RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch, More Waxwing Photos and a Wildflower book

I know many of you will have taken part in the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch at the weekend and I do enjoy reading about people's results on their blogs. I did mine on Saturday afternoon - sunny with showers at times. Results were low again this year and as everyone knows so many species failed to put in an appearance during the hour!

So what did I see?

Wood Pigeon 4

Robin 1

Magpie 1

House Sparrow 2

Goldfinch 7

Blackbird 2

Dunnock 2

Blue Tit 3

Stock Dove 1

Long-tailed Tit 2

All the species, with the exception of Magpie, were either visiting the feeders/bird table or using the pond. I also enjoyed watching a pair of Grey Squirrels chasing each other round and round the garden :)





D and I went back to Castle Vale over the weekend to see the Waxwings. D was not happy that I had inadvertently changed a setting on the Canon Bridge Camera (no wonder my photos looked bleached out!! ) - we ended up having to return it to the factory default settings! I wish I had taken my Olympus camera with the 70-300 mm telephoto zoom as we got much closer views of the birds than when I went in the week.

Photos were taken by D and are a distinct improvement on the ones I managed!

I treated myself recently to the most delightful Wild Flower book by Margaret Erskine Wilson. The illustrations are just charming. Margaret Wilson an amateur botanist and water-colourist was the late President of Kendal Natural History Society. The book contains her paintings of British wild flowers (arranged month by month). She started them in 1943/44 to help her friend learn the names of flowers. In 1999 she donated to the Kendal NH Society 150 sheets of these paintings representing 1000 British and Irish plants and this has finally resulted in the publication of this beautiful book.

I'm making slow progress over my mother's house problems although still waiting for surveys to be completed and quotes prepared - I suspect it will be some months before life gets back to normal!

Waxwing Encounters, Shustoke Reservoir and Recent Reading

As many of you will know we are experiencing a "Waxwing Winter" - every few years when there isn't enough food available in their breeding areas during the winter we get visits from large numbers of Waxwings (an irruption). It was obvious a few months back that many Waxwings were arriving in Scotland and the North and East of England. It has been a long wait but they finally are moving South in search of more berries. I've been checking local areas where the trees are full of berries without any success so last week we made the trek up to Brownhills where a flock had been reported over several days in a place called Silver Court.

We arrived to hear the usual words "they were here half an hour ago!". After waiting about an hour a small flock eventually appeared. However, many times you have seen these birds it is still a magical experience. The birds were too far away to get photos with the Olympus dslr and 70-300 lens so the record shots below were taken with the Canon bridge camera.

Yesterday the warden of Ladywalk NR kindly sent me a message telling me of a sighting of another flock at Castle Vale, Birmingham, which has the advantage of being closer than Brownhills. I visited this afternoon and was thrilled to see they were still there. I think up to 100 have been seen but there were about 30/40 birds when I was there. Sadly, no photos again of them feeding as every time they tried to descend on the Rowan trees they were chased off by a territorial Mistle Thrush! Some more record shots again taken with the Canon SX50.

I may return tomorrow with the dslr and see if I can get some better shots. A few years ago I was lucky enough to come across a flock that were exceedingly tame and I was able to get really close and take much improved photos to the one's above! Click here
if you want to read the post.


Shustoke Reservoir


A few weeks back we had a walk round Shustoke Reservoir. It was freezing cold with a biting wind and we didn't linger long on the shores of the reservoir but went a walk along a nearby lane. Highlights were a flock of Long-tailed Tits and my first Redwing of the year. The photo below was taken on a visit a few years ago (I took the Canon with me this time and when I switched on the camera the battery was flat so no pictures from this years visit!)

Some books


I bought this book with an Amazon voucher I had for my birthday. It was a real bargain being much reduced on Amazon and just flipping through the pages makes me want to visit every Cathedral in England.

I read an excerpt from "The Nature of Autumn" in BBC Wildlife magazine and was so impressed with the nature writing that I just had to buy it. The author reveals how autumn unfolds from September to November in Scotland.

This is the first non-Merrily book by Phil Rickman that I have read. I found it rather unsettling and scary (far more so than the Merrily stories). I wouldn't exactly say I enjoyed it but there is no doubt that I couldn't put the book down!

This is the 3rd in a series of books about the four seasons that I have read. Again it contains poetry and prose by both established, well-known authors and new writers. I shall be buying the Winter one soon. They really are lovely anthologies and it is easy just to dip into them when you have a few spare minutes.

I used to read the "Miss Read" books many years ago - in fact, I have about a dozen in a storage box and I am trying to make up my mind whether to keep them or take them to the charity shop. The Country Christmas is a collection of stories set in Fairacre - it makes delightful reading and my favourite was the poignant tale of the White Robin.

