Tuesday 28th June - Greyhound Birds

So in the frame of mind to exit the property I've been at since 1998. I thought it would be worth a summary of the Birds and wildlife seen in or from the place over the last 13 years. Due to various things like excessive working, having kids, a few years where playing golf seemed to be the main activity, the viewing coverage has varied in consistency, but I believe I am leaving the place in a better position than when we first arrived in terms of the house and the garden / field from both an aesthetic and wildlife point of view and I think the list achieved for birds seen is higher than I probably first would have anticipated.

So 91 species of bird have been recorded - Listing all 91 is a little dull so the more unusual / interesting ones as follows.

Egyptian Goose - A pair in the area in 2011 seen in flight a couple of times in March.
Mandarin Duck - Local breeder pairs annually seen in flight Mar- May
Greenshank       - A single bird flew low over the house calling 19/08/10
Curlew              - A single bird high over the house 2/05/09
Whimbrel          - A flock of 11 flew low calling 10/07/08
Woodcock        - First seen flying through garden 23/1/11 then again twice in March 2011
Red-Legged Partridge - A pair set up territory in the garden in 2005 often seen calling on the roof  and garden wall.
Osprey               - One seen 15/04/00 and one 24/04/11
Peregrine           - Seen twice in one day 3/12/10
Honey Buzzard   - An amazing 11 recorded 0n 28 September 2000 and a single 28/04/06
Hobby               - Annual sightings throughout Summer
Red Kite           - Since 2002 a couple of sightings annually - seen 3 in 2011
Barn Owl  - One was in the garden from Oct-Dec 1998 after we moved in, singles seen Sep 1999 and 2007
Tawny Owl       - A least three pairs within hooting distance - one often in garden
Turtle Dove       - Has become less common as a Summer flyover May-Jul - seen once in 2011
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker - A male frequently visited nut feeder 28/06/06-2/08/06 and again dec 09 and daily 06/02/10-28/02/10.
Skylark            - Lots seen on Autumn passage, one occasionally with a territory in arable fields across road.
Meadow Pipit   - Lots seen on autumn passage - Max 12 on wires in garden in 2001
Yellow Wagtail - 3 seen with Pied Wagtail flock in field 28/0810 and 2 birds 29and 30/08/10
Grey Wagtail    - a pair recorded July 2007
Cuckoo        - Annual although not recorded 2004-2008
Firecrest     -   Singles seen 20/10/08 and 10/10/09
Nightingale - Have bred next to house - in Jul 2008 pair feeding young on patio. No longer annual although heard briefly in 2011
Reed Warbler - 2 sightings in garden one singing in May 2004,  one sat on barbecue in 2010 ! .
Lesser Whitethroat - 3 sightings one of which this week.
Spotted Flycatcher - Annual sightings, bred in garden in 2004.
Whitethroat - annual sightings breeds close to house.
Marsh Tit - Regular visitor to feeders with up to 3 individuals, breeds in vicinity.
Raven - First seen in 2009 a pair has been recorded 4 times since.
Siskin - annual which finches in late Winter since 2005
Brambling - Not recorded for last 3 years but before that regular Winter visitor max 4 at once.
Hawfinch - 3 sightings in garden all in May, Pair 5/05/00, singles1/05/03 and 9/05/09
Bullfinch - Regular visitor, pair this year suggest breeding very close.
Linnet - Occasional sightings mainly flyovers, were common in 1999 and 2000 and possibly bred locally.
Yellowhammer - Breeds locally, but max 8 in Winter 
Reed Bunting - one record in Feb 2007  in garden with finches.

Mammals recorded are

Roe Deer
Fallow Deer
Fox ! (The bugger that got the hens and ducks !)
Badger - One sighting in 2003
Hedgehog - Not seen by us but found by my gardeners dog hiding in the duck house.
Stoat - Several summer sightings of one right up to the house.
Grey Squirrel (of course)
Pipistrelle Bat - We have a nursery of them in the roof ! - up to 15 bats currently
Barbestelle Bat - One record of a largish bat in daylight / early evening got recorded as this species
 Other mammals - Moles/Bunnies/Brown Rats / Field Vole/Wood Mouse /Yellow Necked Mouse/House Mouse/ Common Shrew/Pygmy Shrew.

