Blast from the past - Wren savages Caterpillar!

January 2008, Melanie saw a Wren bobbing about in the garden. Grabbing her video camera she hurriedly filmed the action in all its gory glory. This must be quite a rare event to witness, after all, Wrens can be very secretive birds. But if one makes your garden its territory then you could be witness to some incredible events such as this. Hard to believe that the humble Wren can be such a ruthless predator!

November 2009 - Correction: Pochard female at Lakeside.

Saturday 7th: What a difference a day makes! After a week of rain, today we awoke to a bright sunny morning. A trip down to the Lakeside was called for! But it was chilly and even colder down by the water, definitely coat and gloves weather! The usual suspects were there; Mute Swans circa 30+, Canada Geese patrolling in small family parties, maybe 50+, Mallards circa 40+, Tufted Ducks 20+, Black-headed Gulls circa 40+ along with a Little Grebe, a juvenile Great Crested Grebe (on it's own) and a solitary duck that I couldn't readily identify. Luckily I had taken photos and short videos. After checking with my Birdguides DVD and other sources I have now positively identified this as a female Ring-necked Duck.





As the two photos above show, there is a ring around it's eye. click on each image to see a larger version and one can just see the white band across the bill. The duck was in a group of Tufted Ducks, but the difference in shape and size is readily apparent when compared to a female Tufty. And of course, it has no tuft at the back of it's head! I saw no sign of a male Ring-necked Duck and would welcome any comments about this sighting. Below is a short video of the Pochard.
Correction: After a comment on www.youtube.com , Mel and I have identified this duck as a female Pochard.







The image below shows a pair of Canada Geese. One of these is seen "scolding" the other. This went on for some time without the other replying. They swam as a pair away with the "Scolding" still in progress but to a lesser extent. Is this a male asserting itself over a rival? Comment are welcomed.





I also noticed a Great Crested Grebe juvenile that was most definitely alone. It seemed in good health and large enough to survive. Do the adults cut them loose after a few months?



And of course, the Black-headed Gull. Always seen and most numerous on many lakes and fields.

November 2009 - Old Moor RSPB

Thursday 5th: It's been raining for most of the week but this morning the weather looked promising. John from Doncaster Astromonical Society, agreed to join me and we made the short drive to Old Moor. But of course the rain was never very far away and we were plagued by constant showers. This doesn't stop the birds though, they're made of hardier stuff! The Reserve has recently obtained some Highland Cattle to help keep the grass short. One of the beasts wandered over to the Hide that we were in and got close enough that I could see the eyelashes on it!

November 2009 - Treecreeper

Wednesday 4th: Went for a stroll around the local wood in the afternoon to check-out what was around. As luck would have it, the first bird I encountered was a Treecreeper. Now there's nothing uncommon about a Treecreeper in our local wood, in fact when it's a fine day, if you look and listen long enough, one will appear on a tree. The knack is finding the correct tree! I did have video of it climbing the back of the tree, but unfortunately it is no more. So these three images, which are stills taken from the video are all that is remain.

November 2009 - Starlings are back!

Tuesday 3rd: With the start of Autumn, the Starlings are visiting the garden again in increasing numbers. It must be some sort of inbuilt homing mechanism as they regularly alight onto the feeders and bath in the pond. The flock is getting larger, but it will never become as large as it was until a year ago. Then, huge numbers would roost in the large Conifers in my neighbours garden and use our garden as a canteen! Now that the Conifers are gone they must roost elsewhere...where, who knows. Often the flock is on the ground or on the feeders while one or two stand guard, scanning the sky for possible danger. And this danger is very real, in the form of a solitary Sparrowhawk that sees this garden as a good hunting ground, making a number of kills here, with three in the past month that we know about!

There's still a very healthy population of House Sparrows too. They out number the Starlings by 5 to 1 . A couple of weeks ago, we counted 108 House Sparrows in the garden. Many more are in the area. A Robin has taken up residence in the garden but we believe that it is either a youngster or possibly a foreign bird as it's very shy and only just starting to come down for mealworms. Not at all like the Robins that have made their homes here in recent years!

The male Blackbird that suffered a mauling back in early September has now fully grown his feathers back, but is unable to fly. He can flap his way up to the conifers to hide or roost and even flutter the length of the garden but his days of soaring across several gardens in search of food and providing for offspring are long gone. It is fairly safe here that's probably why he stays, the only hassle he gets is from another male Blackbird and its mate. In fact, the other week he flew upstairs and into the study...I say flew, more like fluttered according to Melanie who saw him do this. He didn't seem at all panicked as the other one did last month. In fact he spent a few minutes perched on the window ledge before fluttering over to the shelter of the Conifers!

This last weekend we have had visits from a Wren, which spent a lot of time poking about in the ivy and the undergrowth. A solitary Goldfinch, took a look at the feeders from a couple of vantage points and hopefully will pass the word onto his mates! A Great Tit spent some time flitting in and out of the garden along with a Blue Tit, who is more of a regular now.. Let's hope they come back soon!

Also we encountered a Harlequin Ladybird. A photo was duly taken and recorded with the
Harlequin Ladybird Survey.

October 2009 - Sandra's Bird Cafe!

Saturday 31st: An early morning start for me as I'd arranged to go over to view the exotic birds that visit her garden. Although Sandra's house is only 200 yards away, it is situated on a road lined with trees. Where you find mature trees you will also find a variety of song birds. The contrast between our garden which contains conifers but no trees lining the road - in fact the nearest trees being the wood some 500 yards distant - and the road where Sandra lives couldn't be more different! We tend to get House Sparrows, Starlings, Collard Doves and Wood Pigeons with the occasional Goldfinch or very rarely, Greenfinch while 200 yards away can be found more exotic birds such as Goldfinch, Greenfich, Chaffinch and Nuthatch. Crumpets (Pikelets!) and tea for breakfast... thanks Sandra. Will have to make another visit later this week to get some close-up shots. Below are the edited highlights from the video that I took through Sandra's kitchen window! Thanks Sandra!