birdwatching – Page 3 – Enviro-Mentalist

Brandon Marsh

On the way back from Ryton I called in to Brandon Marsh nature reserve to see if there were any insects or flowers about that would present a photo opportunity (for that read: I had a camera and no binoculars or scope with me).

I wasn’t expecting much in the way of birdlife, Brandon is often an all or nothing place but I was hopeful of some damselflies. Â What was there? Â Well, not much, one elusive dragonfly and some comma and white butterflies amongst the brambles with nothing overly exciting from a botanical point of view. Â From an ornithological point of view there seemed to be more birds about than normal at this time of year when many of the areas are completely empty. Â The highlight were green sandpipers and oystercatchers (the latter easy to recognise even without optical gear). Â

I became more hopeful when I reached the Carlton hide which is usually deserted, but on Saturday was filled with birdwatchers and photographers. Â However, I think they were there in the hope of seeing and photographing a kingfisher or hobby rather than because of something that was actually there. Â The massed ranks were satisfying themselves with shooting (in a photographic sense) a heron that seemed to be posing for them. Â Not having the patience to wait for a bird that may or may not turn up and not having a gigantic lens requiring a sherpa to help move it I wandered off to look for other things.

Â I had to satisfy myself with this photo of a different heron.

Proof if Proof Were Needed

Just in case anybody thought that I was being unfair to the poor starlings here are some pictures I took on Thursday.

First the starling lands to take a look. Then he eats everything he can reach.

The ‘action’ (aka blurred) shot was taken as the bird dropped down from the feeder chasing the mealworm that fell from his beak.

This shot was taken as he scoured the ground in disbelief, surely there must be more somewhere!

Today’s best bird.

I couldn’t decide today between a trip to Brandon Marsh and a visit with my spotting scope to the Country Park. I opted for the Country Park on account of a) it being closer so I didn’t have to get the car out and b) it being a weekday so it was less likely to be packed with dog walkers. In the end it proved a good choice.

I thought I would start by sitting on the dam and setting my scope up to watch the terns which have moved back in for the Summer. I love watching these birds, they are so graceful and languid as they hunt along looking for fish. I also caught glimpses through my scope of swallows and house martins darting across the water at high speed. The true harbingers of Summer (although I am not sure we have had a spring yet really) also turned up today as I got my first sighting this year of swifts (duly recorded on the Nature’s Calendar website). These birds know no fear, zooming along the dam and up the bank past the cuckoo flowers and startling those who happened to be walking past.

Whilst watching these I noticed something fluttering near the trees and turned my scope away from the water to get a wonderful view of a kestrel, hovering above the bank obviously watching its dinner. The colours in the sunlight (which made a briefer appearance than the kestrel) were so rich. However, on today’s visit to the Country Park all of these ornithological wonders were eclipsed. Whilst watching the terns fishing above the water I noticed something else, of a similar size darting across – Hobbies! (Falco Subbuteo) This is the first time I have seen them at the Country Park, I thought there were a pair there, but as I watched them zooming around, turning to show the russet red underbelly, sometimes almost stalling, yellow legs out, obviously catching some flying insect, I realised that there were actually four of them. According to the RSPB website they will also chase martins and swallows, but these seemed oblivious to the predators. I watched enthralled as they darted and chased across the water, even the rain didn’t manage to stop play. Eventually I had to leave them and come home (there was only so long I could sit in rain sodden trousers) but I will be back to see if they stay for the Summer or are just passing through.

Blonde, but not as blonde as I thought

I have been feeding live mealworms to the garden birds for the last couple of years and think that it is definitely paying off. Although the weather of last May apparently made it a bad year for broods of blue tits and great tits we had more than usual in our garden throughout the autumn and winter. Last year we invested in a new feeder complete with bars in order to keep the starlings out. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against starlings, it is just that I think they are the most intelligent of the garden birds, and they would watch and wait for the mealworms to be put out and then come and eat the lot. Even with the cage they manage to get their heads in and eat the mealworms. To this end my other half has created a modified ground feeder with the mealworms in a plastic pot on the central pole raised from the bottom, the only way to thwart these super-intelligent fiends (never fear dear reader they still get some as we leave some on the bottom of the feeder for them and they capture any escapees). See photos below for an illustration of the starling-thwarting engineered ground feeder.