I finally treated myself to the latest book by Ann Cleeves in the Shetland series. I found it as gripping as her other Shetland novels and now I am up to date with the books I will watch the dvd of the tv series (a Christmas present) and start on the Vera Stanhope novels!

The next two books have a section for each Season of the year so I will read the relevant section as the year progresses. I love Laurie Lee's books so was thrilled to discover a new one!

Sorry for lack of posts recently - I am still completely "bogged down" by problems with my mother's house so I suspect blogging might be sporadic for quite a while. Sadly, the problems are worse than I anticipated with the added complications of third parties. To say I feel stressed and worried is an under-statement but I am trying to take it one step at a time although not wholly succeeding!! I will try and keep up to date with your blogs in the meantime but if I disappear for a while I will eventually be back!

Garden Birds and Waxwings

The cold snowy weather is resulting in more birds visiting the feeders. A Goldcrest has been feeding on fat balls for the last couple of days.

A dreadful photo (too far away and too tiny and very heavily cropped!) but if you click on it to enlarge you will just be able to see its a Goldcrest - I hope :)

The lone Fieldfare is still defending its little patch of apples having skirmishes with Mistle and Song Thrush (new garden species for this year). This afternoon he/she must have been feeling rather harrassed as it was surrounded by nine Wood Pigeons feeding and refusing to let the Fieldfare frighten them off. Also pleased to see Coal Tit and Greenfinch returning to the feeders for the first time this year.

Tonight six Wrens tried to roost in the hanging basket but the last one had a problem squeezing in so the last two to arrive flew off closely followed by two others. The latter two later returned so I think there are just the four roosting again. We have put up some roosting pouches round the garden so I hope the other two Wrens or the Goldcrest have found these.

I finally caught up with Waxwings two days ago near my mother's Nursing Home. I spotted a flock of 10 birds in a tree and I just knew they weren't starlings. Did a rapid roundabout turn and spotted the crests on the birds. Managed to park very close (on a bus stop!) and get good views as they flew into a nearby hedge feeding on berries. I hadn't got the camera with me so I've "cheated" a bit here and this is a photo I took when I found some locally two years ago. I have been back since with the camera but no sign of the Waxwings - they appear to have been displaced by a huge flock of Fieldfares.

Brandon Marsh NR

We visited Brandon Marsh NR last Saturday for a walk - it was really cold but sunny. There have been several sightings of Waxwings in the car park and by the Visitor Centre but none around when we were there.

Mute Swan

Swallow Pool

Mute Swan

Shoveler

Mute Swan

I found this fungi in New Hare Covert - not sure at all of id although it looks a bit like Chicken of the Woods

Had tea and cake in the tearoom and there was a beautiful sunset as we were leaving.

It was my birthday on Saturday (one of those ending in zero!!) and here's a photo of the cake my family made me. The little plaque commemorating the actual birthday has been cropped off - am a bit coy about my age these days :)

I've still been checking all the local berry trees and bushes for Waxwings without success. A small flock were reported at Hams Hall Distribution Centre two days ago so I visited yesterday and again today. There are zillions of berries and loads of Blackbirds, Redwings and Fieldfares feeding on them but yet again I failed to spot any Waxwings. Talked to a couple of birders who had been at one spot for a while and they had heard them but not seen them.

There are absolutely loads of these berries (Cotoneaster, I think) and here's a Blackbird busy scoffing away.

Managed to get my first photo of a Redwing - not brilliant but they are such beautiful birds I had to post it!

Quick Trip Out

For one reason and another I haven't had chance to get out much recently. Hence lack of posts! I did pay a quick visit to the RSPB Middleton Lakes Reserve on Friday.

There was a White-Rumped Sandpiper on the North of the Reserve but as it would have taken me an hour to walk there! and I only had an hour to spare I had to forego the chance of what would have been a "lifer". There were a couple of Fieldfares feeding on berries at the start of the entrance track to the Reserve. I spent a while walking through the woodland - some beautiful Autumn colours.

Then I spent half an hour watching the feeders by the Heronry. A couple of Brambling had been reported feeding earlier that week. Sadly, they failed to appear when I was there but there was plenty of activity - Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Chaffinches, Blue Great and Coal Tits, Greenfinches, House Sparrows and Robins. Unfortunately, the feeders were too far away for me to get any close shots with the 70-300 lens.

Highlight of the visit was a flock of Redpolls (presume Lesser) feeding on alder seeds.

I have been regularly checking berry trees and shrubs in my local area due to the influx of Waxwings. No sightings so far but I live in hope!! We had a Goldcrest foraging in the garden earlier in the week - my first garden sighting this year and its been back again today :)

I've just planted some pots for the patio with winter flowering pansies, violas and wallflowers to provide some winter colour and an early nectar source.