Mystery solved.

The local birds are full of the joys of spring and the noisiest has been a wood-pigeon. His call was almost constant yesterday and he woke me up this morning, seeming to be very close.

The reason he sounded so close, and why we have been having trouble with our satellite signal became obvious when we noticed that there was a pair of wood-pigeons perched on the mounting of the satellite dish, right outside the bedroom window! I hope they are not trying to nest.

All the birds seem to be getter very territorial and two cock sparrows kept up a dispute for nearly ten minutes this morning in the branches of one of our silver birch trees. I have also noticed blue-tits have replaced coal-tits as garden visitors and the siskins have also stopped visiting and seem to have been replaced by greenfinches.

As the tree come into full leaf it is not as easy to see what the birds are up to, but I shall keep watching and listening.

Categories: Birds, Birdwatching

Blue-tit habits

Right outside my workroom window is a rowan tree that produces lots of berries later in the year. I thought it would be a good idea to hang a couple of suet-ball feeders in this tree and see what was attracted.

Earlier this afternoon I glanced up from the workbench and saw two blue-tits hopping amongst the branches. They completely ignored the feeders but went from blossom to blossom. Even through binoculars I couldn't see what they were finding and nothing showed around their beaks so I guess that they were catching mites of some kind.

The tree is no more than 10 feet from my window and when I can get hold of a suitable camera should provide some images well worth blogging. Perhaps there will be a repeat of the berry stripping that I witnessed a few years ago when a flock of startlings took every berry off this tree in the space of 40 minutes. The noise was amazing.

Categories: Birds, Birdwatching

Sparrow Condominium?

After many months the house next door is now occupied and our new neighbors are busy tidying up the neglected garden.

In the process they appear to have built sparrow heaven. Early this morning there were a dozen house sparrows visible exploring this heap and it appeared that more were inside the heap.

Most of the heap consists of brambles and the whole heap is probably crawling with insects. Shelter from the rain with a built in food supply, what more could a sparrow want?

Categories: Birds, Birdwatching

The Easter weekend

The family gathered for the holiday weekend, so the only birdwatching consisted of checking that the turkey was cooking OK.

Margaret and I did go for a quiet walk in Shrawley Woods on Monday afternoon and it was beautiful. The Bluebells that the woods are famous for are not in bloom yet but the ground was so thickly covered with Wood Anenomes that they looked like snow-drifts in the afternoon sunshine. Typically, the camera was back at home, so you will have to take my word for it.

Shrawley Woods are mostly Small Leafed Lime trees that have been coppiced for centuries but there are other species. In particular the Hazel catkins were spectacular and there are a couple of Giant Redwoods. The sound of bird-song was all around us, but with so much cover it is very tricky to spot what is making all the noise. Even the pheasants managed to stay hidden.

Categories: Birds, Birdwatching

The wren makes an appearance

For weeks I have been hearing a wren amongst the twigs and leaves around the garden, but have not seen it until today. I was watching a pair of collared doves picking up dropped seed below the feeder when I caught sight of a wren at the far side of the garden. I thought I was going to have to get up early to see one but this was mid afternoon.

Spring weather has suddenly arrived and the birds seem to enjoy the change almost as much as I do. Time to take the hard top off the car.

Categories: Birds, Birdwatching

Grandfather Clock

Clear the workbench, I must make a grandfather clock. We have just heard that we are going to be grandparents in October. Fantastic news and brilliant timing being told on Margaret's birthday.

Now I need plans or designs for a 30 day longcase movement and a suitable case.

Categories: Clocks, Clockmaking, Grandchild

We've got siskins!

This the first Monday of my retirement and the first chance I have had to sit and watch the birds. Almost the first bird to come to the feeder was a siskin, normally found in coniferous woodland. I have seen these birds before but not in our garden. Most of our trees are silver birch but there are conifers in the neighborhood so maybe the birds I saw came from there.
I also heard our resident wrens, but no sighting yet today.

The next challenge will be to get photographs!

Categories: birds, birdwatching

Feeding resumes

After many days without any visitors to the feeder the last two days have seen a sharp drop in the seed level. I have noticed before that there will be quite long periods when the birds are feeding elsewhere and then they return in numbers.  Just while I was buttoning my shirt this morning I saw one chaffinch, two sparrows and a coal tit. They were being watched by a solitary starling that sat on the fence and chattered to the world at large.

There was a touch of frost this morning, -2 degrees C, but we have had similar mornings with no feeding activity so I don’t believe that weather is the reason for the variation. I can only assume that there are sometimes more attractive food sources available.

Categories: Birds, Birdwatching

Bird Listening

No time for bird-watching? Try bird-listening. The last weekend was very busy but I still found time to listen to the birds.

I was cleaning up the SL ready for Sunday's MAC Classic Car run and I realised that I was identifying the birds around from their calls. I could pick out several blackbirds in different hedges and trees and a chaffinch was somewhere behind me. Even our resident wren made itself heard at one point.

I didn't see any of the birds I was listening to, apart from the occasional flutter through my peripheral vision, but I knew they were there. I must search out recordings of UK bird sounds so that I can add to the catalogue of birds I can identify by ear. I can recognise most of out regular garden visitors, but there are many calls I cannot put a name to, especially when we are away from home.

Categories: Birds, Birdwatching