January 2011 - RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch

Saturday 29th: This was an hour of watching the birds in our back garden. Both Melanie and I recorded the different types of birds that would spend time in the garden. The usual suspects were about; House Sparrows (32), Starlings (11), Wood Pigeons (3) & Collard Doves (12). By far, House Sparrows and Starlings are the most numerous of birds in our garden. Though we shouldn't complain, we do yearn for more of a variety of garden birds, both House Sparrows and Starlings are on the RSPBs RED list of conservation concern. Luckily some interlopers visited within the hour; two Great Tits! Now I'm not sure if they were a pair but they are infrequent visitors to our garden. Also the Wren (who currently stays most of the day every day to feast on live mealworms), along with the Robin and another pair of Blackbirds were included in the count. I also briefly saw a male Greenfinch fly-off from the garden. I guess he got lost on his way to that other place! So well down on numbers this year!

The Government has announced plans to sell-off the 18% of England's woodlands and forests currently run by the Forestry Commission. There is a public consultation in progress until the 21st April after which, the Government will review and then make known it's decision. You can read all about it at the link above. Read what the National Trust has to say on the proposals. If you wish, sign the petition at the campaign group 38 Degrees website.

August 2009 - Injured Collard Dove?

Tuesday 25th: Melanie took this photo of this strange-looking Collard Dove today. It had landed on the bird-table and was listening intently to all the noises around it. It let my wife get very close to take these photos. It appears that the Dove has one eye missing. What would've caused this? Possibly the bird was hatched with one eye missing, but unlikely as it is doubtful as to whether it would have survived. Maybe it had been attacked at sometime in the past? Or maybe the Dove has an infection that has become malignant? Looking closely at the photos, there appears to be some kind of growth underneath the skin on the neck. We assume that it only had one eye missing, my wife didn't get a clear look at the left side of its head. How else would it have got to the bird table if it was totally blind. It did fly off when Melanie approached too closely!

While on my lunch break today at Work, I had a splendid view of a male Kestrel perched atop a small building. It spent about 30 mins there, occasionally swooping down to the ground. Typically, I get a good view but no camera to hand!