Contrast this with the behaviour of the humble and incredibly blonde blue tit. Last year was the first introduction of the modified feeder – boy did they struggle. A female sparrow who had not really bothered with the feeder when it had only had seed in it was the first in, went straight to the feeder, did the blag and went off to feed her brood. For a couple of weeks she was the only taker. Eventually the blue tit figured it out, then turned psycho. It chased any bird away that it caught near the feeder, even greenfinches, and they were only taking a break between fights at the sunflower seeds.

Today the first of my multimail mealworms arrived from Wiggly Wigglers. We put them out in the modified feeder which the birds have been using all winter. The blue tit eventually figured the way in, but spent several minutes on several visits looking at the mealworms from underneath, eventually settling for a sunflower heart from another feeder and flying away each time. However, we finally had breakthrough and in record time for a blue tit it was happily murdering mealworms. Next came the great tit, another bird regularly eating mealworms from the same feeder last year. It eventually made its way in and duly sat under the pot, pecking at the worms from underneath. It then started looking under a pile of sunflower hearts for some worms (I assume it found one there earlier), then the blue tit turned up. Aha I thought, the blue tit will give it a clue, but no, the blue tit sat in the hazel for some time, watching, and probably laughing, and then nonchalantly flew to another feeder, grabbed a sunflower heart and sat in the tree to eat it. The great tit then tried hiding between the wheelie bins to tempt the blue tit down, and it nearly worked. At the last minute the blue tit saw him, pulled out and flew away, taking his secret with him. The last time I saw the great tit he still hadn’t figured it out, I guess he will get there eventually.

Blue Tit 1 Great Tit 0.

Cetti surprise.

I stopped in at my favourite reserve, Brandon Marsh, today on my way home from a trip to Coventry. It was the first time in quite a while that I had been and I was looking forward to it.
Although the weather was definitely on the chilly side and I was only there for about an hour I had a fantastic time.

It is a good time of year to go birdwatching, the summer visitors are here, but the trees are only just coming in to leaf so they can’t hide in the way they will be able to by the time May comes around. Hence I managed to get some really good views of several chiffchaffs; as always I heard them before I found them. There were also lots of blackcaps about, still in groups, although I assume this will no longer be the case once they have paired up and have territories to defend.

Also of note were a large number of swallows, sand and house martins, and a solitary and somewhat cold looking common tern, probably wondering just what he was doing back already. I saw a family of coots, which I thought was quite early, do they breed earlier than other birds, or is it just that they leave the nest soon after they are born? The parents were busy herding them into the reeds when a heron flew over.
I also got some good views various waders and ducks and spent quite a bit of time watching lapwings continuously mob a crow – I assume they are nesting there.

The highlight for me though was my first sighting of a Cetti’s warbler. I heard a bird singing very loudly and had no idea what it was (to my mind it even beat the wren as top noisy bird), and turned round and saw a little brown job (LBJ) behind me. I didn’t know what this was at the time, but resolved to check it out when I got home. I kept hearing these birds all around the reserve (when they could get a word in past the chiffchaffs), and luckily one kept singing when I was in a hide with a couple of birdwatchers who knew their stuff and they told me that this was a Cetti’s warbler, but that they were difficult to see. On getting back I checked the bird books and yes, you’ve guessed it, I did indeed get a fantastic, if brief, view of a Cetti’s. For anyone who is interested here is a link to the RSPB website where you can listen to the sound of a Cetti’s warbler (Cettia Cetti).

I also saw the obligatory kingfisher as I was rushing back to the shop to buy some more sunflower hearts to replace those my garden friends have diligently thrown over the garden – sorry Nick, you’ll see one eventually.

Big Garden Birdwatch Results

The results of the big garden birdwatch were released this week and seem to reflect a lot of my own observations this Winter. Although the average number of birds counted has dropped since the first survey in 1979, there are some success stories. The most noticeable of these has been the rise of the goldfinch which sits in tenth position (replacing the greenfinch which drops down to eleventh – reflecting the low numbers that I was seeing earlier in the year). This is not surprising as I regularly have 4 of these(and up to 7) at any one time fighting over the sunflower hearts. Also of note was the increase in the numbers of other finches such as siskins (which enter the Top 20 for the first time) and bramblings seen in gardens. Although I didn’t see any on the actual day, this year marks my first ever sighting of a brambling (a female came in with some chaffinches for a couple of weeks) and the first time I had siskins in my garden (a male and female were there sporadically over a couple of months). This increase this year is thought to be due to a low yield of conifer seed in Scandinavia which has driven birds over here and into gardens. They apparently are attracted by the niger seed which more bird lovers are putting out in their gardens. I can safely say that this is not the case in my garden where sunflower hearts are the finches food of choice with the niger seed feeder being visited only when the goldfinches are chased off the other feeders (by almost anything else as they appear to be way down the pecking order!).

