Saturday 3 March 2018

A Snow Day........and another......and another.........

The so called 'Beast from the east' hit us on overnight Tuesday and caused one or two problems to say the least.

We had snow by Wednesday morning and I walked to work in a blizzard, managing to spot a flock of around 35 Lapwing's flying overhead - a new patch tick. A small flock of Redwings were hiding under a bush in the park, they were actually 'chirping' the sound drawing me off my usual path, they were hopping in and out of the bush before a passer by spooked them, I only managed a quick photo but they looked beautiful against the snow.


Redwing


Crocus  






No stay at home snow day for me though this week - that's what happens when you live in walking distance to work! Each morning i've been out at dawn clearing snow off the feeders and topping them up, with the Blackbirds and Robins waiting in the trees. I cleared and defrosted the bird bath too, though it didn't stay unfrozen for long.

Thursday morning brought a lot more snow and a Mistle Thrush appeared in the garden, muscling the Blackbird and Robin off the feed tray. The first one in years. My husband and daughter were home so I asked them to be on Thrush watch and to try and keep the bird bath defrosted. My husband sent me a picture of a Fieldfare that had been at the feeder - a garden first and I missed it. I saw many many photos of Fieldfare in people's gardens the past few days, a joy to see but not great they were finding it so difficult to eat.

Mistle Thrush


The Blackbird sunk a little!


Mistle Thrush




House Sparrows 


My husbands photo


I can't quite remember the last time I saw icicles like this.




Early this morning I cleaned up the feeders, stocked everything up and put out a few apples, hoping maybe there'd be some Fieldfares still around. The Mistle Thrush was hanging around the garden all day long, a 2nd one joined it briefly. All day long the feeders have been busy with the usual birds - Woodpigeon, Collared Doves, Starlings, Robins, Blackbirds, Great, Blue, Coal, Long-tailed Tits, a Wren, Sparrows, Dunnock and Goldfinch. It was nice just to be able to sit and watch all the activity.

Collared Dove



Mistle Thrush 




Robin 


Goldfinch 


House Sparrow






Blue Tit


Dunnock 


Mid morning I saw a flock of 10 Fieldfare fly over and then hang around in the distant trees by the edge of the park. But they didn't stop in the garden until the very end of the day as it was starting to get dark and a single one landed in the Laburnum for a couple of minutes.



A long post but snow like this is not something that happens here very often these days (global warming..........) so it's big news. Rain is forecast for tomorrow so that could bring an end to the snow (and also brings the end of this post).

14 comments:

  1. The weather in your part of the world is a direct contrast to the conditions we are having here where each day brings us temperatures above freezing, sometimes even in double digits. Lots of green shoots coming up out of the ground now.

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    1. We do have the odd green shoot poking through the snow, the temperatures have risen today and hopefully will stay a little higher now!

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  2. WOW that snow looks miserable!! BUT the birds sure were thankful for all your efforts and it shows...you had a yard full!! Glad you got your Fieldfare. I really like your feeder set up. Hope you don't have to walk to work in a blizzard any more this winter!

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    1. Thankfully a lot of it has been rained away and the temperatures have gone up a little! The garden has been lovely to watch though so that's a bonus!

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  3. Lovely shots of mistle thrush! Such a hard bird to approach usually... they would have been thinking about laying eggs before this snow fell; they’re often the first bird to nest.

    I’m going to do some more research on teal numbers: you’re right, they’ve not just increased on my patch but seemingly everywhere.

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    1. Thanks, yes usually I see them from a distance in the park!

      It'll be interesting to see what you find out on the Teal.

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  4. Thats a good range of birds coming into the garden, we dont get many different species and for some reason even the sparrow have deserted us.

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    1. Getting some is better than none! It's a shame about the Sparrows though.

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  5. Rain is washing away our snow this morning. Great photos of all your garden visitors, you have had similar ones to us. When we lived in Lincolnshire I lived in walking distance to work and on bad, snowy days I was often the only one there trying to keep a museum open on my own:)

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    1. It didn't rain till last night here so a lot has gone now. Thanks :) That sounds like quite a job!

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  6. A thrush was eating a snail in the garden on the 3rd of March, is this unusual for this time of the year

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    1. There's been so much unusual activity from Thrushes with this weather!

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  7. A lovely post Pam. Most of the snow here has now gone and today is positively balmy at 10.1 degrees! Good to see all the birds brought into your garden and well done re: the fieldfare :) Most unusual species seen here were the Grey Heron which you have read about and we had a Song Thrush over the weekend but still no Fieldfares!!!

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    1. Thank you :) A lot of the snow here has gone too, it's almost tropical with the higher temps!! Funnily enough just after the Fieldfare flew out of our tree a Heron flew up out of the neighbours garden, I think it must have been at their pond. Lovely to get a Song Thrush though!

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