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.

Old Moor

This is from a visit last Thursday, which I didn't get chance to post till now. It was a gorgeous sunny day despite the icy nip in the air and it made for some lovely views around the reserve.

The garden and Tree Sparrow Farm were both busy with the usual small birds, a couple of Moorhens and a few Squirrels.

We took a walk around the Reedbeds and Bittern hide seeing a GS Woodpecker in a distant tree, from the hides we saw Gadwall, Shoveler, Coots, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Pochard, Teal and Snipe.

If you look closely you can just see 4 Snipe under the reeds between the Shovelers

Robins followed us around all over the reserve

Walking up towards Wath Ings we stopped in the hides along the way spotting, Teal, Cormorant, Swans, Heron, Shovelers, Wigeon, Goosander, Black-headed and Common Gulls and at one point a Peregrine flew over the mere to the left of the family hide spooking some of the birds up off the water. 

It was good to get out and walk off some of the Christmas excess!

Fairburn Ings

I didn't have time to post this before Christmas (I hope everyone has had a good one!) but we called into Fairburn on Saturday morning for a quick walk around.

This Robin was by the path from the car park, working as a greeter for the RSPB perhaps!

The feeders were all busy, we saw Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Bullfinch, Great, Blue, Coal, LT and Willow Tits, Tree Sparrows, Dunnock, Blackbirds, Reed Bunting, Collared Doves, Woodpigeons, Pheasants and Moorhens! We even saw a Nuthatch in the garden by the visitor centre, possibly, from what I can remember the first time i've seen a Nuthatch there.

Up on the coal tips trail we saw Coots, Swans, Shoveler, Tufted Ducks, Meadow Pipit and looking down into the moat Little Egret, Cormorants, Canada and Greylag Geese. In the big hole mostly Black-Headed Gulls and a couple of Common.

We ended with a walk to the lake to feed the birds there - Mallards, Moorhen, BH Gulls, Shelduck and Teal.

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

Monday morning was freezing and frosty with a tiny hint of snow and I took about 20 minutes before work to walk into the woods.

It wasn't that long after sunrise, in fact the sky was still pink in the distance and birds were everywhere. Flocks of Tits - Long-tailed, Great and Blue, Dunnocks, Blackbirds, House Sparrows, Robins, Magpies, Wrens, Woodpigeon, Starlings, Gulls overhead plus Squirrels and the rat we usually see too.

I couldn't resist a few photos of the frost.