Sunday 25th November -Garden birds

After the torrential rain and floods right through last week and Saturday night, devastating much of the country,  it was a pleasure to have a small amount of benign bright weather on Sunday morning. On Wednesday I tried to visit one of our offices in Barnstaple, Devon, by a train leaving Paddington at 7am - only to find 8 hours later I was back at Paddington having not made it further than Bristol (still about 90 miles to go). The train having to reverse back to Bristol from somewhere in somerset once it encountered the floods.

I haven't spent much time or attention on the garden feeders for much of autumn to date (the squirrels have been winning that battle !) but I had an hour or so before we went to Sal's birthday lunch.

The surprise,  3 male Bramblings !, that spent 30 mins around before flying off - hope they remain in the area for the Winter.  In addition, 5 Goldfinch, 1 Siskin, 2 Greenfinch 8 Chaffinch, 1 Bullfinch, , Robin, Dunnock, 1 Jay, 3 Magpies, Jackdaws, 2 Pheasant, 6 Great Tits, 8 Blue Tits, 3 Coal Tits, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Nuthatch, several Blackbirds and Woodpigeon. 5 Redwings landed briefly at the top of one of the trees in the gully and a Sparrowhawk made a couple of passes. A few photos from the very grubby kitchen window below.

I now need to work out how to up the anti on the Squirrels. There are 5 of the little buggers, they get to the feeders and eat through the wire/plastic/metal or knock over and generally prevent the birds from feeding. 

I've tried greasing the poles to the feeders, firstly with Olive oil, which works for a limited time, then with Chili oil, which had the same effect but just for a small while longer, then with Vicks VapoRub ( Having experienced what happens with this if you accidentally scratch yourself in the wrong place after applying, I was hoping to watch the Squirrels dance away in excruciating pain imagining the burning sensation they would be feeling in their nether regions) . It did work momentarily, but again, especially with the wet weather, only until the pole washes down and they can get enough traction to shimmy up the pole again.
I've looked at the accessories you can buy - cones or baffles for the poles and feeders called 'Squirrel Busters' - just not convinced they would work the Squirrels are more canny and more violent than these contraptions - and they're expensive. So nothing for it, but to continue with the experiments over the winter - Look out Nutkins your time's up buddy.

2 male Brambling

Brambling
 

a ringed Goldfinch

Coal tit

Sunday 18th November

Sunday, incredibly had mild weather and wall to wall sunshine. I was able to cut the grass in the afternoon which I'd assumed I wouldn't get the chance again before next spring.

I started Sunday morning by heading early down to Selsey. With fairly calm seas and a low tide in bright sunshine, the most I was hoping for was maybe some visual winter migration over from the continent, but there was none of that . However on the sea there were 2 Great Northern Divers, a Slavonian Grebe a Red-necked Grebe, c100 Common Scoters with just 2 males in the flock, several Red-breasted Mergansers, a single Razorbill, a distant Kittiwake, a Great Skua and a Rock Pipit on the beach. 

I then went inland and headed towards Amberley and onto the downs around North Stoke, having intended to do this last weekend but being distracted by the Hooded Merganser.

The managed arable downland here is great and as soon as I got out of the car there were Corn Buntings and Yellowhammers in the shrubs and bushes, Lots of Skylark, Meadow Pipit, Reed Bunting, Linnet, Pied Wagtail, 2 Lesser Redpoll all feeding on the natural seed generated by the plants in the field edge strips. I counted 28 Grey Partridge in 4 or 5 different coveys. lots of Blackbirds and Song Thrushes but no Winter Thrushes. The main viewing in this area is raptors, and it was slightly disappointing, I did have 7 Buzzards, 3 Red Kite and 2 Kestrel but no Harriers , Merlin or Peregrine which often frequent the area.

.. Home to mow,

Corn Bunting

Reed bunting

Red Kite

Sunday 11th November - Saturday Jinx

This week a Hooded Merganser had been seen at Pagham. A sawbill diving duck, in the wild they breed in North America (Note that I reservedly say 'in the wild').  I'd seen plenty on both trips to Canada frequenting inland lakes and generally in the company of other North American Duck species such as Buffleheads, Lesser Scaup etc. Genuine wild birds are a rarity in the UK, although sorting out the genuine wild from the friendly captive bred or collection birds that have escaped is problematic. I had seen a male bird at Radipole in 2009, but without much analysis the fact it was trying to mate with a Tufted Duck and was first to the bread suggested quite strongly it had never attempted an Atlantic crossing. The Pagham bird was reported as an unringed 1st Winter female with all flight feathers intact, which slightly increased it's chances of being the genuine article, either way it was worth a look.

So first thing Saturday I headed to Pagham in the rain (which didn't stop while I was there). The familiar Saturday morning feeling of another bird disappearing on Friday night soon started to sink in as there was no sign of the Merganser as the high tide started to recede and it wasn't seen for the rest of the day. Compensation was a Black Brant in the Brent Goose flock, A large wader count with 3 Spotted Redshank, c300 Golden Plover, Grey Plover, Dunlin, Redshank  Black tailed Godwit, Bar-tailed Godwit, Curlew, Snipe, Dunlin, Turnstone, Lapwing . Duck were well represented with Teal, Wigeon, Shelduck and Pintail in decent numbers and a Med Gull was with a small group of roosting gulls. A Kingfisher flew over the North Wall, Also seen,  Grey Wagtail, Reed Bunting and Meadow Pipit, with a presumed calling Water Pipit that flew over. I headed home late morning and it looked as if it was about to stop raining, which it did after  lunchtime, which worked well for the impressive  Firework display at the girls' school on Saturday night.

