Hambleden valley.

A Tawny Owl perched in the trees outside the cottage was an added bonus last night (5th Oct), catching it out of the corner of my eye it was sat no more than 6ft away from the car as I drove in. A really fantastic view with the outside house light showing it's beautiful markings, it stared at me and I stared back, not knowing who was more shocked me or the Owl, it was all too much for it to take and it flew off. Our Little Owls are vocal but seldom seen at the moment

The few good days of warm sunny weather have brought a number of Butterfly sightings, i have to say that i really know little about Butterflies but have started taking more notice of them over the last couple of years. Seeing both male and female Purple Emperors within a month or so of each other last year was certainly an incredible moment. The Speckled Wood was seen on the 28th September and the Comma and Red Admiral were seen on the 2nd October.

Comma (Polygonia c-album)


Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta)
Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria)

Local Sightings.

Little Owl.
Red Kite.
Mistle Thrush.

Both Blue and Great Tits seem to have had good broods of young this year with both species visiting the feeders in good numbers, one family of Great Tits were busy feeding at least 8 young from the feeders in the garden.

2 Juvenile Great-spotted Woodpeckers have been in and out of the garden with both Adults feeding them from the peanut feeders although one of the young has learnt to feed from the seed feeders as well.

Tawny Owls have been quiet over the last few months with few sightings and not many calling either, although one appeared outside in the conifer trees late one windy night which i managed to film for a few minutes before it disappeared in to the darkness.Little Owl sightings on the other hand have been numerous, 2 Adults near Frieth are usually perched sunning themselves most evenings and our resident Little Owls seemed to have been busy, often heard calling during the day and found sunning themselves early evening on nearby fence posts. One of the adults has been calling non stop from our garden late at night and it took me awhile to cotton on why,I'd seen it perched on the bird bath a number of times and presumed it was taking a quick drink and calling to it's mate, it continued for a number of nights and it wasn't until i turned the outside light on late one evening that i realised what was going on, A young Little Owl was sat staring in at me from the garden and one of it's parents were calling to it from the other side of the garden.Over the next few days i had a few brief views but tonight(20th) i tracked down the calls of 2 young Little Owls perched in an Oak tree with a parent close-by.

The male Sparrowhawk is still making sorties through the garden and a both Red Kite and Buzzards are busy searching the fields for prey.

The Jackdaws also seem to have had a good year with at least 12 juveniles being seen in and around the garden, a pair nested at the bottom of a trunk in an Apple tree and early morning counts have totalled 42 Jackdaws feeding in the garden.The adult birds have taken to using our nut feeders to feed their young and after moving on the Woodpeckers and Tits bash the feeders with their strong beaks until they get something out.I've had to remove the nut feeders due to them breaking through the metal.The flock seems to be increasing with somewhere in the region of 75 birds.

Mistle Thrush is another species that looks like it's doing well here with a family party of 7 birds feeding in the fields next to our cottage, their rattling calls can often be heard across the nearby countryside .

The first Fox sighting in the garden came 2 weeks ago as an adult passed along the fence line no doubt looking for one of the many Rabbits that feed through the fields.Deer have been passing through the garden and out across the fields including a Doe and her very young Fawn.