I have already covered a couple of local visits in February in my previous two Blog posts, and I intend to cover two further February excursions in a subsequent blog post. This post will concentrate on garden observation highlights - and a couple of items of wildlife found in the house!
At the start of February, our winter visitors, Brambling, Blackcap, and Pied Wagtail, were still regularly gracing us with their presence. As I write this on 1st March they are still visiting. I have no illusions that Brambling and Blackcap will be with us for much longer, but I am hoping that the Pied Wagtail might decide that he'd like to stay here.
Tuesday, 1st February
The month started well with male and female Brambling, plus two male Blackcaps. However, no photos were taken.
Sunday, 6th February
This day I did manage some photos.
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| Brambling (Fringilla montifringilla) (male) - garden |
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| Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba yarrellii) - garden |
We had three Blackcap visit this day (2 male, 1 female) but they were not photographed. We have been lucky enough, in the past few weeks, to be getting daily visits by Bullfinch. We have had occasionally up to three at a time - sometimes two females and sometimes two males. However, it is rare that they present themselves in a photogenic position. These was my best effort in February.
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| Bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula) (male) - garden |
In January, it was a female Blackcap that dominated our sightings of that species. However, in February this switched to males giving us most sightings. On this day we had one of each and I managed a shot of a female Blackcap looking coy.
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| Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) (female) - garden |
It has been a long while since I posted a video clip from the garden cams, This is mainly due to nothing happening at night! However, if I omit to reset the timers for a while when the days are getting longer, I sometimes get some daylight action. It's a very common bird, but for me it's delightful to see a Robin bathing in what we refer to as 'the duckpond'.
It had been some months since a Sparrowhawk last set foot in our garden, although we'd seen one flash through from time to time. It was, therefore, pleasing to see a juvenile visit us on this day. Sparrowhawks, for me, are very welcome, provided they don't visit too frequently. However, Lindsay takes a different stance, insisting we should dicourage the Sparrowhawks as, by attracting good numbers of birds to our feeders we have a duty of care, and should protect them from predation. Sadly, the weather was very dull this day and the photo is not as crisp as I'd like it to have been.
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| Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus) (juvenile) - garden |
We had 21 species of bird visit us this day, with highlights being three Brambling (2 male) and an unphotographed Siskin. Regretably, I did not manage a shot of a female Brambling
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| Brambling (Fringilla montifringilla) (male) - garden |
The Sparrowhawk was making a nuisance of itself this day and bird numbers were well down, although we did have three Brambling show up. The light was rather better than on the previous occasion that I photographed it.
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| Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus) (juvenile) - garden |
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| Beautiful Plume (Amblyptilia acanthadactyla) - from house |
The previous day, I'd been to a location which, until just a few years ago, used to be a winter hotspot for Yellowhammer, Willow Tit and Reed Bunting, and I found myself reflecting that I'd not seen any of these three species here for a couple of years. I was, therefore, delighted when a Reed Bunting very briefly showed up in our garden for the first time in a long while. Unfortunately, I only managed a record shot.
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| Reed Bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus) (male) - garden |
The morning overrunning of the garden cams caused me to catch Magpies at the 'duck pond'.
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| Oak Beauty (Biston strataria) (male) - garden moth trap |
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| Pale Brindled Beauty (Phigalia pilosaria) (male) - garden moth trap |
OK, so not a highlight, but I thought that this post could do with a bit of colour, so here's a Goldfinch from that day!
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| Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) - garden |
This was another good day for garden bird sightings. The real highlight was our second Redpoll of the winter. I did manage some record shots.
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| Lesser Redpoll (Acanthis cabaret) - garden |
It was a sunny day, and we had our first butterfly of the year to settle in the garden - we had seen a few pass through before this, however.
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| Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) - garden |
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| Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) + Common Drone Fly (Eristalis tenax) - garden |
On the last day of the month, I found another moth in our kitchen. It was a Dotted Border - I wonder how it got its name!
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| Dotted Border (Agriopis marginaria) - from house |
This brings me to the end of this blog post. I've got a very busy time ahead, and so it will probably be a while before my next post, and I may be a little tardy in replying to your comments por visitng your blogs. In the meantime, thank you for dropping by. Please take good care of yourselves and Nature. Best wishes - - - Richard
Hi Richard
ReplyDeleteFantastic Birds, Butterflies and the Moths. I love the Sparrowhawk and Bramblings. Beautiful.
