I think we re all kids at heart, well certainly in this household, and the strange excitement that existed on Saturday night when we went to bed, based solely on the un-doubting reliance of dodgy weather forecasts that the rain would turn to snow and be heavy throughout the morning dared to encourage thoughts about building Snowmen and snowball fights. So waking up on Sunday morning to a deflated household when the forecast continually moved the 100% chance of snow to two hours hence and then two hours after that, and repeated again... it never arrived.
The bonus, for me at least, was the birds did arrive and another increase in the finch numbers in the garden. Chaffinches number anywhere between 25-35, I normally underestimate. The Chaffinches prefer the cover by the Chicken pen and stick to the spilled seed and feeders in the cover of the hedge, they are further away from the house and there is a blind-spot looking from the Kitchen doors behind one of the veggie beds. With them today I counted 12 Brambling, an increase from 7 during the week, with a few smart males in their number. Goldfinch total 15-20 birds and have been frequenting the spilled seed underneath the couple of feeders near the patio, there were 9 Siskin today again closer to the house and in total 11 Redpoll, 10 of which were Lesser Redpoll and one was a good candidate for Mealy Redpoll, a much greyer, larger individual compared to the warm brown of the smaller Lesser Redpolls with distinct white wingbars and marked white edges to Secondaries and Primaries. I tried to get a shot of its rump, but I was never offered the view, so will be keeping an eye out for this.
A Sparrowhawk shot through earlier and a Buzzard has been sitting in the field. Plenty of other birds have made it a busy lawn with up to 9 Blackbirds, 5 Jackdaw, 10 Stock Doves , 2 Magpies, 3 Pied Wagtails, Blue Tits, Great Tits a single Coal Tit, 5 Long-tailed Tits and the March Tit was heard with the usual Dunnocks and Robin.
Watching the birds at spells throughout the day was thoroughly enjoyable.
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| Mealy Redpoll (middle) with Lesser Redpoll & Goldfinch |
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| Mealy Redpoll (Right) and Lesser Redpoll |
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| Mealy Redpoll |
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| Mealy Redpoll |
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| Brambling with Goldfinch & Chaffinch |
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