BTO Early Bird Survey (11/01/14)...

Finally got around to undertaking the BTO's Early Bird Survey this morning. It's a fairly simple but interesting survey if you are into a bit of bird science - more information HERE. There is still time to complete the survey tomorrow morning if you hadn't heard of it / not yet completed it.

I started my survey at 7.40 am, settling in with a cup of tea and some toast. It was a fairly frosty morning with clear skies with evidence of some light snow overnight. It was fairly dark for the first 20mins although I could see the feeders easily enough with the light from the two streetlights nearby (to be recorded in the survey).

Clear and frosty morning.

Just before 8.00am it was pretty light so I  was fully expecting one of the usual suspects to show up soon but would it be the Robin or the Blackbird first? A couple minutes later and a dark shape flew down from over the house into a nearby tree, this action of the morning. By 8.05am the female Blackbird was feeding in the garden shortly followed by a Robin at 8:07am. Both birds left after a couple minutes and it was fairly quiet until a couple Blackbirds returned followed by the first Chaffinch of the morning, a female feeding at 8.16am. The Chaffinch and Robin hung around feeding periodically with 5 Blackbirds now joining in until the 4th species to the garden arrived and begin feeding at 8.26am in the form of a Blue Tit. Three minutes later a Coal Tit started feeding at 8.29am and a full 10 minutes later a Great Tit arrived at 8.39am. At 8.45am the neighbour's cat showed up scattering the numbers that had been slowly building up and putting an end to the survey really. I waited around til just after 9 in the hope that something would return or to record a couple more species but it wasn't to be! So the results were as follows:

08:05 - Blackbird
08:07 - Robin
08:16 - Chaffinch
08:26 - Blue Tit
08:29 - Coal Tit
08:39 - Great Tit
08:45 - That bloody cat!

So what can I tell you from these results? Well not a lot really as I am not a scientist but hopefully my recording will contribute to studies on how light pollution is affecting the feeding habits of our most common garden birds around our cities and towns. I enjoyed doing the survey, and it was interesting that 3 ground feeding species showed up first, taking advantage of reduced predation due to low light levels and their bigger eyes? Birds are interesting...

Garden Butterflies...

Serious lack of butterflies around this year, not usually that many in the garden but we usually get Small Tortoiseshells and Peacocks which I haven't seen any. Also one of the white ones, not sure which. But this morning basking on the stones was a slightly tatty looking Speckled Wood.

One thing I have maintained this year is water for the birds using just an old plastic tray. Probably to do with all the warm dry weather we have been having but it has been used by all sorts of birds for bathing and drinking. This morning there was 2 young Blackbirds, 4 House Sparrows and a Siskin all drinking from it at the same time until one of the Blackbirds decided to dive right in and have a wash.

Update (28/03/13)

Still haven't had much snow here, feels like a different world from some of the pictures around the country. Not too much to report, pretty bogged down with coursework and no car at the moment means it's mostly garden bird watching lately.

Heard a Skylark singing for the first time across the road yesterday, hopefully Spring is on it's way.

The Yellowhammer is still visiting daily since it first arrived a couple of weeks ago.

I have tried to tempt some passing Waxwings into the garden after being inspired by Wendy Anderson over at the Highland & Moray Facebook group. Consists of half apples on an upturned leaf rake to created an "apple tree". Would be nice to catch a few as they move back North. I haven't seen any around my immediate area all Winter so it really is a long shot but you never know...

This morning I watched as the local hybrid carrion / hooded crow broke twigs off the tree outside the garden for nesting material, fascinating to watch, Corvids definately one of my favourite groups of birds.

Today I had a brand new bird for the garden! A Tree Sparrow. It fed on the ground alongside the Chaffinches and the Yellowhammer which was coming and going. Seen plenty of Tree Sparrow over in Dingwall but never in Conon Bridge, nevermind in the garden. Got a couple of poor quality record shots.

For those of you thinking "what's the difference from the Sparrows I normally see?" Well the give away is the chesnut brown cap and the white cheeks with black spots. The male House Sparrow (the one you are more likely to see in houses and urban areas) Has a grey cap and grey cheeks. There are other differences of course but those are the most obvious.

