March 2011 - Sandra's Garden

Saturday 5th: Early riser again this morning...another 6am start! I'd arranged to go into town again to view the Waxwings and take Sandra as she hasn't seen these birds yet, herself. Well we got there at 7:10am and who should be there with the same intention? Rich from Work, he's the person who passes on all the tips. He had been outside the Post Office since 6:30am but they hadn't showed yet. I was in confident mood but half-seven came and went, eight o'clock and still no sign of Waxwing! Ten minutes later and three flew over calling probably with the intention of eating the berries on the cotoneaster tree. Well, they never got the chance, a male Sparrowhawk darted out from somewhere, possibly a nearby rooftop and chased the Waxwings! They all shot off at a rate of knots never to be seen again. Disappointed Sandra and myself took a tour up to another location on the other side of town to check of a Waxwing haunt. Another no-show. House Sparrows, Blackbirds, Black-head Gulls and an interesting 1st Winter Common Gull was all that we saw. A quick drive-thru to the Post Office, just to make sure there were no Waxwings about and then home. What a let-down! I'll just have to go for it again next week as they'll be heading off back to Scandinavia soon.

At least Sandra's garden held some surprises. A pair of Great Tits were in the garden and the female was giving some serious consideration to the nest box. We reckon that she was in there a for at least 10 minutes. The photo shows her just squeezing out!

The usual suspects were there; Goldfinches, Greenfinches (no photos), a pair of Dunnocks, a Robin, some Starlings and most surprising of all, a Rook! We'd already seen three Rooks earlier on our way to town but this time the bird actually perched on a post in Sandra's garden! It didn't come down to the lawn for a meal but flew back to a nest atop a tree across the road.

What do you think this bird below is? Maybe an immature Goldfinch?