Thursday 30th January

What is it about the Great British Garden Birdwatch?

Every year I sit down for an hour at the back window for an hour, see very little and what I do see doesn't reflect what might typically appear on a normal day.

So last Sunday the only tit to turn up was the blue tit and its only rival for 'most frequent garden visitor', the jackdaw, just managed one very token appearance.  Instead a couple of starlings, which I almost never see, turned up to give the mistaken appearance that Britain's second most common garden bird is a regular with me too.

The next day of course all the usual tits turned up including the long-tailed tit, which has probably visited in the largest numbers over the past month. To 'cap' it all a female blackcap appeared on the feeders and turned up again yesterday, rather uncomfortably consuming something or other from the mahonia petals.

Female Blackcap

I've mentioned before that blackcaps are tending to overwinter more in the North.  Apparently there are also some birds from Germany and North Eastern Europe that have changed their migration patterns and appear as winter visitors. Obviously it isn't possible to judge which type this bird was.

The starlings have also come back and I am actually pleased as at least they are able to diminish the continuing glut of fatballs shunned by most of the other birds.

Otherwise I haven't been getting out much.  I've been having work done around the house and spending a lot of time on the computer.  A planned trip to Wallington Hall to see bramblings last Friday fell through when I ended up in bed with a heavy cold.

Thursday 2nd January 2020

A one-off New Year's Day trip to Prestwick Carr proved productive. In fact there were more birds in terms of numbers than I have seen there to date. We started off by almost immediately spotting a large brown bird on a distant gate which, when it took off hovered unmistakeably like a kestrel and reappeared a couple of times during the walk - a great, plump thing it was too.  Further along walking west we got a brief view of a woodpecker.

Near the platform feeders there were really large numbers of birds, especially tree sparrows and occasionally a willow tit as well great, blue and coal tits and the odd chaffinch.  One short-eared owl (presumably) put in an appearance in silhouette flying along above an adjacent hedgerow.

Willow Tit

Tree Sparrow

We knew there was a chance of a genuine rarity as an eastern yellow wagtail has repeatedly turned up on the Carr and we were lucky enough to get directions from two other birdwatchers.  Sure enough it was exactly where they said, in a horse's field scampering around to pick up bits of food from the mud. It had been showing right next to the road but had moved off somewhat by the time we got there, scurrying back and forth on more or less on the same line, with a group of pied wagtails and meadow pipits in the distance behind it.  Probably the rarest bird I've seen in the UK and a really simple sighting.

Eastern Yellow Wagtail

Treecreeper

We looked out for the short-eared owl as dusk fell on the way back but with no success.  There was a single dunnock and we stopped to watch the antics of a treecreeper working its way up and down a gnarly bush. It was the first time I've seen one here and I was a bit surprised to see it on what wasn't a large tree.

There hasn't been much activity on the garden feeders.  I've increased the number of fatballs but basically because I suspect that they are of poor quality and would like to get rid of them.  The case seems to have been proved.  One or two red kites have been sighted, one flying low over Rowlands Gill and another above the garden, being hotly pursued by a corbid.