Sunday morning I was out again first thing for another morning, my plan was a seawatch at Selsey then to head inland to the downs to look for raptors as the forecast was more favourable.

I wasn't expecting a huge haul of birds on the sea, but faired better than expected. It was a bright sunny and unexpectedly warm morning. A fairly large flock of Common Scoter were just offshore - probably numbering 75+ in various groups. They were nearly all females apart from a male Velvet Scoter , also 2 female Eider on the sea. There was three fairly distant flocks of Little Gulls that totalled 65 birds with a few passing Kittiwake and Gannet. 2 Red-throated Divers flew East and several Auks moved at a distance with only one Guillemot close enough for a definitive ID. Then news came through that the Merganser was seen back at Pagham - well I had to.

and yes it was there, on arrival the Hodded Merganser spent time continuously diving and feeding in a channel close to the footpath and then flying to the harbour until it eventually disappeared nito a creek. It's difficult to add to the debate about it's wild credentials other than it was free-flying and happily feeding on small fish, it was also quite vocal with a single frog-like croak being heard repeatedly, which a few of the local comedians decided the 'croak' translated  to the bird saying 'bread'. I spent a while in the area, as it was very pleasant in the sunshine, chatting to several others. The Black Brant was present again, as was a Spotted Redshank, In addition to yesterdays birds. a Greenshank and a Stonechat were seen. My diversion back to the North Wall meant the trip to the downs was put on hold so I headed home for a relaxing afternoon.



Hooded Merganser

Sunday 4th November - Weekend Mist

Misty and  murky with rain showers - spent a lot of the weekend around the house with autumn food.

My only real foray was a walk from the house - which I hadn't done for quite a while, so with bright blue skies I headed out, an early morning Buzzard took of from the tress in the garden (turned out to be the only bird of prey seen) . The ground was completely sodden making the firmest paths slippery and the boggier ones almost impassable.

Just behind the house the field hedge held Bullfinch and lots of Blackbirds, before walking down the lane towards the last farm houses, Dunnocks, Robins, Song Thrush and 2 Redwings flew past along with a calling Meadow Pipit, Pied Wagtail and a smart Grey Wagtail. There did seem to be a number of thrushes around with more Redwing encountered. A tree by the first pass of stream held a tit flock with mainly coal tits. then calling Goldcrests were seen but not much else until the footpath reached the edge of a ploughed filed where a large puddle blocked the footpath but a large flock of Chaffinches numbered c100 and were making flights between the hedge and the field for foraging. An influx of Brambling had been reported in parts of the country over the last week and I was hopeful that maybe one had attached to this Chaffinch flock, but no luck and only a single Lesser Redpoll was picked out on the ground . Further along a Group of 4 Bullfinches with a small Goldfinch flock then as I neared the furnace pond a large fruiting Yew held up to 40 Redwing and a number of Siskins . The furnace pond only had one sad looking female Mallard and then the heavens opened I was at the furthest point from the house on my vaguely circular walk and it sheeted rain until I got home. So no great surprises but interesting Finch numbers building up. Which was further indicated back at the house as within the week the feeders had up to 12 Chaffinches, the first Greenfinches for a long time and 3 Goldfinches.

Lets hope the large flocks of Waxwings arriving in the North and East drift down this way and even the reports of a Northern European Pine Grossbeak invasion would be welcome if it extended to this part of England !

The only pictures below reflect that I haven't managed a decent shot of a bird for a few weeks - will need to rectify this !



As I headed down the lane from the house  the morning sky looked great -but not for long.

Flooded field edge - 100+Chaffinches were feeding in the field

Saturday 27th October - Pumpkin Power

It can be frustrating when rarer birds turn up during the week as working in London means having to wait until the weekend often for them to disappear on a Thursday or Friday - I don't do much in the way of twitching rare birds but particularly if they're fairly close to home,  then I'll make the effort. A very smart an obliging male Desert Wheatear arrived in Worthing on Wednesday and had been giving excellent close views late into Friday afternoon, so I was up early and headed there for just after first light knowing that I had to be back late morning for a pumpkin carving commitment with the girls.

Several others were also there looking , but it was soon apparent there the bird had vanished - no doubt looking for somewhere giving a closer resemblance to desert than Worthing beach next to the pier. The more likely cause were the strong overnight northerly winds and bright clear skies. A small movement of passerines were battling the wind, with small flocks of Chaffinches, Siskins, Pied Wagtails and Meadow Pipits and a few Redwings moving along the coast with a few late Swallows and House Martins.

Back at home it is still fairly quiet around the feeders. There seem to be more Coal Tits around and still 3 or 4 Goldcrest a slight increase in Chaffinches, a dozen Siskins favouring the Alders and Pied Wagtails regularly fly over (but I think these are resident birds commuting over the houses). Still 30+ Redwings around the trees in the gully next to the house.

And thanks to Henry with the mushroom ID - Adie's very grateful as her project now looks impressive !

Anyone sick of Pumpkins ?

Maybe this was used to scare off the Desert Wheatear ?

These wee the ones I grew

Our Bantam Rooster remains unimpressed with Halloween

Taking pictures of our own ducks must mean it;s very quiet for wild birds.