Winter – Enviro-Mentalist

Daventry and District Invaded

Many people may have noticed some unusual visitors to their garden during the recent cold snap. They look like thrushes, but there is something a bit different about them. Those of us not fortunate enough to have these birds in their garden may however have noticed flocks of light coloured birds flying over head, or hopping about in the fields. Or, if disturbed on a walk round the country park, flying up out of the hedgerows making a loud chacking alarm call.

Did you see a large thrush (about the same size as a mistle thrush), but with a grey head, and chestnut back, perhaps it flew off and looked very pale underneath, or a flock of pale looking birds flew over you? These are fieldfares, visitors from Scandinavia, three quarters of a million of which arrive around the end of October (braving the north sea and the waiting, hungry gulls), slowly spreading south and west, making the return journey in March and April. Their arrival has been seen as a sign of winter for centuries, dating back to Chaucer’s day when they were trapped and eaten for food, apparently they are as tasty as quail (which I have also never eaten).

Unlike most thrushes, these are very gregarious, they arrive in flocks, leave in flocks, wander around the countryside in flocks and even nest in groups back in Norway. When was the last time you saw a flock of song thrushes (or more than a couple together for that matter)?

Normally fieldfares would feast on invertebrates and are usually seen in groups ‘head up, chest out, all facing the same direction and spread evenly across a snow-dusted field’. However, once the ground freezes they move into the hedgerows to eat berries, particularly hawthorn, and will also take advantage of windfall apples and cotoneaster berries in larger gardens.

The other member of the thrush family that visits in winter is the very pretty redwing. These arrive about a month before the fieldfares and are usually heard before they are seen, thousands arriving at the east coast overnight, making ‘seeping’ noises (not sure what that sounds like!) as they travel further west in their flocks. Hundreds of thousands of them arrive each winter, but these are less robust than the fieldfares and other thrushes and a particularly harsh winter could result in the majority perishing. They also leave to venture back to Scandinavia around April.

These little thrushes are very similar to the song thrush, but they have a cream stripe above their eye which makes them unmistakeable, even at a distance. The red patch under their wing is just visible when perched, but contrasts with their creamy underparts and becomes much more visible in flight.

These are much shier than the fieldfares, and, although they feed on the same invertebrates and berries they are more likely to be found in hedgerows than in the open fields. As soon as they are disturbed they will fly off into higher trees, making their alarm calls (hence my incredibly poor picture being the best I have managed to date). I think that they tend to come into gardens more often than fieldfares (although neither have appeared in mine), being particularly fond of cotoneaster berries.

These little thrushes are also apparently quite tasty, years ago they were particularly prized in France where they arrived in time to fatten themselves up on the ripe grapes.

So keep your eyes open for these winter visitors, there are lots around Daventry, and they are likely to be here into March, depending on the weather.

The Local Watering Hole

As you will no doubt be aware, the last two weeks have seen temperatures hover around or below zero almost constantly. The only break in the cold since Boxing Day being a day with some snow last week. Whilst this has curtailed all gardening activities it has provided many (mainly weekend) opportunities for birdwatching.

I think that we are one of the few gardens in the neighbourhood to have a pond, so we are always popular when the frosts come. Each morning either James or myself have been out diligently clearing a spot in the ice for them to drink from and bathe in, and have been amply rewarded by the large number of birds that have been coming in every day. (I think the sunflower hearts and peanuts haven’t hurt either.)

It has also been noticeable how territorial some of the birds get even in Winter, and how some are willing to risk a fight to get to the food and water. Of particular note around here is the abundance of blackbirds. We have a resident pair that tend to come in every day and throw as much compost and as many leaves around as possible. There also seems to be a younger bird (possibly one of last year’s brood) that keeps coming into the garden, much to the chagrin of the male blackbird (shown below having a drink out of the pond). He will chase him off as soon as he sees him, whereas the female will raise the alarm call if she spots an interloper, only going to the trouble of shoo-ing them away if the male doesn’t arrive.

We have also counted three robins in the garden. These are highly territorial birds and as soon as the third one is spotted in the garden he is chased away, with fights breaking out in mid air and air-borne battles taking place over several gardens.

My only concern is that warmer weather is predicted in the coming days, and, with the RSPB’s big garden birdwatch less than two weeks away, they will all desert me. Just maybe my count this year will be better than one greenfinch and a sparrow!

The rest of the Winter guests have arrived for the party.

Just a quick update today on my birdwatching quest. For some weeks I have been on the lookout for the more obvious Winter visitors, fieldfares and redwings, which seem to have been regularly seen in the county for the last few weeks.

