Patchwork Challenge

An end of the year look back at the patch and the patchwork challenge. It looks like at the moment i'll be finishing 64th out of 79 on the Inland North league and 389 in the National League, with 53 species and 54 points, this is two more species than last year but the same amount of points!

I think the birds suffered around the woods this year somewhat, due to the stream and pond drying out completely for a few weeks over the summer with the heat and lack of rain. The number of Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs there were definitely down on last year.

The flip side of the weather this year of course was the 'Beast from the East' in February, this caused a lot of bird disruption and brought flocks of Lapwings over the patch and Fieldfares and Mistle Thrush to the garden. Also one morning  a flock of several hundred Starlings filled the sky as I walked to work, a highlight of the year, quite an amazing sight!

I managed to add a new bird to the patch the first day of the year with a Treecreeper and then only added a further two new ones the whole year - Skylark and my favourite - Yellowhammer!

Not for want of trying though, I spent a lot of time walking around this year, I now know where and when to expect certain birds through the patch and really anything else is a bonus. I think i'll be staying around the same number of species again next year (unless someone decides to create a wader lagoon instead of the 500 houses planned on the farm in Churwell!!).

I'm still birdtracking all over the patch, mostly the walk to work, i've just checked i've submitted 366 patch lists this year which has surprised me, I didn't think i'd done that many! I've kept up with the garden birdwatch too, sitting with a cuppa and watching the garden come to life first thing in a morning is still one of my favourite things to do.

So despite the low numbers compared to many patches i'm pleased there's some consistency with last year!

The full patch list (in order of sightings)

1. Blackbird
2. Black-headed Gull
3. Robin
4. Wren
5. Pied Wagtail
6. Goldfinch
7. Greenfinch
8. House Sparrow
9. Starling
10. Carrion Crow
11. Great-spotted Woodpecker
12. Magpie
13. Treecreeper
14. Coal Tit
15. Great Tit
16. Blue Tit
17. Long-tailed Tit
18. Collared Dove
19. Woodpigeon
20. Feral Pigeon
21. Sparrowhawk
22. Pink-footed Goose
23. Mistle Thrush
24. Redwing
25. Herring Gull
26. Rook
27. Jackdaw
28. Song Thrush
29. Dunnock
30. Chaffinch
31. Goldcrest
32. Nuthatch
33. Jay
34. Canada Goose
35. Grey Heron
36. Buzzard
37. Bullfinch
38. Stock Dove
39. Lapwing
40. Fieldfare
41. Siskin
42. Cormorant
43. Chiffchaff
44. Blackcap
45. Swallow
46. Swift
47. Red Kite
48. House Martin
49. Skylark
50. Kestrel
51. Lesser black-backed Gull
52. Yellowhammer
53. Willow Warbler

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).