Soggy Situations - 15th to 21st February, 2024

It has not just been Lindsay's lack of mobility that has limited my time out in the last few weeks, but an unprecedented amount of rainfall has been a major factor too. This has rendered most of the local wildlife spots to be unpleasantly muddy and waterlogged and, in some cases, impassable. Once again, therefore, this blog post will be mainly concerned with observations from the windows of my study (which now doubles as Lindsay's bedroom, where she has an adjustable hospital bed) and our conservatory.

Thursday, 15th February          Garden

In the afternoon, I collected Lindsay from hospital, two days after her knee replacement. In the morning, however, I did note a good number of birds in the garden, including two female Siskins - we'd previously only seen one visiting this winter, although we'd seen singles of both male and female.

Siskin (Spinus spinus) (female x 2) + House Sparrow & Greenfinch - our garden

The female Blackcap was still visiting occasionally, and she showed up on this day. 

Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) (female) - our garden

Friday, 16th  February          Garden

The only bird I photographed this day was a Great Tit. Great Tit is a very common bird, but an irregular visitor to the garden. Of late, however, I am frequently hearing its distinctive calls.

Great Tit (Parus major) - our garden

Saturday, 17th February          Garden

The male Brambling returned on this day. It continues to avoid posing nicely for me.

Brambling (Fringilla montifringilla) (male) - our garden

Sunday, 18th February          Garden

It's a poor shot, I know, but I include it as it does show the exquisite markings on the back of a male Brambling.

Brambling (Fringilla montifringilla) (male) - our garden

I have recently become conscious of the fact that I tend to overlook the most common birds that visit our garden when it comes to photography. With this in mind, I took some shots of the very common Chaffinch. They are rather beautiful birds.

Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs) (female) - our garden

Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs) (male) - our garden

Monday, 19th February          Garden  :  Kelham Bridge Nature Reserve

On this day, in the morning, we were visited by both male and female Siskin, and I managed to get a record shot of the male up in the Rowan, outside my study window.

Siskin (Spinus spinus) (male) - our garden

That afternoon, Lindsay stated that she was feeling very confident about her situation, and encouraged me to go out. I settled on a short visit to Kelham Bridge Nature Reserve as I hadn't been there for a while. I expected it to be very muddy, and so took my wellington boots. However, it was far more muddy than I anticipated. The paths were treacherous and I could see where people had skidded on the mud. In places the water on the path was quite deep and in othe places I found that the mud was deep and strong enough that, on a few occasions, I nearly lost a wellie.

I spent some time at the first hide which was devoid of people and nothing interesting was observed in the twenty minutes that I was there. The only thing I photographed was a squirrel.

Grey Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) - Kelham Bridge NR

I then made my way, gingerly, to the second hide which was busy with people and no window seats available. However, I didn't have to wait long. There was little to see on this occasion, but it was good to chat with people. Initially, I just had distant views of Coot and Little Grebe.

Coot (Fulica atra) - Kelham Bridge NR

Eventually, one of the Little Grebes came very much closer. I do have a soft spot for this species.

Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis) - Kelham Bridge NR

A Coot also came a little closer.

Coot (Fulica atra) - Kelham Bridge NR

Shortly before I left, a Kingfisher flashed through. I reckon that it was in view for less than two seconds. The consensus was that it had probably gone to the pool where the first hide is, but there was a less muddy route to the entrance gate available, and none of us wished to check out that possibility. It was time for me to get back to Lindsay and cook tea, so I took the less muddy route which turned out to be much quicker and safer.

Tuesday, 20th February          Garden

I was greatly excited this day as, for the first time in many years, we had two Brambling visit the garden, as can be seen in the image below, with them high up in our nut tree.

Brambling (Fringilla montifringilla) - our garden

Sadly, one soon departed and only one came down to feed. I did not get to see whether the one on the right was male or female. The male that came to feed was a little more obliging.

Brambling (Fringilla montifringilla) (male) - our garden

I usually find it impossible to determine the sex of a Stock Dove but, for the first time ever, on this occasion I saw the puffing up of the neck on this bird, which surely suggests that this was a displaying male.

Stock Dove (Columba oenas) (male?) - our garden

Wednesday, 21st February          Garden

It's always good to see a Bullfinch and even better to see a Brambling, but to get two together is a real treat - even if they were on a feeder.

Bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula) (male) + Brambling (Fringilla montifringilla) (male) - our garden

- - and I'll end with a Bullfinch.

Bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula) (male) - our garden

With luck, my next blog post will be in about a week's time but, at the current rate of progress, it might be a bit thin on material! In the meantime, please take good care of yourselves and Nature. Thank you for dropping by - - - Richard