Singing in the Rain

Some things can be disturbing in a nice way. One thing that is, is waking up at 6.30 on a cold, dark,  rainy January morning and hearing a Song Thrush singinging its heart out. Its actually been singing all day for several days now but I haven't hear it in the dark before. Maybe its because at this time of year, 6.30 only really occurs to me in the evening. As yet it only really seems to be Robins and Song Thrushes that have seen a sign of spring, I haven't, apart from daffodil leaves. Spring to me is when you suddenly realise you should have planted seeds a month ago.
There are some things missing here this month, no Bramblings have shown up here, the Blackcaps disappeared in November, there are no overwintering Chiffchaffs, no Redpoll flocks, very few Goldfinches, and the Siskin flock which appeared just before Christmas as it usually does has made no sign of reappearing from mid January (which it usually does). Maybe it is the unusual temperatures that has displaced things.
Talking of disappearing things, I am going to have to remove my record of Ruddy Duck in an earlier post as apparently nothing less than the total eradication of this species will do for the RSPB. It appears that around a handful of British based Ruddy Duck (perversely introduced by Sir Peter Scott)  have made it over to Spain to hybridise with the the internationally threatened White Headed Duck although the actual number of hybrids appear to be almost stastically irrelevent. A more important issue surely has to be how the White Headed Duck became internationally threatened in the first place, which I would suggest might be loss of habitat and a surplus of orange sauce in the fridges of gun toting personages.  Presumably were a feral White Headed Duck population to be released in Britain, the RSPB would quietly ask DEFRA to do a quick, unthorough and unscientific appraisal on its environmental impact and order their destruction lest they impact on the increasingly rare British Ruddy Duck population (now estimated 500 pairs from a previous high of 6000).
Much as I appreciate the RSPB has international status which it is keen to uphold, I rescinded my membership of the RSPB several years ago on their stance on this extremely contencious issue as well as what I perceived their stance to be on breeding Eagle Owls in Britain which may, or may not be from captive escapees rather than vagrants. To my mind, regardless of the semantics, if you set yourself up as a body promoting the protection of something, you don't promote the shooting of it.
End of.

Blashford (part2)

Yes more cormorants. Aren't they lovely. I find it terribly sad that our own over-fishing of offshore waters which has driven these entrepreneurial spirits to feed and breed on inland waters, has led to their persecution on certain fisheries. It has to be more environmentally sound than some banker from London taking a return helicopter ride to the banks of the river Test for an afternoons fly fishing..

Herons were also busy on Ivy lake, but not fishing anywhere close, although this one spent a little time ignoring a Cormorant which seemed to be saying "I want to be a Heron when I grow up"...  I don't think it actually was.

Eventually, another Heron flying past enticed this one away. I'm glad there were two of them because my bird in flight technique needs a deal of practice and despite bursts of umpteen shots, these were the only two that were even remotely in focus..

 

What else, oh yes, Gadwall. These ducks which I usually see from a distance as black bottomed, flat grey ducks were a pleasure to see reasonably close up, revealing the complexity of their plumage which usually remains a mystery. I'm not sure why this one has a brown patch on its head, is it a first winter male? I don't know. Something else to look up. I love Black Headed Gulls in winter, they always look like bald middle age men to me.

Last but not least I thought I would include the Canada Goose. Even typing that name transports me back to the Bourneville model yachting pool of my youth where there were plenty. Lovely creatures that we all take for granted.

 

and this one which looks like a Canada cross Barnacle Goose hybrid (I think)

Blashford

Sunday was a twitching day, not something I very often do, but I thought it was about time I went and had a look for one of the Great White Egrets and the Red Crested Pochards that have turned up around Blashford lakes (a series of former gravel pits near Ringwood). I didn't see either. However, there was plenty of other things to see although most of them were quite distant. I was reminded of one of the reasons I don't go twitching and that is twitchers, especially that special brand of Sunday morning ones. I was trying to listen over the flooded meadows for things I didn't immiediately see, but it was impossible over the chatter about forthcoming social events, clothing, recipes, other twitches etc, with occasional shouts of "there it is!" and everyone else chorusing "oh yes!". It is quite a powerful feeling to very quietly point out its a Little Egret and hear the disappointed chinese whisper go round "its a Little Egret".

I went to the trouble of looking up Caspian Gull as well and had a mental list of what made it different from a Herring Gull. And despite listening to a few birders debating in a hide, I knew that the gulls we were looking at all looked the same to me other than that at sometimes they were pointing in different directions. Over Ibsley Water everything, including the aforementioned gulls, were quite a way off, but there were good numbers of Widgeon, Goosander, Coot, Gadwall, Cormorants, with a sprinkling of Tufted Duck, Shovellers, Pintails and Goldeneye. As there were apparently something over 100 Goosander about I was hoping for a good photo opportunity, but no, despite my friendly disposition, they resolutely stayed several hundred yards away (I mean metres).

