Out and About

On Saturday we were in York doing a little Christmas browsing, at dusk we were by the Christmas Market in the centre as Pied Wagtails started flying in to roost, it was an amazing sight, there were maybe a couple of hundred in the end with a few stragglers coming in as we walked about. A Sparrowhawk flew through them as they came in scaring a flock out of the trees, it didn't catch anything and soared off round the buildings. 

I caught this Wagtail in a car park in Morley, there have been a few in the town centre the past couple of weeks

In the Scatcherd Park I noticed, on the way to work, the Redwings arrived at the end of last week, I had a little time to walk around with the camera on Monday morning, however they are very flighty and are off at the first sign of people!

This Crow though was not in the least bit bothered!

There are Blackbirds everywhere, the one in the second photo had just swallowed a huge worm.

Woodpigeon

Blue Tit

The only decent shots I manged to get of the Redwings,

The park was beautiful in the sun though in parts it was still quite frosty.

A little closer to home I spotted this Mistle Thrush taking a drink from a dripping pipe!

There were a few Chaffinch nearby too. 

I'm going to miss my commute to work over the holidays!

In the Garden

A bit of an update from the garden the past couple of weeks. The cold weather has made keeping the water from freezing over difficult, though I did see a Blackbird stood on the ice in the middle of the pond and drinking from the edge! The Sparrows were skating round the bird bath about half an hour after i'd defrosted it most mornings!

We're still getting the Foxes overnight and Squirrels daily - up to three at a time but they do get a bit fractious with each other. There's been an influx of Blackbirds over the past week and our Robin has been joined by a 2nd but they just end up chasing each other round the trees. Starlings have started coming back in too, there's been a couple of flocks around the estate for a while but it's only since the temperature dropped they've been back at the feeder, we had 25+ last week. 

Flocks of Tits fly through a couple of times a day - Long-tailed, Great and Blue, the Blue tend to linger on and off all day. 

I am looking forward to the days starting to get longer in a couple of weeks though, I much prefer seeing the garden in the daylight during the week!

Churwell Urban Woodlands

I had a couple of quick walks around the woods before work this week, heading towards the dipping pond one day and then the through the main woods the next. Both mornings there were squirrels everywhere.

Lots of birds on both days - Blackbirds, Wrens, Robins, Great, Blue, Long-tailed Tits, Dunnocks, Woodpigeons, Chaffinch, Nuthatch, 2 Jays, Magpies, Crows and a pair of Mistle Thrush flying overhead.

Some Woodpigeons seem to manage without their head.......

Dunnock

Blue Tit

Blackbird

Spotted a Woodpigeon with a head

Jay

Wren

Dunnock

Blackbird

I saw a couple of different fungi though I spent most of my time looking up into the trees.

With the leaves falling now it's easier to see the surrounding houses of course but I noticed this view through a gap in one of the trees - the view towards Leeds city centre.

Out and About

Autumn has definitely arrived, the leaves are falling especially with winds over the past few days, though it's been oddly warm. 

The sun at the weekend brought out a few Red Admirals, they made the most of the sun.......on my washing!

The sun caught the cobwebs in the park.

This spider has made it's web on our patio door, I haven't been able to open it properly for a couple of weeks because I didn't want to destroy it!

My daughter spotted this ladybird whilst we were out on a walk

In the park we spotted these mushrooms and was hoping for a Redwing or two but instead we saw a few Mistle and Song Thrush.

In the garden a poppy made a sudden appearance from behind one of my Lavender plants and my fuchsia is still blooming.The Blackbirds are picking at the berries in the surrounding trees. I tidied up the plants in the pond a little and it's full of tiny snails.

If anyone knows what these apple like fruit are, they've been growing in my hedge for years and i've never figured out what they are?

The soundtrack to the past weekend has been Goldcrest, constantly chirping in the trees in the garden, making fleeting appearances as they flit about, i've counted two and they were the first birds up this morning, the noise a lovely start to the day. 

Walking up our street on Sunday morning a Sparrowhawk landed in the tree in front of us briefly before flying after a flock of Starlings, pouncing on a straggler and snatching it right out of the sky, before flying off behind a building. Very cool to see.