Skip to main content

Local Birding

Goldfinch
I consider myself to be very very fortunate in these troubled times. Firstly, because I have a large garden in which I can escape and loose myself mentally. Secondly, because I have both Standlake Common and Dix Pit local to me for my permitted daily walk. 

One benefit of the lockdown has certainly been to make me appreciate the little things in life that I would normally take for granted. Seeing Wheatear on passage at their Oxfordshire hot spots in spring is a case in point. We were on our early morning walk around Dix last week when we got to the Devil’s Quoits and I said to Carolyn “this is about my only chance of seeing a Wheatear this spring”. As we walked around the stone circle I scanned the ground and stones with my bins with no luck. As we were about to leave the stones Carolyn said “what’s that little bird there?” and sure enough there was a Wheatear sitting on the stones. Cue childish excitement on my part! I have to say that it is not unusual for Carolyn to see things before me as she has much better sight than me. Today at Dix I had the first Sedge Warbler of the year singing its strange garbled song. 

I was in my garden yesterday afternoon when my friendly neighbour Mick suddenly bellowed “Stork! Stork Jim!!!” and I just managed to see it as it flew high over the river accompanied by two cormorants. Now I definitely would not have predicted that. Yes, I know it was probably an introduced bird, but I’m adding it to my garden isolation list anyway! 

Yesterday I had an early morning walk around Standlake Common and was serenaded by a dawn chorus on Robins, Blackbirds, Chiffchaffs, Blackcaps and Song Thrushes. At a point that I have nicknamed warbler corner I heard and saw my first Willow Warblers of the year. Normally I would have had a quick look and moved on but I paused to watch them for a while and they stared displaying by jumping around on the twigs and flapping their wings manically. This raised my spirts immensely and again made me appreciate how truly blessed I am.

Willow Warbler
I normally spend a lot of time in the garden in the spring, even more so this year given the lockdown and the lovely sunny weather. Warmer nights mean that things are starting to come out of their winter home in the greenhouse. The broad beans plantation is looking good – you’ve probably guessed we love broad beans and they have the added advantage of freezing very well. The tomatoes and peppers are in their final border home in the greenhouse and looking young, healthy and full of vigour.
Broad Bean Plantation

 
Tulips
At this time of year the spring cherry blossom is stunning and our trees really have not disappointed. The combination of sun and no rain to damage the flowers has left them looking at their very best.


 
Cherry Blossom
The fruit cage is coming to life with the espalier conference pear and blueberries covered in blossom with the apples soon to follow.

Pear Blossom
The bird feeders are much quieter now than a couple of weeks ago as the birds disperse to breed. We have a number of nest boxes in the garden and one particularly one on the back of our shed always hosts Blue Tits. They are again actively engaged in nest building to entertain me as I drink my tea on our patio by the river and type this blog.

Blue Tit



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Albert the Albatross

  What is more improbable -   a)     England’ football team    beating Germany in the knockout stages of a major competition   b)     Seeing an Albatross in England   Actually the answer is a) because it has not happened since 1966 rather than b) as Albert the Albatross, as he is affectionally known, has made a number of passing visits to the UK since 1967!   On Monday evening reports started to emerge of Albert associating with the Gannet colony at RSPB Bempton Cliffs in Yorkshire, almost one year after his    last brief visit to the same site. During the intervening period there have been a number of sightings of Albert across Europe, particularly from the Baltic Sea where he appears to have spent much of the last 12 months. In fact there were reports that he had been attacked and killed in the area by two eagles.    Reports of his death were clearly greatly exaggerated!   The Black-browed Albatross is ci...
2 comments
Read more

The Hawfinches of the Forest of Dean

   Hawfinch - Forest of Dean, winter 2017 A highlight of my winter birding is my annual trip to the Forest of Dean to see Hawfinches. I was unable to go last year due to the post-Christmas lockdown so this year’s visit was even more richly anticipated than normal.   Parkend in the Forest of Dean is my usual chosen location for watching Hawfinches. Here the proven technique of using your car as a hide normally works well. I must also say that,  after a number of quite strenuous twitches recently, I was also looking forward to a much more leisurely birding session!   The story of Hawfinches in the UK is, to my mind at least, a fascinating one. It is what is known as an eruptive species meaning that it occasionally erupts from its traditional breeding grounds to invade on mass countries much further away. This is thought to be driven by a combination of breeding success and local crop failure resulting in not enough food to go around.    Records indi...
3 comments
Read more

Perseverance or sheer stupidly? – The Belted Kingfisher nailed at the 4th attempt!

         Belted Kingfisher I have had three failed attempts, or dips as birders call them, to see the Lancashire Belted Kingfisher over the last few weeks, including two harrowing encounters with the slope of death, see here .     So when the bird was relocated a few miles away from its original location in an altogether less challenging spot I was soon off on my 4 th  attempt to see this truly stunning mega rare vagrant from North America. We had friends from the village coming to dinner on Wednesday night so I really didn’t fancy a strength sapping silly o’clock departure.  I hence left home at 07:00 on Wednesday morning and heading north again up the car park previously known as the M6.   The Kingfisher had relocated close to Samlesbury at a place called Roach Bridge on the river Darwen. I arrived at 09:30, found a parking spot very close to the bridge, and set off along a muddy footpath towards the reported location. Disconcerti...
1 comment
Read more