December 2011 - Grey Wagtail is back again!

Monday 12th: The Grey Wagtail was back in the garden again today. Mel got some more video footage and stills of the bird in and around the pond. This time it had a bath on the waterfall and, by the look of it, it was thoroughly enjoying itself. Mel also filmed the bird eating fish food again... yes fish food as well as pecking at insects. The bird also ventured further away from the pond and beneath the feeders where it pecked at maize flakes. It didn't take too kindly to being interrupted by two House Sparrows and a Dunnock and moved away from the water flow, but not too far. This bird has now visited our garden pond on 6 separate days (that we know of), since 28th November.

December 2011 - Grey Wagtail in the garden...again!

Sunday 4th: 9:25am and a shout wakes me from my slumber: "the Grey Wagtail is in the garden!" I bounced out of bed to the window looking out on the back garden. There it was...a Grey Wagtail bobbing along around the pond! This is the first time that I have seen the bird in the garden and it is absolutely astounding. Grey Wagtails are countryside birds that frequent fast flowing rivers and streams. What it is doing here, in the middle of a built-up area is anybodies guess. By the looks of it, the Wagtail is a female and spent about 25 minutes around the pond before it flew off. Let's hope it returns soon.

These two short videos were taken by Mel through the window. The photos were also taken by Mel.

December 2011 - Whooper Swans & Fieldfares!

Friday 2nd: Woke to the first frost of Winter and the temperature at 8:30am was 0° centigrade! Driving round the corner to collect Sandra, I bagged my first sighting of the day. Darting-out in front of the car and alighting on the pavement to my right was a Yellow Wagtail! Wow, fantastic sighting, regaled in all its finery. Sadly no chance or time to grab the camera, but I did stop the car to revel in this splendid looking bird. With Melanie seeing the Grey Wagtail again, for the third sighting this week, in the garden at 10:20am, this has been a good week for Wagtails.

After the initial excitement (on my part), we headed for the Wroot and the countryside. The Sun was up but still it was freezing. We stopped by the river Torne and were greeted by a huge flock Fieldfares. So many that to try and count them was an impossible task, so we agreed that there was 500+. They were everywhere! Many perched on the telephone lines, in bushes and atop trees. Of course these were Hawthorn bushes and trees covered in berries. Two Kestrels were perched on the telephone wires, not taking much notice of the Fieldfares even though they were being crowded-out! The male Kestrel did change locations and even came near us to hunt. But the abiding image must be of the clouds of Fieldfares taking to the blue sky every now-and-then.

A couple of miles up the road, just outside Wroot and in one of the farm fields were what we were looking for. There, off to one side, 70-odd Swans. Wow! Whooper Swans, I counted 34, and 37 Mute Swans.

After chatting to a fellow Birder, he advised us to walk up to the banks of the Torne to get a better view with the scope. He wasn't wrong either, outstanding views! A flock of Lapwing, probably 250 swirled around the sky and descended onto the field. Behind us on the other side of the Torne, Sandra spotted another Kestrel and we watched as it hovered and dove and hovered.

Below is a photo of an adult Whooper and 1st year in the field at Alderfen. This image was captured by Sandra by placing her camera at the eye piece of the scope (digiscoped). Even though the weather was freezing cold and a bitter wind was howling around us, she managed to capture this remarkable image!

Another image from Sandra below is of a flock of Lapwings, 210 in this photo! They may be just specks but I can assure you that they are Lapwings and that there were even more!

Both feeling very cold now, it was time to make for home and a hot cuppa tea. A fantastic few hours of birding.

November 2011 - Grey Wagtail in the Pond Waterfall

Monday 28th: This afternoon there was visitor to the garden that, to our recollection, we have never seen before. Unusual in that this bird, a Grey Wagtail, is generally associated with rivers, fast flowing streams and the countryside. To see one padding about in your back garden... a small back garden in the middle of an estate must be very rare indeed. The Grey Wagtail was seen by Mel to be walking and bobbing on the fallen reeds and then standing in the waterfall against the flow looking for water-borne insects. This first video shows the Grey Wagtail amongst the reeds of the pond.

This next video shows the Grey Wagtail standing in the waterfall, against the flow, poking around for tasty insects.

Earlier in the day, 10:50am, Mel spied a Sparrowhawk hiding amongst the conifers, waiting to ambush anything that came her way. This is a different Sparrowhawk to the last one that visited a few weeks ago. That afternoon it was a male, today... a female. This raises the questions; are two rival Sparrowhawks overlapping territories? Are these a pair looking to establish a territory for the winter? Or are they siblings, learning to hunt in a secure environment?