Thank you, Bob. I'm delighted that you liked these visitors to our garden. I hope that you have a garden that is keeping you entertained during you convalescence. Stay safe - - - Richard
DeleteHi Richard! Awesome photos!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Anne. Stay safe in these worrying times - - - Richard
DeleteIt is commonly said here, Richard, and I would imagine where you are too, that if you feed songbirds you are ultimately feeding raptors. Just as your Sparrowhawk has come to associate gardens with an abundance of prey, so Sharp-shinned Hawks and Cooper's Hawks here have reached the same conclusions. I suppose the birds in less than peak condition fall victim most quickly. I also read an interesting article recently where the author postulates that feeding birds is actually counter-productive, since we simply prolong the life of the genetically inferior component of the population. There is probably some kind of equilibrium in all of this, but I suspect that most people feed birds for the sheer enjoyment of doing so with little thought for population dynamics. Best wishes to you and Lindsay.
ReplyDeleteYou raise some excellent points here, David. There is one point, however, that I would question and that is the idea of prolonging the life of the genetically inferior. Maybe we are assisting the increase of birds with a superior intelligence who recognise where there is an abundance of wholesome food. While we can, we will continue to feed the birds until the science tells us that it is wrong to do so.
DeleteMy very best wishes to you and Miriam - - - Richard
A wonderful set of photos and I am so glad that I have finally seen a Brambling in real life! The evil eye of the sparrowhawk thankfully I have not seen for a few months as much as I love the birds of prey.
ReplyDeleteIt is a delight to see the insects returning, but for us, it also means I will not see many of the birds in the garden, they find their own food and forget about me :-) The warmer temperatures though for me are a blessing, I will never get used to the cold!!!!
I hope all is well and I wish you and the family all the very best, cheers Diane
I'm delighted to hear that you found a Brambling, Diane. Sparrowhawks will always stir mixed emotions but will never fail to excite me!
DeleteI always look forward to warmer weather. Yes, we do tend to get less birds in the garden, but there are plenty of other creatures to more than compensate for this.
We're doing OK here, thank you, although Lindsay is having great mobility problems with a knee that is currently under medical investigation. I hope that all is well with you both.
Take good care - - - Richard
Uh-oh. Butterflies and moths! If I didn't know better, I'd say Spring is preparing to pounce!
ReplyDeleteThe entire post is simply wonderful, Richard!
The color of the Bullfinch reminds us of some of our red clay roads in remote forest locations. I know it can be a real nuisance, but the opportunity to observe and photograph a Sparrowhawk is certainly unique. At least, it would be for me.
Thank you so much for sharing your sightings!
Gini and I are busy balancing family obligations with exploring. Our local habitats are turning green, flowers are blooming and the number of dragons increases each day.
All our best to you and Lindsay.
I think that Spring had a false start, Wally. Today it's been 6°c, feels like 2°c, with a wind speed of between 28 and 34 mph.
DeleteI noted your red clay roads in a recent blog post from you. However car washing, rather than Bullfinches, came to mind!
Sparrowhawk never fails to get my heart racing when one shows up in the garden. My first reaction is to grab for the camera. Lindsay's is to bang on the window!
I hope that 'family obligations' is not too indicative of problems, and that you explorations are not impacted excessively. I am jealous that the advent of Spring brings you MORE dragons, whereas for us it means that THE FIRST dragons are on the horizon.
Very best wishes to you and Gini - - - Richard þ
Hello Richard
ReplyDeletethe sparrow hawk looks really great, when do you see such a beautiful bird so close. very nice
Greetings Mrs ...
I'm so sorry for this very late reply, Frank. I have just returned from a week in the Isles of Scilly and seen that although I thought I'd replied to your comment, I had not.
DeleteOut in the countryside it is alsmost impossible to get close to a Sparrowhawk, but from inside a hide or from the house when one is in the garden it sometimes works!
Best wishes - - - Richard
Hi Richard,
ReplyDeleteThis blog is full of beautiful birds. I hope that I will get to that again and I have already seen the white wagtail here and of course many tits and sparrows. Not photographed yet, but it will come.
You have also posted some very nice videos. How beautiful nature is with its flora and fauna!
Kind regards,
Helma
Thank you, Helma. Nature has helped to keep our spirits alive during the difficult times of the past two years or more, and the situation does not seem to be getting any better, with Putin seemingly intent on destroying the world, just as we are learning to live with Covid.
DeleteTake great care and stay safe - - - Richard