 Anyway, on to the woodland hide which I hadn't been to before. There is only one open window in this hide and it was occupied by two photographers who looked pretty well settled for the day so we sat and watched the busy feeding stations through the perspex for a while and I took a couple of photos of a lovely male Brambling and a Great spotted Woodpecker just to see what they would turn out like.

Not too bad as it happens, they won't win prizes, but considering the light and the plastic, much better than I was expecting.

 

I love Brambling, especially if you get to see the males in summer plumage with jet black heads and that indescribable orangey/pinky chest colour. Apparently they are often overlooked in Chaffinch flocks, I can't see how. Also present were a few Siskin, Chaffinch, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Coal Tit, and Nuthatch while we were there.
The next hide was over Ivy lake and for some reason it was deserted, which was nice, and a chance to hear a little of all those truly wild sounds of wildfowl that wrench at even the most city-hardened individual's wild heart strings. There is something timeless, ageless almost, about these sounds which for some reason seem unconsciously imprinted on our brains and immiediately yell between your synapses WILD.
Anyway, enough of this romantic nonsense (almost). On to the pictures.
When I put "almost" in brackets it was because my favourite program when I was little was Nogin the Nog, and as such I am delighted to post these pictures of the much maligned cormorant, which whatever pose I see one in, immiediately takes me back to those brilliantly observed cartoon sketches of my childhood. Thats my age blown then.

I seem to have reached the limit of photograghs for one post, so part 2 is beckoning, but I had to chortle at the above photo which was supposed to be of two cormorants, but the one on the left fell off!

Creepy things

Treereeper - Tadburn Meadows

I popped into Blashford lakes on the 12th on my way back from dropping materials down in Poole, I just spent half an hour there in Tern hide and just took binoculars. I love my Opticron 10x42s and these days frequently leave my scope in the cupboard. I don't know these lakes at all well but was pleased to see a number of Goldeneye,  and scores of Goosander in amongst the more expected wildfowl. Apparently there was and still is a Caspian Gull, but to be honest I wouldn't know one if I fell over it, I would just apologise and go on my way. I know it looks something like a Herring Gull but thats as far as it goes without looking it up. This year I am going to learn about gulls generally, they have long been a mystery to me and they really deserve more observation. (I say this every year, as I do with waders).
Anyway, together with yesterday's post regarding Nuthatches, and today's unavoidable observation of a drumming Great Spotted Woodpecker outside, I felt it only fair to mention  another creeper of trees, the Treecreeper. These aptly named little birds often pass unnoticed, but unlike the Nuthatch, creep only up trees (and a little sideways) looking for insects in bark crevices and then often fly vertically downwards down the trunk to start the procedure once again. I see them most often here in the winter, not doubt due to the lack of leaves, and I've never seen more than two, and most regularly they appear at the same time as the Long Tailed Tits which may or not be a coincidence.

I know these aren't great pictures, but they are small birds and the light wasn't great. I'm disappointed to note that like many bird species, since the coppicing of a large proportion of the mature trees in what has become Tadburn Meadows nature reserve, this species is not as regularly seen as it once was. I have a feeling I may post more on the "management" of the area at a later date.

The weather goes tits up

Today (yesterday strictly speaking) was a truly unpleasant day weatherwise. It was gloomy and cold with rain turning to sleet. I took the dog out for a brisk walk in the morning (as is usual these days, I was the only one of the two of us with an element of brisk about them). During one of the many hanging about moments it was nice to see two Grey Wagtails on the stream and hear goldcrests in the tree above. That was about it for pleasantries.

Lunchtime in the kitchen showed the birdfeeders to be exceptionally busy, and a male Bullfinch nearby had me running for the camera, but as always it disappeared into the brambles as soon as I was set up. Everything was still grey and gloomy out so I thought I would try experimenting using high ISO settings and went for the highest, 3200 with no great expectations of success. Using a lens with a minimum focus of 15 feet meant I had to stand on the far side of the kitchen to focus on the feeders which are right by the window (I have a small kitchen). I was pretty pleased with the results although they don't really stand much, if any cropping.

                             Blue Tit

Sometimes its good to get up close and personal with your common birds, I am often guilty of not really looking at them properly, what lovely creatures Blue Tits are. Well worth a second look.

                          

Although last year my most popular feeder was the one with niger seed in it, the lack of Goldfinches and Siskins coming to feed has meant that the first thing I have seen feeding on them was this Coal Tit.

 

                                  Coal Tit

My Long Tailed Tit flock remains at 2 or sometimes 3 and they never look as though they are very waterproof somehow.

