What a busy day in the garden yesterday had our first 2018 visit of Fieldfare's they normally come in after a few days of really snowy or frosty weather , just waiting for the redwings that come in at same time normally .
Then just as it was getting towards dusk a Heron landed on the roof ridge of the house behind ours , this is quite a regular thing but first sighting in 2018 .
A Fieldfare. Nothing remarkable in itself but this one was right in between houses in an urban area. I'm sure they do occasionally but I've never seen one in this kind of environment....probably the weather has driven it it.
It seemed kinda cautious, watchful of a nearby blackbird.
It' posture was interesting as well, tail flicked up at an angle and wings down forming two points, quite noticeable as it hopped along the path outside my house.
The Fieldfares arrived here on Wednesday. I tempted them down into the garden with pears and had over 20 in the garden by late afternoon. It settled down over the next couple of days to about five in the garden with one bossing everyone about. At times he was so busy chasing others that he couldn't grab a mouthful of food. It's been very entertaining to watch.
Barn Owl in full daylight on my ride today. Presumably catching up with hunting now that the snow is disappearing. Kestrel was with it too. Hot spot for voles?
Beautiful evening on the local lake, a fair few Goldeneye, a family of RB merganser, on another lake near to me, gc grebe and two young, growing quickly. And x5 well camouflaged snipe. Redwing.
Just had a beautiful sighting of a stoat. It was just outside our garden on the field edge, and we watched it for 2 or 3 minutes before it ran off, eventually running down the lane then into a ditch. I hope it had just feasted on a rat......
Midday! Wow. It must be hungry. I guess opportunities to hunt have been limited lately.
As for kestrels, they're so common around us that I'm surprised if we don't see one on any particular outting. In early summer there are always 3 nests within a hundred metres of us, each raising 3 or 4 chicks, so mid summer sees dozens of them!! Magic.
I had a few hours to spare in Portsmouth yesterday, an opportunity for a walk around Farlington Marshes. There was a lot of rain about but it cleared at the right time. No great rarities that I could see, not that I'm a great expert! But the light was good and the birds were sitting nicely for my trusty SX50:
Just taken the lid of the compost bin to put something in and a wood mouse was sat on top! He got more of a fright than I did and sat still for a moment before leaping out and into the log pile behind.
The mice are a great help in the compost bin - chewing up paper into smaller pieces and eating the leftover seed from my budgie cage.
I've just come back from our pond at the top of the garden and the frogs still seem to be at it !
It's the longest period that we have known them to be busy as they had left 20 dollops of spawn before we had the snow, then a lull whilst it was frozen and then they went straight back to it again . The last time I counted there were 36 dollops .
Normally they would gather for a day and the next day we would see the spawn and the frogs would have left ,except for one which would remain to look after them .
Saw two swans having a right go at each other yesterday on a lake. When one got the upper hand the other dove down and surfaced about five yards away, whereupon the first swan went after it again. It was extremely aggressive. This happened half a dozen times and I'd put up a video I took, if I could work out how to do it.
I guess it was all about mating rights.
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.