RSPB BIG GARDEN BIRDWATCH..

I began my birdwatch at 9 a.m, hoping to catch some early feeding. I wasn't disappointed as within the first 15 minutes I had 8 species and 33 birds. As I had hoped, the fieldfare turned up, also a coal tit which I hadn't seen in my garden for quite a while.  Frustratingly,  a starling and goldfinch turned up too late to be included in the hour... 

Just for comparison, I did a second survey at my parent's house on the other side of the town: the same number of species but a couple of differences. Here it was interesting to see 4 robins all within a metre or so of each other!  Again, a pheasant was around before the start, and a flock of long tailed tits arrived several hours after.

 Some photos  (some taken through a window I'm afraid)  and my results, if you're interested were as follows:

fieldfare eating apples

blue tit

dunnock

coal tit

robin

goldfinches

2 out of 4  robins present

great tit

(My home) 

1    Fieldfare   
1    coal tit       
15  house sparrow 
2    robins     
4    blackbirds     
8    wood pigeons   
1    blue tit    
1    dunnock  
1    crow    
1  great tit    (singing)

35 birds of 10 species

(Also goldfinch and starling)

(My parents home) in a small area with feeders 

1 coal tit     
2 house sparrows
4 robins
2 blackbirds
1 wood pigeon
3 blue tits
2 dunnocks
1 chaffinch (f)
2 goldfinches

18 birds of 10 species

(Also pheasant and long tailed tits)

GETTING READY...

...for the RSPB Garden birdwatch weekend.  Extra food has already encouraged extra birds, a starling on the coconut feeder, and extra blackbirds on the seeds. I'm hoping that the fieldfare will show up as it has been  feasting on the fallen apples for the past 10 days! 

ICED OVER!

This afternoon I visited the lakes at Coate Water and Liden, both of which were partly frozen. 
From Hide 1 there were great views of a water rail feeding right in front of the hide for around 10 minutes, and various other birds visiting the feeders. The water level is quite low and quite a bit of mud is exposed, which attracted a feeding grey wagtail.

At Liden Lagoon, the gadwalls were confined to a small bit of water in the centre, whilst various gulls stood on the ice. Three cygnets from a couple of years ago were being prevented from entering the lake by the resident cob.

Birds noted today were:
(Coate) blackbird, song thrush, redwing, fieldfare, robin, blue tit, great tit , long tailed tit, dunnock, magpie, wood pigeon, wren, moorhen, coot, water rail, grey heron, kingfisher, grey wagtail, blackheaded gull, herring gull, mallard, tufted duck, wigeon, mute swan, canada goose, grey wagtail, pied wagtail,
(Liden) lesser blackbacked gull, herring gull, black headed gull, ? common gull, shoveler, gadwall, mallard, canada goose, pied wagtail, mute swan, tufted duck, cormorant

frozen lake at Coate

grey wagtail

water rail

blue tit

kingfisher

long tailed tits

wigeon

wigeon dancing on ice?

frozen liden lagoon with gadwall in centre

cormorant at Liden

gadwall

shoveler - is he stuck in the ice?

swans on a walk

oh no you don't come in here!

take that!

STANTON PARK NEW YEAR VISIT

A somewhat belated first visit of the year to Stanton Park. Sunny and well above freezing  (6 degrees)  so drove over to reaquaint myself with some of the birdlife there. A pleasant addition to my usual records was a kingrfisher fishing in one of the smaller ponds. 

Birds noted included:
dunnock,
robin,
blue tit
great tit
marsh tit
coal tit
jay
magpie
blackbird
moorhen
kingfisher
mallards
nuthatch

coal tit

kingfisher

kingfisher

one of two nuthatches

at least 3  around the feeders

WLIDLIFE AT LOWER MOOR F\RM

Just before lunch today, I filled a flask with some soup and  headed off for Lower Moor Farm a WWT reserve in the water parks; the weather was dry with a little sun, and a bit milder. My aim was to see some bullfinches which are  regular visitors to the bird table.

On arrival the car park was busy, so I anticipated a full hide, but when I opened the door it was empty! So after topping up the feeding station with bird seed ( kept in a bin outside the hide)  I settled down with a view of the bird feeders in front of me and the lake on my right. 

It was not long before the regulars arrived, tits, robins, a dunnock etc and a few rats below picking up the spillages. The a female bullfinch pecked around for a bit, while its mate hovered in the bushes nearby, eventually becoming brave enough to venture out. 

Meanwhile some others arrived in the hide, and before long they pointed out a couple of foxes on the other side of the lake, and then to my surprise an otter could be seen in the distance too. I knew they were there but hadn't seen any before. A pleasant afternoon during which I noted the following:


magpie,
dunnock
robin
blackbird
blue tit
great tit
long tailed tit
mallard
heron
kingfisher
cormorant
swan
reed bunting
bullfinch m and f

and on the mammal front:
1 squirrel
1 otter
2 foxes
4 brown rats

serene swan

reed bunting

male  bullfinch

great tit

and a female bullfinch

dunnock

robin

blue tit

 a sleepy fox

WAXWINGS!!

Having heard that there are waxwings about in the Cotswolds this year, and having missed the ones that were in Highworth last week, I was pleased to read on the local blog that a couple had been seen in Swindon yesterday, and this morning there were 6 spotted. On that optimistic note I decided it was worth a trip into Swindon to see if I could see them, as I've never seen any before. 

As I drove down Bristol Street I noticed a couple of people with long lenses on cameras looking up at  the Rowan trees, so found a car park close by and made my way down to where they were.  A local birder I know was there and pointed to a group of birds high up in a tall tree in little way away, and said that every so often ( maybe 20 minutes or so) they would swoop down to grab a few berries before returning to the same tree to preen.  True to his word, I didn't have to wait long before they came down, but quickly were frightened away by one of the buses that frequent the road.  However, in an hour and a half of waiting they appeared about 5 or 6 times more, and on the last occasion the light was better and I was able to get a half decent photograph.  Glad I went!

SLIMBRIDGE HIGHLIGHTS

The last day of the school holidays dawned sunny  and frosty so I left at 8.30 am  to get to Slimbridge in good time. 

I'd heard that the Kingfisher hide had been getting busy with regular sightings of bitterns so that's where I made for straightaway. Actually there were only a couple of people there who told me to go the few yards back to the previous hide as bitterns were showing there. I managed to see two of them, one flew out of the reeds over to another area of reeds and disappeared, as I peered through someone's telescope at another one which was skulking at the edge of the reedbed. Although I was able to watch it through my own binoculars making its way along the edge of the reeds , I was unable to get a photo before it disappeared again.  I returned to the same hide a couple of hours later, but  I don't believe they had reappeared, but I did see a water rail there.

There were still a number of Bewick swans on the Rushy Pen where they are fed each morning, but numbers dwindled during the day.  I did a tour of the hides, clocking up a number of new year sightings, before leaving for home, 

species seen:
Bittern
Bewick swan
Greylag goose
Canada goose
mute swan
lapwing
common sandpiper
dunlin
snipe
water rail
tufted duck
mallard
pintail
gadwall
shelduck
shoveler
teal
chaffinch
reed bunting
robin
dunnock
house sparrow
blackbird
blue tit
great tit
long tailed tit
herring gull
lesser black backed gull
black headed gull
crane
buzzard
cormorant
magpie
jackdaw
rook 
crow
wood pigeon
coot moorhen

Bewick's swan

Bewick's and shelduck

Bewick's swan

buzzard

pintail

teal

snipe

Rushy pen