This evening I attended an illustrated presentation by Ian Collier, Woodland Officer for Forestry Commission Scotland at Fraser Park Bowling Club in Inverness for the RSPB Highland group. It focused on forest management for Red Squirrels and the knock on effects for woodland birds, it was definately worth attending.

So yeah won't be doing much birdy stuff for at least a couple weeks now but a few exciting things lined up that will hopefully work out and of course a 2 week study tour to Poland for the second half of April.

Have a good Easter weekend.

More Snow (11/03/13)...

Awoke today to a wintry scene as everything was covered in snow. One of the reasons I love the winter so much is that it drives birds into the garden in search of food and every now and again you get something unusual. In the fairly harsh winter of 2009 I remember seeing an unusual bird in the garden which turned out to be a male Brambling. I think this encounter is what really kicked started my interest in birds outwith the garden.

Almost every year we get quite a large flock of Chaffinches that visits the garden each Winter and since that encounter in 2009 I always take a few minutes to scan in hope that a Brambling will turn up again. Well today I finally got lucky....again. Opening the curtains around 7.40 this morning and there was already roughly 40 Chaffinches feeding on the extra seed I had scattered on the ground for them knowing that cold weather was on it's way. I took some time to scan through them all and to my surprise I found a nice little female Brambling. It stayed for a few minutes then flew off up into the trees with all the rest of the flock where I lost it. I kept checking throughout the day but I didn't see it again unfortunately but there was the now regular Yellowhammer, Siskin and a handful of Greenfinch mixed in with the Chaffinches to keep me entertained. I didn't manage to get a photo so here is someone elses for a change!

Year List Additions:
88. Brambling

By Arnstein Rønning (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Another unusual visitor (26/02)...

Weather today again today was fantastic, clear and sunny. The recent group of Siskins are still present and it was nice to also see a couple of Greenfinch too which seem a bit scare lately. The Song Thrush was back again, this time feeding on the ground and at the bird table but I failed to get any half decent pictures. But it was later on in the morning that there was an unusual vistor to the garden, feeding from the table but mostly on the spilled seed on the ground, a male Yellowhammer. I have seen Yellowhammer in the garden before, once. It was for a split second early one morning, but this male came and went for most of the day staying for around 10 mins at a time. I took to the bird-hide shed to see if I could manage to get a photo, see below for results.

Yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella)

Bird Hide Shed (24/02)...

There has been plenty of Siskins in the garden over the last 3 days. Up to 16 at any one time in the garden which is much more than I have ever seen before which is usually at most about 5-6. I really wanted to try and get some photos of them that weren't from the upstairs window or through the downstairs window which always turn out rubbish. Then an idea struck me, which I am really surprised I hadn't thought of before, to use the shed as as my own bird hide. It is right next to the feeders and even has a window on the side facing it. I had the idea last night and decided to try it this morning and it was fairly productive.

The birds were a bit nervous to start with which I expected but the Siskins soon settled down and were not bothered at all and I managed to get some pictures. It wasn't the best light and at points it starting snowing but oh well it was fun to try and just to see them so close whilst sitting in relative comfort.

I was even rewarded with a guest that has been fairly regular the last few days but in general is not so commonly seen on bird feeders, the Treecreeper. There has been one (and I am assuming it's the same bird) that seems to turn up when the majority of the Siskins arrive and switches between creeping up the walls of the house and feeding on the peanuts and suet cakes. Was really nice to see this bird so close.

There were plenty different birds coming and going althought the Blue, Great and Coal Tits I kept finding difficult to get a decent picture of but finally managed some of the Blue Tit unfortunately not clear enough to read the ring on it's leg.

The Siskins are a feisty bunch, regularly arguing amongst themselves but also seeing off the larger Goldfinches whenever the come close although this once managed to land and grab a mouthful before being chased off.

Ground feeders proved difficult to get a photo of. In the case of the Blackbirds and Starlings they were just too nervous I think although they did seem to slowly relax a bit but never in the right position! Did manage a picture or two of Robin and Dunnock but with the camera pointing down and the busy background of the grass and seed the photos aren't great. Maybe I could set up some kind of strategically placed perch? It was fun though and I might try it again.