Following a week of frost and grey skies the weekend was surprisingly bright (and even quite warm in the sunshine). A walk into town along the old railway track yielded lots of birds (in contrast with a fortnight ago) but no overtly European visitors. (By this I mean that many of the finches, robins etc may be visiting from the continent, but I would never know.) The main surprise was a female blackcap. These are warblers that usually migrate south for the Winter, but in recent years more and more seem to be found in the UK in the Winter (although these may also be continental visitors).

A trip to the Country Park saw about 14 Goosander, as well as the usual gulls and ducks, but not many small birds. The highlight of the afternoon was watching a sparrowhawk being mobbed by a crow and chased off into nearby shrubs.

Sunday, another sunny day, not an opportunity to be missed. We went for a walk to the north of Daventry to an area where we had seen flocks of redwings and fieldfares last year when doing a bird survey. There were lots of small birds squeaking in the shrubs, but not the longed for redwings. We wandered towards the canal (mainly because we hadn’t been there for a while), still nothing. Finally, on the way back towards Daventry we think we saw a lone fieldfare flying overhead, a small triumph even if we had to go halfway to Braunston to find one.

Redwings? The final piece of the winter puzzle fell into place on my way back to work this lunchtime when I spotted one redwing sitting in the sea buckthorn, looking as though it wished it were somewhere else. (I also got really close to two goldcrests that were darting about some trees, almost oblivious to me, making small squeaks that almost sounded like tiny tinkling bells – something to brighten the dreariest of Mondays.)

I think it must be Winter.

I have spent the last few weeks thinking about how, despite the wet Summer, this Autumn has been spectacularly colourful. The leaves on the Sycamores that I pass on the way to work have been a glowing yellow, but alas, they are no more. The wind of the last couple of days has taken away most of the leaves and left them on the ground, shadows of their former glory. The Purple Hazel and the Dogwoods in our garden, which last week seemed to laugh at the autumn, are now as naked as the Rowan and Silver Birches.

Around Daventry, apart from the evergreens, it seems as though it is only oaks that have kept their finery. Walking down the old railway track you can be fooled into thinking that the trees are still looking green, but it is the ivy, winding its way up so many trunks, that is giving the colour.

I went for two walks today, because I could, and because it wasn’t raining. This morning we walked into Daventry, and then back along the old railway track via the church yard. It was all peculiarly quiet. About this time last year we carried out the first Winter surveys for the BTO bird atlas, and the church yard was full of life (no pun intended). We struggled to count the blackbirds, they were so abundant, and, as for the old railway track, you could hardly hear yourself speak for their rustling and alarm calls. This morning there was hardly a peep (or cheep) out of them. We saw an occasional blackbird leaping about in the yew, looking for berries, but nothing else. But then, there were hardly any berries for them to leap for. Has it been a bad year for berries, was it the late frost and Easter snow, or are these shrubs and trees also suffering from the same lack of insects as most gardens this year?

Anyway, to look for more birds (and, I admit, in a half-hearted attempt to find the Red-crested Pochard again) I went to the Country Park. To sum up, it was cold. I only had binoculars (photography being my primary reason for the outing) so am not sure whether there were many birds out in the water. I am pretty sure there were no Red-crested Pochards though. What I did see, which surprised me as I have never seen them in November before, was a flotilla of Goosander. These are my bellwethers, the Harbingers of Winter. I may still be missing the redwings, but I need no other signs to tell me that it is time to get the thermals out.

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.

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.

A birding first for me and my garden – are we in for a cold Winter?

Last Sunday it snowed here in Daventry (and in numerous other places in the Midlands). The snow settled, but had gone by morning. On thinking about this I cannot remember the last time I saw snow in November – it snows in April more than in November, and this time last year there were still Red Admiral butterflies about feeding on the ivy flowers.

The cold weather also seems to have brought increased bird activity in the garden. Although I am at work during the week my other half keeps me informed to the best of his ability (having only a beginner’s knowledge of bird types) of the number and varieties of birds that he sees during the day. This week he was trying his best to describe a bird that didn’t look like the other birds (his description was by necessity hampered by being colour-blind and I couldn’t decide what it was that he had seen).

Yesterday when watching a flock of 8 greenfinches in the tree I saw what I at first thought was one of the chaffinches that had been about earlier, but it didn’t look quite right. It flew away before I could confirm my suspicions, but came back later. Yes, said my beloved, that’s the one that has been in the garden for the last few days. As you may have guessed it was a Brambling (female I think) and the first time I have seen one (although I have always been hopeful as there seem to be a lot of sightings around). As this is the first time I have seen one in my garden, and it is November and the food out in the fields should not yet be too scarce I am wondering if this is a portent of cold weather to come this Winter.