                            Long Tailed Tit

We have always had Nuthatches here and I never take them for granted although they are daily visitors. Sometimes they get so tame (or hungry!) that they visit the table while I am still hanging up replenished feeders. They have fantastic feet which enable them to be the only British bird to be able to scamper both up and down tree trunks foraging for insects. A few years ago a pair turned up with a brood of 4 fledgelings, presumably to show them where an easy meal could be had.

                                 Nuthatch

and to push the boundaries, a cropped image...

 

While all this activity was going on, the Little Egret turned up which was a surprise given the state of the river which is still quite full and coloured. It did splash about a bit and make the odd dart for something, so it clearly has better eyesight than me. Many birders I've met won't be shocked by this revelation. I managed to get a few shots which revealed some of the problems of shooting long distance with a high ISO, particularly noise in out of focus areas closer than the subject, especially when cropping. Nevermind, it shows it was here:

 

 

                                Little Egret

Eyeworth

Before I write about Eyeworth I must remind myself of a few things that have happened over the
A scruffy looking Coal Tit - Eyeworth

last few days. The weather has turned quite dramatically, on Saturday it was dull, grey and mostly raining, turning the river from bright and clear to brown and turgid, and the sound from high pitched tinkling to low pitched glooping. The remaining snow left the ground, the Redwings left the cotoneaster berries and the Fieldfare left the apples.

Little Egrets

The day before yesterday a little egret came and perched in the tree outside the kitchen window. I rushed for the camera, tried to autofocus (failed - white bird against a white background with dark twigs in front of it is a recipe for failure) tried to manually focus (failed - I think its an age thing) but fired off a couple of shots before it took off for the river and thus became responsible for probably the worst photographs of a Little Egret in a tree ever taken.
When I was young Little Egrets only existed as pictures in books of foreign birds. Grown ups would travel the length and breadth of the country to go and see the occasional vagrant as possibly a once in a lifetime opportunity and so I certainly never expected to see them outside the house as an adult. Now serious birders barely give them a second look except to see if a distant one can be turned into a cattle egret - I do though, they will always be an exotic species to me. I can't help but smile when I see one, particularly when they shake those big incongruously yellow feet of theirs.
Anyway, yesterday I happened to see one circle down into the river outside and popped out to get a couple of shots before it disappeared into the bank. As it did so I heard another call in the air and looked up to see two circling round before flying off to give a total of three, a record for here I think.



















Just for amusement I added the best of the worst from two days ago for a spot the egret competition..

Fieldfares

Fieldfares have been reported in gardens all over the country, even in many places where they haven't been seen before, driven in to feed where their normal habitat of agricultural fields and hedgerows have been blanketted in snow. We quite often get a few here, but there is a definite increase in numbers currently.






These largely Scandinavian visitors can be very bold, as is this individual who spent the last two days eating and jealously guarding some apple quarters I put out. He or she divided its attentions about equally between filling its stomach and driving off Redwings, Song Thrushes and Blackbirds (the previously dominant Blackbird took this as quite an affront but had to capitulate to this larger and certainly more determined thrush).



I must admit, if I had this thing repeatedly flying at me, I might take cover in the nearest bush myself.














I'm not sure how long they will hang about as the snow is now largely thawed, but I have a stock of apples in just in case.

More Snow

The view from the upstairs window on wednesday morning suggested that shorts were probably not the dress code of the day, and indeed further snow all morning confirmed that the world around me needed thermal underwear.

Winston, my 13 year old labrador disagreed. Whilst he didn't think much of the very icy paths of late, he loves the snow and turned into a puppy during his walks, bouncing around without a care about his arthritic hip, but stopping to smell every other snowflake on the ground, the normal aromas somehow gaining a tenfold interest by being frozen. Interestingly, this behaviour is not unique to Winston and seems to be common with all the dog walkers I spoke to. Their dogs I mean.

So our walk through Tadburn Meadows continued at fits and starts and gave me time to take my old camera out of its bag and take a few pictures of this particularly cold winter before the thaw set in. So I did.

The importance of commonplace

After yesterday's perusal of the unusual, I found myself looking out of the kitchen window with a renewed marvel of the birds that I see every day and too often pass over because of their familiarity to me. Chaffinches are pretty well everywhere and at this time of year I tend to almost ignore them in the hope of spotting the rather less common Brambling that turn up here most winters (none yet this year). However in recent years my chaffinch flock (ok, they aren't mine really) have been quite badly by afflicted by a disease called bumblefoot. I don't really know quite how badly this unsightly disease affects breeding success or mortality rate but so far this year it has hardly been in evidence here which I assume is a good thing. Anyway, what stunning birds they are, perfectly designed seed eaters, beautiful colours even in the middle of winter, great opportunists and born survivors which should never be overlooked.
It was -7C last night and barely struggled above freezing yet again today so its certainly the sort of weather that our Scandiavian visitors, the Redwings, should be at home in. Sure enough, after my previous post dismissing them, they returned in force today and seemed to be stood in trees all over the place. They always remind me of a photograph proudly shown to me years ago of a Redwing, a Blackbird, a Mistle Thrush, a Song Thrush and Fieldfare in perfect formation in the snow feeding on something he had put out. On questioning he revealed his secret bait as tinned pears, something he said was irresistable to thrushes, but something I have never quite brought myself to try out. Maybe tomorrow.
One bit of behaviour I do not quite understand at the moment is why the Blackbirds, while tolerant of eachother, continually drive off any visiting Song Thrushes. Answers on a postcard please..