October 2011 - The Wren returns and a Treesparrow in the garden!

Sunday 16th: The Wren that has been visiting our garden each Autumn\Winter since 2008 has returned today. It surely must be the same bird as it comes to the bush at the back door and calls for mealworms. If it is not the same bird, then has it indicated to others about where to get an easy meal? This is an intriguing question. But if it is then it has clearly survived the harsh snows of December 2010\ January 2011! The bird seems to follow the same pattern in that it departs the garden in March and returns around October. This being the case for 2009, 2010 and now 2011.

It was at 2:20pm that I first saw the Wren picking through the undergrowth in the garden. Throwing some mealworms out,immediately caught its attention and it came to the backdoor to feast, closely followed by a dozen House Sparrows.

Scanning the House Sparrows, one caught my attention. It looked oddly out of place. Looking closer I could see that it was a Tree Sparrow. Now as can be seen (image below) Tree Sparrows have a white cheek with black spot and an all brown head. Whereas House Sparrows (image above) don't have white cheeks or an all brown head. Above, the male House Sparrow is on the left and the female is on the right. It's very unusual for Tree Sparrows to visit a garden, that is unless your garden is the countryside! This one may just have been passing through, on its way somewhere. Both Tree Sparrows and House Sparrows will freely associate as flocks and can live side-by-side. Only the one Tree Sparrow was seen in our garden but I now scan the large flock of resident House Sparrows...just in case!

October 2011 - A couple of Goldfinches visit the garden!

Friday 14th: After all the rain and cloud of recent days, today is sunny with clear blue skies. It's very rare indeed that we get Goldfinches in our garden. But today, Mel snapped some photos of these two Goldfinches on one of the sunflower-heart feeders. There is clearly a difference in the markings on these birds and we believe that one is a juvenile while the other is an adult.

The Goldfinches spent a fair amount of time on the feeders and seemed content, even with the hustle and bustle of the House Sparrows. We don't get visits from these birds on a regular basis like some, (Sandra), who live only a couple of hundred yards away! Could it be that the Goldfinches don't like conifers, as that is all we have in our garden?

September 2011 - Butterflies, Dragonflies, Ladybirds and Treecreeper!

Saturday 24th: Had a walk around my local wood in the morning sunshine. Came across a flock of Blue and Long-tailed Tits. Amongst the flock were two Treecreepers. These birds are always a special treat to see and even more to photograph. For such a small bird, they are quick on their feet as they scramble up the bark of a tree - never down. I did see one of them flutter down the ground and then start climbing.

Aside from that flock, not much else. Most birds are either molting or coming to the end of their Summer-moult so tend to keep themselves hidden. But what I did notice was a large number of Ladybirds. These were the resident variety of 7-spots. No Harlequins seen.

 With Autumn now upon us, this is the best time of year to seek-out those elusive fungi. Below is a photo of the Cauliflower fungus (Sparassis crispa).

Later in the back garden I came across an unusual Moth; Angle Shades  (Phlogophora meticulosa). After taking photos, we placed it on a bush where it has stayed all afternoon and was still there at 6pm!

Oh...and Mel got stung again (the second this season) by a Wasp!

The garden provides cover and residence to a large population of House Sparrows. At the last count a few weeks ago, there was 109. Clearly not all of these live in the conifers, but may do, with others from surrounding gardens taking advantage of the variety on food on offer here. Nationally, they may be on the RSPB's Red List, with very low numbers in London, but here they are most definitely on OUR Green List!

Wednesday 21st: My first outing since recovering from sciatica problems with my back. So it was just a local trip up the road to Hatfield Moor and hopefully not too much time on my feet. Fairly uneventful overall. The highlights being 2 Hobbies that flew overhead, with one returning about 20 minutes later - unfortunately no photos. A good view of a GreenWoodpecker through binoculars while Sandra used the scope to get an even better view and later a Great-spotted Woodpecker. Still, quite a number of Emperor and Red Darter Dragonflies about with various other kinds. The ground is damp as would be expected after the rain that we've had recently and various Mushrooms\Toadstools were evident.

 Above: Just one of many Speckled-Wood Butterflies seen at Hatfield Moor (south).

 Above: This Small Copper Butterfly was the only one seen.

Above: Red Darter, as usual, this was the most numerous of the Dragonfly family.

Above: Gadwall in flight.

Above: Shaggy Ink Cap (Coprinus comatus)

Above: Silky Nolanea (Nolanea sericea).

 Above: Woolly Milk Cap (Lactarius torminosus).

Above: Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria).