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.

January 2011 - New Years Day Birding

Saturday 1st: The first day of the New Year is traditionally a day when "Birders" get out and about for those first ticks of the year! This one is no different. A cold and wet day with the promise of sporadic rain shows... great! For Sandra and myself, it started with a drive down to Sheffield in search of those elusive Waxwings! Unfortunately when we got there at 10am, there were none to be seen, though Sandra did see a small flock of birds through her binoculars that may have been a group of Waxwings though we couldn't confirm this as I had left my binoculars in the car! A walk around Abbeydale constantly searching the leafless trees and skies did not reveal any of these birds. Though a small group of Long-tailed Tits did provide our first sighting of the year! A Robin, Carrion Crows and half-a-dozen Wood Pigeons added to that tally.

So a trip out towards Redmires Reservoir and towards the Peak District. We didn't actually get to the Reservoir but a sighting of flocks of Fieldfares by Sandra in fields at the roadside necessitated a short road side stop to view them and take photos. Sandra was thrilled as this was a FIRST for her and the first time that I have seen more that one Fieldfare! There were loads of them! We estimated that there could be circa 60 after I did a quick count. As can be seen in a photo above, but not seen by us at the time is a Redwing. Redwings will often join Fieldfares in large flocks. The light rain was constant throughout the day wherever we went and annoying.

Driving on, we ended-up at a small NR called Rivelin. A small secluded car park with picnic area and two small ponds surrounded by trees. Six drake and seven duck Mallards occupied the frozen ponds, a few Long-tailed tits in the trees and a couple of Robins. But a Wren seemed interested in me and landed on the wooden fence just 4 feet away and sang to me. I was so close I could even see it's throat moving as it sang. Of course for reasons I shan't go into, my camera was in the car so no photo of this friendly Wren.

On to Thryburgh Country Park near Rotherham. As with other locations, ice was prevalent here with large swathes of the lake frozen. Mallards, Black-headed Gulls and Common Coots were in very large numbers and flocked around anyone who went near the waters' edge in the hope of food. The Swan Goose was still there and I noticed a tag on it's leg. A lone Great-Crested Grebe in winter plumage, (as Sandra pointed-out) was out on the water.

Before we embarked on a trek around the Park, someone,presumably a Park Ranger came with a huge bucket and threw bread and other food to the flock. From all sides; Canada Geese, Coots, Mallards and inevitably the Gulls rushed to grab their own piece of food. This was when I photographed the Coot below, looking suitably satisfied with itself have just eaten! Look at those huge feet!

In the trees on the bank of the lake were Goldfinches and Chaffinches. We walked over to the hide and there we were treated to a flock feeding at the bird table and peanut feeder of Tree Sparrows, with a few Blue Tits, Great Tits and the one Yellowhammer.

Seeing Tree Sparrows here was a surprise to me because although Thryburgh is in the countryside and surrounded by fields, a town, Rotherham was only a few miles away.

Time was short, it was 3:30pm and darkness would fall by 4pm. The lake didn't look that large an area so we decided to have a quick walk around it back to the car. Well, to cut a long story short, apart from it being very muddy and wet, we saw no more birds! We got to the other side of the lake and were forced to back-track!

It turned-out that a huge fence was blocking off the footpath and it was locked too! Too high to climb so we had no choice, we had to back track, the way we came! The race was on! Get back to the car before it gets dark and the main gate is locked!

A quick march back got us to the car in the gathering gloom. All other cars and people had already departed. The Tea Shop was locked! Thankfully the gate was not locked and we did get home for our respective dinners. I've done some things while out birding, but almost getting locked-in at a site is crazy!!

January 2010 - Fieldfare returns!

Thursday 14th: Is this the same Fieldfare seen last weekend and earlier this week? Well it seems to me that for one bird to be in the same place as previous days and be a totally different individual is just too much of an improbability for me to accept. This is the SAME bird as with previous days. But what intrigues me is the lack of any other Fieldfares in the vicinity. These are usually flocking birds and with the Pyracantha berries on view, its strange that only one individual is feeding on them!Still the Fieldfare is a fine looking bird!

Meanwhile, out in the back garden, the Wren, who is almost a daily visitor, was out and about amongst the rapidly thawing snow in the pursuit of tasty morsels. This photo was taken as the Wren raced through the plants, it's eye on the prize.

January 2010 - Garden Fieldfare

Tuesday 12th: This recent cold-snap has been bringing some unusual visitors to our garden in the hunt for food. Today, another FIRST...a Fieldfare! Now in all the years we have been feeding the birds, we have never seen a Fieldfare in or anywhere near our garden in the Winter. But today, today technically this bird was the 2nd Fieldfare in 4 days that has visited the garden. Melanie grabbed a series of 4 photos through the windows of today's bird, two of which are shown here.

Last Sunday, a good showing of a Fieldfare on top of the conifers by the house and later in the day, a second visit by a Redwing. This after a Redwing came into the garden late Saturday afternoon! So the appearance of these two unusual birds was preceded by the Pied Wagtail last week. This cold-snap has shown us that if you put the food out, you will help the birds in their time of need and may even see some uncommon visitors!

PLEASE FEED THE BIRDS DURING THIS COLD WEATHER!