For those that are interested the top bird was the starling, followed by the house sparrow with blackbirds overtaking blue tits to take third place. More information can be found on the RSPB website where they also have the top ten listed for all the counties. The Northants list is as follows:

1. Starling

2. House Sparrow

3. Blackbird

4. Blue Tit

5. Chaffinch

6. Collared Dove

7. Woodpigeon

8. Robin

9. Goldfinch

10. Great Tit

I have to say that the numbers of sparrows in my garden has reduced this Winter, I am not sure though if this is because they are less keen on the sunflower hearts than they used to be on the mixed seed that I used to put out. I think I will get a better estimate when they start breeding and I put the mealworms out. As far as my list goes this Winter has definitely seen the rise of the chaffinch and the goldfinch which have by far outnumbered all the other species.

Winter Bird Atlas – The First Results Are In

The first newsletter from the BTO reporting on the early findings from the Winter bird surveys has been published. The findings so far indicate an increase in the northern range of the Little Egret (although Winter sightings are mainly confined to the south of the country), an increase for the nuthatch to the north of England and south of Scotland, and a much expected eastern push for the buzzard which was mainly confined to Wales, Scotland and the west of England in the records collected for the last atlas (1981-1984).

The increase in the range of the buzzard is thought to be due to a reduction in the use of pesticides (this should also help the peregrine falcon) and less persecution from more enlightened farmers and gamekeepers.

For anyone interested in finding out more about the Bird Atlas and how they can help they can find more information on the BTO website.

The return of Ravens

According to the RSPB website Ravens are believed to be nesting at two sites in Northamptonshire for the first time since the 19th Century. One of the pairs is at an undisclosed location in the south of the county, the other at the RSPB reserve at Fineshade Woods. There have been more numerous sightings in the area that have been reported on the Northamptonshire Bird Club Yahoo Forum and in their bird sightings pages many of which are around the Daventry / Badby area – so who knows, maybe they will one day become a common sight around Borough Hill.

For the full story see the RSPB website

Greenfinches – where did they go and why are they back?

When I first moved to Daventry my back garden was a barren wasteland with respect to little feathered friends. Eventually, after putting out peanuts and other bird foods, rather than the expected starlings and sparrows, our first visitors were greenfinches. We have welcomed these back every year, including some youngsters, numbers increasing as I tempted them in with sunflower hearts.

However, this Winter, there seems to have been a dearth of the little fellows with chaffinches being this season’s greenfinch. Where I had regularly seen 6 or 8 of them fighting over the feeders this year there were just one or two. I mentioned this to someone at the Northamptonshire Bird Club who knows more about such things than I, and he also seemed to think that the numbers were down. He thought they may have succumbed to a disease that has hit finches over the last couple of years.

This morning, I opened the blinds to look at the windy world and immediately counted 8 greenfinches in the garden. I don’t know where they went especially when the weather was cold and the bird numbers in the garden increased, but I certainly welcome the greedy little chap and chapesses back to fight over the feeders once more.

What’s so musical about a song thrush?

Whenever anyone talks about song thrushes (particularly as it now seems as though they are yet another previously common bird that are apparently in decline) they always seem to wax lyrical about their song (I guess that explains the name; turdus musicus).

This has always been a bit of a mystery to me. When I grew up we used to have a large tree at the bottom of the garden on which a male blackbird used to perch and sing every evening. To me this always seemed more musical than the song thrush. It is certainly a more varied song than that of the song thrush which is a bit repetitive.

However, I am now changing my opinion. After starting my contribution to Nature’s Calendar late last year I have been listening out for song thrushes to see if they are singing all through the Winter or not. Yes, you’ve guessed it they are – there are two round here, one on the old railway track that I can hear through the double glazing and another closer to work, both of which have cheered otherwise dull, dark Winter days as I slogged to work through the rain.

I have never really thought twice about the thrush’s song until recently, in fact it is only in the last year that I realised how recognisable its depth makes it. I then started to wonder why it is so well loved as to even give rise to the latin name, after all robins are pretty musical, not to mention nightingales, but they are apparently not musicus enough. It was then that I found a quote in an old book that I have (British Birds and Their Haunts) that was published nearly 100 years ago that I think sums it up eloquently. ‘However near it may be, its song is never harsh, and heard at a distance its only defect is, that it is not nearer.’