RSPB Gardenwatch

I didn't get chance to do my hour until Monday afternoon, it wasn't the best time of day but it was better than not doing it at all!

In the end I saw 9 species, though not in great numbers -

Robin 2
Starling 28 (this number is a garden record)
Coal Tit 1
Blue Tit 2
Goldfinch 2
Great Tit 2
Blackbird 1
House Sparrow 1
Long-tailed Tit 1 (the rest of the flock turned up about twenty minutes after the hour was up!)

A few photos taken through the window.

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!

30 Days Wild Update

It's been a busy few days with work and then a sick child so things have been a little unwild here! I did manage to fit in a short walk around the woods one morning but mostly it's been garden watching, which is a joy at the moment, our Fox has been joined by a second, a Squirrel has been around and we've had our first Blue Tit fledglings.

Juvenile Robin 

I love how the cobwebs caught the light

The Starlings are constant visitors

The adult Blue Tit was looking a little rough!

This plant winds around the arch over the gate and is usually full of flies, bees and Speckled Wood butterflies, today I spotted the spider.

30 Days Wild 12 & 13 & a Patch Tick

Yesterday I must admit apart from watching the birds on the feeders and the fox in the garden I didn't do much wild. Work is immensely busy right now and I pretty much crashed when I got home.

Today though I made an effort and got out into the woods before work. A Chiffchaff was calling as we walked in and a Blackbird was singing. As we walked down to the pond the Great Tit family were flying all around, the youngsters were into every tree and shrub. A little further along by the stream another family appeared - Blue Tits - around half a dozen possibly more flitting around the trees.

A pair of Bullfinch flew in front of us and I just caught a Thrush before it flew out of sight. Dunnocks were along the path in their usual spot. No sign of the Robins though today. A female Blackcap was caught up in the Great Tit flock as we walked back. We also noticed 3 or 4 Stickleback in the stream, I knew they were in the pond but hadn't seem them there before, there's not a lot of stream for them to swim in!

As we were heading out my husband saw a Great Spotted Woodpecker in one of the trees, of course it flew off the second I got the camera on it! Still it was a new patch tick, I've only seen one on the patch before and that was several years ago.

Great way to end the walk!