Garden Gold

 Well, it's been pretty quiet of late. I am only birding on my daily walks, and rarely taking the binoculars out let alone the camera. So unfortunately there has not really been anything new to report.

Having said that, I did have my garden highlight of the year (so far) this week, with a female Bullfinch visiting. I thought I could hear it's call while working away at my desk, but couldn't see anything from there. I carried on, but then it flew across my window to the trees opposite. I was hoping that the male would soon follow, but sadly it didn't. I can't complain though. What a bird to have outside your window. Just to think that I wouldn't have seen this had I not been working from home. A real bonus.

Hopefully soon I will be able to get out and about a bit more, as it's really starting to frustrate me. I need my birding and photography fix. Plus the best time of year is coming, in terms of migration. 

Female Bullfinch

Sitting on Thick Ice

 A couple of weeks ago I had a dental appointment in Macclesfield. Running a little early, and afforded the opportunity to drive somewhere in the car, I stopped off at a very frozen Redesmere on the way.

I'd say the mere was 85% frozen with thick ice. This meant that the gulls were close in and resting on the ice, while anything else was distant on the very small open patch of water. It's much easier to check out the gulls if they are not bobbing around on the water. 

The Black-headed Gulls here were plentiful, with this one particular bird in the centre already in full breeding hood. The legs were also noticeably darker.

There were a few Common Gulls on the ice too. You can see the yellowish legs on the one left of centre with two sat on the ice just to its right.

I do like the Common Gull. Unfortunately it is not actually that common. Of the two sat on the ice to the right of the bird stood (again just left of centre) one has not yet developed it's yellow bill and is more grey with a blackish tip. This will be a 2nd winter bird and will develop this more into adulthood.

Common Gull sat behind Black-headed Gull. Shows the difference in size between them. Common Gull is quite a bit larger, and has a streaky head.

A really good looking Lesser Black-backed Gull in the centre here. Again, shows how considerably larger it is in comparison to the Black-headed Gulls that surround it.

Everyone else making sure the Lesser Black-backed Gull has plenty of room. No ones friend.

Garden Goings On

Still in lockdown, still not going out with the camera. So I have resorted to poking the camera lens out of the lounge window on my lunch breaks, as I am working from home. Thankfully there is a lot of activity out there at the moment, and the cold weather is helping to keep the birds very interested around the feeders. Coal Tits and Long-tailed Tits are busy on the fat blocks, but far too quick to capture as I stand at the window. Blue and Great Tits are always around and the odd Redwing pays me a visit.

I tried to pick out the easy targets, and some of those happened to be the ground feeding birds.

Dunnocks are looking good at the moment.

Female Blackbird.

Not exactly a bird, but I couldn't resist this little guy.

Robin

A distant Treecreeper has been a nice surprise visitor on a few occasions. Tends to move around with the Long-tailed Tit flock. 

Long-tailed Tit. Apologies for the blur. I am hand holding without a rest or monopod.

Spring will soon be here.

I'm taking a look back at some pictures I took in the Spring of last year, as I can't get out at the moment. Not birds this time either.

I saw this Brown Hare while at Cley in Norfolk. It spent a good time chasing around the surrounding fields. Nothing unusual you'd think about that, but then it did something I've never seen a Hare do before. It got into the water and swam from one side to the other. It really shocked me, and had me watching open mouthed.

 

Not where you'd usually expect to see a Brown Hare.

This Stoat came back to see if I was really watching him. I sure was, and I knew he'd pop his head back up.

2021 Year List Begins

On New Years Day I headed out to try and kick start my new year list. I stayed local, but concentrated on an area I knew would give me a good number of birds across different habitats. With woodland, open farmland, hedgerow and water, I thought I'd be in with a good chance of seeing a variety of birds. I actually ended the day on 46 species, so was very pleased for just a few hours.

It was cold, with some fresh snow having fallen in the early hours, but already starting to melt. I knew the birds would be out and eagerly looking for food.