Good Fortune

I am lucky here. I often think that as I see the mixture of birds, butterflies, moths and insects coming to live, feed or just pass by. There is no road outside, just a path and then the river and the park the other side of that. We have grassland, bog, ponds, mature oaks, alders and willows within a stone's throw. Its all on a relatively small scale but it has produced more than its fair share of unlikely-in-a-way visitors of which I expect I will mention at a later date. However today, although it is not exactly in my world, I am reminded that anything can turn up anywhere. My sister sent me a couple of photos of a bird for identification taken from her neighbours garden in Birmingham. Why is it whenever I get something interesting outside I don't even get the chance to turn the camera on let alone go back nextdoor, get a camera and take this sort of shot through a window?

I suppose on occasions I have had that sort of luck, I just haven't appreciated it at the time. In my comparitive youth, just the other side of this fence I hand tamed a grey squirrel in a couple of days and had fox cubs running around my feet. I shouldn't be greedy, but.... I've never seen a Woodcock this close except overhead...

Frozen

It was minus quite a lot last night, somewhere between -6C and -9C, which in my book is quite chilly. At such times I always spare a thought for the tiniest birds, given the volume:surface area ratio and all that jazz. I personally have found over several decades of increasing my volume, I actually feel the cold more than 30 years ago, but who am I to fly in the face of science. Enough of me, back to tiny birds. The smallest birds around here are goldcrests, but during the winter they seem to disappear, and to be frank, I don't blame them. The next smallest are long tailed tits, one of my favourite birds (along with many others) which seemed to have a fantastic breeding season this year. I can never understand why they don't freeze solid overnight even allowing for the fact that they roost in huddled up groups. Most winters we get sizeable flocks whizz through the alders here, but this year they have been about all summer and autumn with just a handful feeding during the winter, dropping down to usually two regular visitors at the moment. When its very cold they often puff up like table tennis balls with tails which I hope one of these photos shows (taken through double glazing - I'm not stupid)(entirely).

Snow

We didn't quite get the foot of snow that was forecast last night, but we did get a couple of inches, quite sufficient to bring all forms of transport to a grinding halt. It is still snowing lightly here but its also thawing slowly at about the same rate. The bird feeders and table aren't as busy as I was expecting but on my walk with Winston around the park this morning there was a large flock of about 50 goldfinches feeding on the alder cones, so I'm guessing there is still a fair amount of natural food around. The redwings which were about earlier this winter seem to have polished off the holly berries and moved on. Apparently the little egret was back in the park yesterday on one of its sporadic visits but I missed it.
I decided that I will post up some photos from the past year at some point despite the fact they won't appear in proper chronological order, for no other reason than I have nowhere else to put them!

Fishlake meadows

My first post, I wonder how much time I will have to do more. Yesterday we walked along the canal and over a largely frozen Fishlake Meadows which has become one of my favourite places to walk locally over the last few years as you never quite know what you will see, or for that matter what you won't. The last few times I have walked along the back of the meadows I have put up 4 Jack Snipe, and although we only flushed 2 yesterday, they are still great birds to see. Unusually these flew from twenty yards away or so rather than waiting to be almost trodden on. I know there are many common snipe here too, but seeing them is quite another matter, so it was quite a surprise to see one stood out in the open and walking gingerly across the ice (sorry for the poor pic!).

The male kingfisher was much in evidence today and would have proved a perfect subject to photograph had there been less people walking the towpath, but I got the occasional shot, and in one place we stopped for it, the resident kestrel decided to land on the dead tree next to us for a particularly intimate moment.

Water rails squealed more than once but I have yet to actually see one here. The redwings in the horse paddocks that were present in large numbers on my last visit were absent without leave, with just a solitary song thrush, mistle thrush and fieldfare complimenting the blackbirds as the thrush representatives.
The usual buzzards made a late showing on the walk back, a count of 3 individuals being about average.
Other fare included Rook, Crow, Grey Heron, Wood Pigeon, Long tailed, Great, Coal and Blue tit, and abundance of Robins, Goldcrest and Dunnock.
Not seen were the usual Green and Great spotted woodpeckers, Cettis warblers (although heard on christmas day) or any wildfowl other than Mallards and Mute swans on the canal, presumably due to the ponds all being frozen over.
I did find one other thing on this walk, the fact that I need some fingerless gloves for this photography lark!