Garden Birding

Friday 8th - Sunday 17th February 2013
One of the four Hawfinches at Quedgeley on 10th February
I have been lucky to see a great range of birds in and around the garden lately. These have included up to five Siskins, three Bramblings, three Bullfinches, two Goldfinches, 25 Chaffinches (including a half-albino reminiscent of a Snow Bunting!), 15 Greenfinches, a female Blackcap, and a male Great Spotted Woodpecker. But a most remarkable event brought back memories of late winter 2009. On Saturday 9th February two HAWFINCHES were seen by Jonathan Connor in trees at the edge of Dimore playing field, to the rear of my garden in Quedgeley. The next morning I checked the field to find FOUR HAWFINCHES perched in tall trees at the west end of the field nearest the canal. Since then I have since at least one on two occasions from my conservatory in the trees just beyond my back fence, including yesterday, when I also saw one one the other side of the field near the entrance. With Mark, we could hear the calls of at least one bird. The Hawfinches are mainly feeding on Cherry stones beneath the Wild Cherry trees which line the edges of the field. Hopefully they will stay into March as they did back then in '09.
This partial albino Chaffinch has been a regular visitor since 10th February
One of three Bramblings visiting the garden since 16th February
A male Siskin awaits its turn at the garden feeders
Other birding recently has involved a second helping of the Cheltenham Great Northern Diver on 8th (it seems to have now departed); and my first outing of the year to the Forest with Andy where the highlights on a quiet morning were a Dipper and two Hawfinches at Parkend. Sunday's visit to WWT Slimbridge with Andy and Mark hoping to spot the American Wigeon was unsuccessful, but we did see the American x Eurasian hybrid and a leucistic individual, and Mark spotted a lone Knot on the Dumbles. The light was excellent, showing up the 1000's of waterfowl and waders on The Dumbles and Tack Piece to great effect.
The Diver was looking even more resplendent ..
.. in better light than on my previous visit
A pair of Pintail on the Tack Piece at WWT Slimbridge on 17th February

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Gran Canaria

Image
Saturday 1st - Saturday 8th October 2016 Hoopoe - Maspalomas A week in the hot sunshine of Gran Canaria at the start of October produced some good birds despite this island not getting much representation in the available range of published bird guides. This isn't surprising since it doesn't hold any populations of the endemic Canary pigeon species which can be found on Tenerife and La Gomera, and Blue Chaffich is much easier to find on Tenerife; next to impossible on Gran Canaria.  Based in Maspalomas at the southern tip of the island, my birding was incidental, or confined to the occasional short solo exploration on foot, in between simply being on holiday. A brackish lagoon, La Charca, stretches behind the beach at Maspalomas, cut off the sea by the beach, and with the dunes along one side. La Charca was always interesting to visit and turned up some good birds. The highlights included (no particular order): Canary Island Chiffchaff - common and vocal virtually ever
Read more

Cotswold Orchids and a Garden Hobby

Image
Monday 7th - Tuesday 15th May 2018 Sword-leaved Helleborine, Cephalanthera longifolia Recently I have caught up with Fly Orchids and Sword-leaved Helleborines in the Cotswolds, the latter being a threatened and particularly scarce species in the UK. I have only previously seen Sword-leaved Helleborine, also known as Narrow-leaved Helleborine, in Switzerland, where it more common. Fly Orchid, a close relative of the Bee Orchid, are more widespread but with a localised distribution and not one I have seen before. Both are exquisitely beautiful and very special plants. Fly Orchid, Ophrys insectifera       On 7th I had a Hobby fly over the garden and managed a couple of hurried record shots of this garden tick. A Coal Tit was a surprise garden visitor on 15th as I haven't seen one in the garden since the early spring. Flyover garden Hobby, 7th May Coal Tit, garden, 15th May
Read more

Todd's Canada Goose

Image
Saturday 16th January 2010 The Canada Goose showing characteristics of the race Branta canadensis interior , commonly known as Todd's Canada Goose , was in the Rushy Pen at Slimbridge WWT this morning (photos in poor light above and below) , before flying off with other Canada's at 9:40am. This is a very interesting bird, showing several features which together set it apart from its feral counterparts. My observations of the differences are: it is slightly smaller with a more slender neck; shorter bill; narrower white cheek patch; the black on the chin is linked to the black of the neck; at the bottom of the neck at the back, the black joins the brown of the mantle, with no white in between; the pale fringing on the scapulars etc. is much less distinct; the tertials are more contrastingly paler, giving the effect of a pale wing panel; it has a pale eye-ring; and if these features don't help - it has a limp! Other sightings this morning included: Sharpness Docks A female/imm
Read more