A Very Local Update

We are of course still in lockdown here, local exercise only, which means i'm yet to spot a Mallard or a Coot this year, both of which would be early list birds and common as muck on my normal travels! At the end of the month rules will relax a little so we should be able to travel places......but of course so will everyone else!

In the meantime the garden has been filled with activity as has my walk to work. We've had a week of snow and ice back in February, which was great for bringing Redwings to the garden and even a couple of Song Thrush - rare visitors. 

Redwing

Song Thrush

House Sparrows flocking to the bird bath after I defrosted it for the third time that day!

Starlings

A Blackcap pair have been around the gardens for the past three or four weeks, mostly the male with the odd appearance from a female. This happened around the same time last year too. The male has devoured the berries on the honeysuckle and they have both gone through a lot cotoneaster berries. The male has even treated us to his song a few times. 

Male

Female

This past week a pair of Bullfinch have been at the feeders, more rare garden visitors, beautiful ones too! We've had the odd Chaffinch and Greenfinch, both also infrequent visitors.

Chaffinch

Bullfinch

I spotted Hedgehog poop in the garden at the end of February and a few days later spotted the actual Hedgehog itself drinking from the water dish we have in the garden, i've seen it regularly since, followed recently by a second. Here's hoping they do as well as last year. 

The gutter Starling has been singing from it's gutter perch and has been clearing it's spot out, i'm assuming it's the same one again? A large conifer at the end of our house row has been chopped down in recent weeks, lots of Starlings and Sparrows roosted and nested in there, I wonder if it will have any effect on their numbers over the coming months as both did very well with lots of young last year. Woodpigeons have been carrying nest materials into the same tree as previous years, nothing much seems to come of it though.

Long-tailed Tits

Collared Dove

Woodpigeons & Feral Pigeons

Starling catching the early morning sun

Elsewhere around town several pairs of Magpies are nest building, one pair in the supermarket car park right above a busy spot! As of last week a few Redwings are still around in the park, I think the lastest i've seen them there is early April. I heard my first Skylark near work recently too, despite the increase in traffic!

I'll leave you with our inquisitive Squirrel!

To the Woods and Beyond!

Lockdown rules have been relaxed slightly and we can now take 'unlimited' exercise - not quite sure about this as people still struggle with the social distancing part! Anyway myself and my daughter were up early on Sunday morning to walk down to the woods, it's a 6 mile round trip, it was warm but a little cloudy so just right for the walk. Going so early would hopefully mean it should still be quiet as some of the paths are a bit narrow and lots of local people have discovered the woods during the lockdown and it has been busy.

As it happened it was fairly quiet, just a handful of dog walkers, all cheery and happy to keep their distance, phew!

It's a lot greener since I was last there, you can barely see out of the tree canopies at times and that was wonderful!

There is Wild Garlic and Cow Parsley everywhere, there are Bluebells though I think we just missed them at their best.

We saw a few bees going in and out of this tree

A Wren was singing right by our heads at one point and a pair of Blackcaps were flying around the trees. I have noticed the Nuthatches seem to have disappeared, I haven't seen one at all in the woods this year. 

Wren

Distant Blackcaps

The entrance to the next part of the woods had been yarn bombed with rainbows and flowers. We saw a young Woodpigeon by the bird feeders and on the dipping pond a female Mallard, I know a pair have been seen on the pond during lockdown but I don't think they've nested. Long-tailed Tits were in the trees and just behind a Whitethroat was singing. There is already talk of closing the dipping pond due to the lack of rain, things are starting to dry up somewhat, we haven't had any decent rain in weeks.

Woodpigeon

Long-tailed Tits

Mallard

We walked down the Pit Hill fields for a little way, a singing Dunnock was at the start of the path. We counted 4 separate Chiffchaff calling, Greenfinch, Song Thrush, Chaffinch amongst others. The Hawthorn along the field is in full bloom and quite beautiful.

Dunnock

Greenfinch

Chiffchaff

Song Thrush

Under the motorway to have a walk along the fields - off the official patch for the patchwork challenge but that doesn't really count at the moment. The Lapwings are in their usual spot and Skylarks were singing high over the fields, what a joy this was, I was beginning to wonder if i'd hear them at all this year. We saw more Greenfinch, a House Sparrow with white wing feathers, there is a Sparrow that visits my garden that has white tail feathers, it's odd to see the white flashes when they fly. 

Lapwing

Greenfinch

House Sparrow

I saw Swallows, House Martins and Swifts, a Cormorant, a hovering Kestrel and back at the top part of the woods on another small pond a pair of Mallards.

It was a much needed walk and I was so pleased to be back in the woods again!