On the reptilian front Common Lizard / Slow Worm / Grass Snake / Adders / Palmate Newt and Great Crested Newt /Common Frog and Common Toad.
Have not really recorded Butterflies or other insects

Monday 27th June - Aaaaaaaaaaaaargh

Not much blog updating in the last couple of weeks mainly due to rain,packing,rain,working, rain, ascot, more packing, rain, wimbledon, rain, more packing, and then a Sunday of incredibly hot weather ... with more packing and a leaving party ... so no pictures to update the blog with either and despite mentioning packing there is still a lot do.

Emotions are running a little high driven by not knowing where I'll be living although it's reasonably certain I won't be at Greyhound this time next week. The buying is becoming a little stressful, and the last few days it's been swinging between thinking its all coming together to looking like it will fall apart this last weekend and then a little more progress this morning, which then seemed to have stalled by this evening. The movers are booked to start getting things sorted on Thursday, but we haven't yet told them where to move anything to !.

Maybe tomorrow will become clearer !

Friday 10th June - Irania

No - I haven't managed to get up to Hartlepool to climb up a ladder to see Britain's 3rd (but first accessible) White-throated Robin. In fact I don't think I've ever seen a bird whilst standing on a ladder, which is not surprising, as me and ladders are not great buddies - the world becomes very unstable if I'm up one.  I was in Jersey and Guernsey on Monday and Tuesday with work when Gary alerted me to the Robin and would I be tempted to try for it overnight ? Just impossible with work at the moment to spin any extra time for such things hey-ho (and it's only a a female !) - see the thought process you go through when you know you're not going to be able to try and see a rare one.

Back to birding reality and a couple of young Pied Wagtails were being entertained by their parents on the lawn this week, and daily viewings of young families of birds continue to entertain.

Young Pied Wagtail in garden

Male Blackcap - looking bedraggled as feeding young is hard work

Fox in field behind house - actually had a crocked leg.

Male White-throated Robin (Irania guttaralis) - Ok maybe not in Hartlepool - Not great pics as still digiscoping  but these 2 males seen last year in Armenia - very smart bird though  !

Sunday 5th June - Paul's Himalayan Musk

.. No not my new designer aftershave, but one of the rambling roses that has 2 weeks of glory at this time of year.

Paul's Himalayan Musk - Don't know who Paul was but he smelt good

In fact there are 19 different Rose varieties in the garden and now is absolutely the best time. Wandering into the garden you get hit with the rose fragrance (and that's even when the cesspit is having a problem). So a little bitter-sweet enjoyment given that the moving out date is firmly fixed as July 4th, and it feels that all of the (emotional) effort - and there's been a lot of it - having gone into the garden over the last decade will be left behind - hey-ho will just have to do it again.

As for the moving plans ...... aaaaarrrghh !!!! - Who says moving house is stressful ?! - bugger. Moving out is being sorted - moving in is not - The solicitors just say helpful things like - 'I don't know how long it will take or when it will be, that's the risk you take when you exchange' - The agents just repeat what they said 2 months ago i.e. 'yeah it'll be no problem you'll be fine' (RJ get your profession sorted !!!!). So we're just having to arrange movers where destination could be 1) house we're moving to 2) storage 3) Somewhere to rent ????

So the last couple of weeks (and the next few) seem destined to be packing/house moving / sorting etc  which invariably takes longer than you think and as you can predict, work suddenly becomes excessively busy and I've been fighting another bug this last week - one of those that doesn't make it impossible to get the train but means you sleep virtually all weekend.

As for the birds around the garden, well they're still busy nesting, brooding, raising young.  Particularly visible in the garden have been Blackbirds ,Song Thrush, Blackcaps, Chiffchaff, Goldfinch, Chaffinch, House Sparrows, Dunnocks, Robin, a Long-tailed-tit party, Swallows and a pair of Bullfinches.

Other sightings in flight this week included Cuckoo, Turtle Dove (both early one morning) and 2 Red Kites (Sat and Sun) and 4 Black-headed Gulls (gulls are very unusual around here) along with the more usual Buzzard, Sparrowhawk and Kestrel.

Male Bullfinch outside the Kitchen.

Mrs Bullfinch - just to prove there's a pair .

A stray Poppy - although a field full of this variety is more likely to interest the Taliban or an occupying western military force.

Pineapple Broom - The smell is incredible - exactly like pineapples

... more roses

....even more roses

Damselfly - possibly a common coenagrion rather than a common blue - not my expertise though.