Tuesday December 26

Just a quick update.

All birding recently has been incidental to my daily routine, but it has contained birds worthy of note. Firstly, at least one Hawfinch has reappeared in the field maples along Coster's Lane. I saw it on 16th, 23rd, and again earlier today. The significance of this morning's sighting was that it was close enough to our house to be visible from our front bedroom. Surprisingly this is not a garden tick, because I managed to see one from the house in March 2006.

Another surprise came on 24th. I was on a shopping errand on the way back from Morton Bagot which took me along the road which encircles Winyates Green. As I approached the Peugeot garage I noticed a Little Egret standing in the bushes at the edge of Ipsley Alders.

The fact that the presence of three Greenfinches in the Costers Lane field maples is worth mentioning is a sign of the times as this species is now Red Listed as declining in the UK. They certainly used to be very common around here.

One disappointing absentee is Blackcap. I struggled to see many winterers last year, and have drawn a complete blank this winter.

The only question remaining is whether the Hawfinches will still be around in January, as they seem to be working their way through all the field maple seeds in Costers Lane.

Sunday December 10

A few hours before dawn this morning it started snowing. There had been a little bit on Friday morning, which had not thawed, but this morning's was on a different scale. It is still snowing now, at 11.30am, and I popped out with my ruler to take some measurements. On our wooden garden table it is 15cms deep, and on the patio slabs, 10cms.

The Hawfinches seem to have disappeared, my last sighting being one which flew over our driveway on 3 December.

However, the bird feeding regime has been pretty successful, with 17 species in the garden yesterday including 10 Blackbirds, three Redwings, and three Chaffinches. A Wren hopped around the flower pots under the back window for a short while yesterday afternoon.

Redwing

Chaffinch

So this morning the garden looked like this:

I duly waded out and cleared patches of snow, put out more apples, sprinkled more seed, and retreated to see if anything new would turn up.

Redwing

Song Thrush

So, pretty much just the same birds. I could also see no evidence of a hard weather movement, but as the snow is largely confined to the Midlands and Wales, this isn't too surprising.

The neighbours have been busy though.

Update: One species which is surprisingly unusual in our garden is the Starling. But one found the fatballs at lunchtime.

Starling

An hour later I went into the kitchen to find that the apple tree was full of Fieldfares. At least 15 were peering down and they were soon getting stuck in, fighting with the local Blackbirds for supremacy.

Fieldfare

Fieldfare

A fantastic spectacle.

Finally, as the light faded, a Pied Wagtail appeared on the front garden feeder. Another unusual bird for the garden.

Pied Wagtail

The light was too poor for anything but a rather fuzzy record shot.