This Robin gave me an almost picture postcard pose in the snow.

I've found a really good Tree Sparrow location, with around 30 birds. Not easy to find these days, so I always take my time when around them to observe and enjoy these secretive little birds.

Lovely chestnut brown caps and the black markings on the cheeks.

The real surprise of the morning was finding these Whooper Swans. 25 in total, and a really good early year tick. They didn't hang around long, but just long enough to ID them at distance through the binoculars and to take a couple of record shots. As you can see, these differ to our native Mute Swans with their yellow bills, and are just visiting here for the winter. They will head off back to the arctic tundra to breed in the Spring.

Redesmere Lake, Siddington

These pictures were all taken just after the new year, when we were still allowed out and prior to the latest lockdown. 

Redesmere lake, just a short drive from home, is where I have spent a lot of time over the last 18 months or so. Since taking on the monthly Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) count here for the BTO I have found myself gravitating to it more and more. It is a large lake, about half a mile in length and is surrounded by woodland. This attracts some good birds all year round, with winter thrushes, Siskin and Redpoll, while in the summer I have had Spotted Flycatchers as the stars of the show.

The water itself also brings in some great wildfowl and geese. Last year I found 3 Greenland White fronted Geese and on the 1st of January this year I found 25 Whooper Swans on it. Add to this, Smew, Great White Egret and Red Crested Pochard, it has really turned out to be a surprising bit of water. I feel it is rather under-watched, so I am trying to visit more, as I am sure lots comes and goes unnoticed.

Here are a few of my sightings in early January.

Male Chaffinch in very poor light.

Female Chaffinch

Goldcrest with that rather sad looking downturned moustache.

These little guys do not stop still for a second, but fascinating to watch.

Greylag Geese on the march in the snow.

One of four Lesser Redpoll. These small birds don't hang about either.

Quite a few Redwings around, now down to the leaf litter having devoured all the berries.

I'd never really noticed how elegant they are from behind. A stunning winter thrush.

The Cold Snap Continues

 We seem to be stuck in this constant cold spell at the moment. I don't mind too much if it is cold and frosty, but cold and wet just won't do. Pre the latest lockdown I went out when there was still a little snow on the ground, but the skies were battleship grey. Not ideal for photography, but that's never stopped the need for a bird to feed. So off I went.

There was plenty of activity as usual, with good numbers of our more common species, but a lot of the others seemed to stay at a distance and the light didn't help me with them. I got myself tucked into a bush and they came quite close without even noticing me.

Blue Tit

Great Tit

A bit gloomy for this Nuthatch, but I always enjoy seeing them.

I was quite annoyed at the electricity cables that ran along the background of this Grey Heron, but I liked the light underneath the bird from the snow, so I thought I'd share it anyway.

A Lovely Winters Day

Just after Christmas we had a nice amount of snowfall. By nice, I mean not enough to keep you indoors for days or the roads clogged up. It was just enough to enjoy a nice morning walk before it started to melt. So I was out early to see what birds it would bring out to play. I headed to Lapwing Lane pool, which has a really nice perimeter walk and a good variety of habitat, and then just down the road to Redesemere lake. First thing I noticed was how nicely the snow reflects light onto the underside of birds in flight. Buzzards and Geese looked very good in particular. 

Where the snow didn't reach, the frost took hold.

There was a lot of activity, as is always the case on a cold day. The birds seem to take more risks to find food. They will stay around longer as you walk by them rather than dash off at the first sign of a human form. This makes photographing them a little easier when utilised with fieldcraft.

Blue Tit

A Dunnock trying to find a patch where there is no snow.

Greylag geese were particularly busy on this morning, but looked fantastic with the snow reflecting.

The Kingfishers perch was well protected from the snow, and again, she was very active.

A Robin in snowy wintery conditions. One of those moments that looks like a classic Christmas Card.