More February Observations - 8th to 14th February, 2024

I have made the decision that, even though my free time is currently limited, I will try to make the effort to continue to output a blog post on an approximately weekly basis. With my ability to get out into the wild severely limited, my observations have, primarily, been of birds in our garden, and it is likely to continue that way for a few weeks. Here's an account of some of my sightings.

Thursday, 8th February          Garden

The weather this day was absolutely foul, with heavy rain all day, which caused local flooding. The rain on the windows of the conservatory made it difficult to identify anything but the most obviously plumaged birds. One such bird that visited was a Pied Wagtail. I tried the technique of placing the lens hard up against the glass of the window as I have found, in the past, that this can sometimes 'see through' the rain. To some extent, this technique worked, as shown below.

Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba yarrellii) (female) - our garden

Saturday, 10th February          Garden

This was the best day of the year so far, with 20 species of bird visiting the garden. There was, however, one disappointment and that was when Lindsay alerted me to a bird that she said was behaving like a Chaffinch, but looked wrong. I took a look and spotted a fine male Brambling. However, I had already put my camera in the conservatory, ready for the breakfast session and it disappeared before I could get to the camera. This resulted in rather a lot of time spent gazing out of the window, camera at ready, in the hope of its return. 

All I photographed that day was a male Bullfinch.

Bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula) (male) - our garden

Sunday, 11th February          Garden

To my absolute delight, the Brambling visited again this day, and I managed a few photos, albeit at a distance as it was approximately 15 metres away from my position in my study. These images are very heavily cropped from the original.

Brambling (Fringilla montifringilla) (male) - our garden

We finished the week with, what for us was, a remarkable tally of twenty six species of bird landing in our garden during the seven days.

 

Monday, 12th February          Garden

 

I photographed a few birds this day. Coal Tit used to be a regular visitor to our garden some years ago, but nowadays we probably only average one or two sightings in a month. This one was photographed in poor light high in a tree at the far side of the garden, but at least it is a record of its visit.

 

Coal Tit (Periparus ater) - our garden

The female Blackcap is continuing to make the occasional visit. I wish she would find a mate to bring to the party.

Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) (female) - our garden

Chaffinches are daily visitors to the garden, and I really should pay more attention to them with the camera. These birds often come to a part of the garden which is quite close to my study window. However, it seems to be the females that I manage to photograph. I really must try harder to get some images of the more colourful males.

Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs) (female) - our garden

Wednesday, 14th February          near Plumtree, Nottinghamshire  :  Garden

 

I have been backwards and forwards to a hospital near Nottingham over the past couple of weeks, in connection with Lindsay's knee replacement. On one of those journeys, I remarked to Lindsay that a group of run-down barns, close to the road in a very rurl location, looked as if they might be a place that hosted an owl. On Tuesday 13th she had her knee operation, and on the Wednesday morning I went to visit her in hospital, but decided to spend ten minutes by the barns to see if any owls might be around. I didn't spot any owls but there did seem to be a few feral pigeons.

Unlike some areas of the UK, I very rarely see a feral pigeon in our area, even in our local town. Feral pigeons are decended from Rock Dove stock which have been domesticated. This, I believe, was the first species of bird ever to domesticated - apparently over 5,000 years ago! Over the years, escapees have become naturalised and are now a regular feature of cityscapes. They are interbreeding with wild doves, and there are many variations in plumage.

Given the above, I was quite surprised to find that the only birds sighted in the vicinity of the barns were feral pigeons. I took some shots of a male making amorous advances on a female.

Feral Pigeon (Columba livia domestica) (male + female)- near Plumtree, Nottinghamshire

I got home, after visiting Lindsay, to find a Bullfinch and Siskin feeding together.

Bullfinch ( (Pyrrhula pyrrhula) (male) + Siskin (Spinus spinus) (male) - our garden

This brings me to the end of this post. I am pleased to report that Lindsay is recovering nicely, although she is likely to remain totally dependent on me for support (cooking, cleaning, washing, etc.) for a week or two. She's got two return visits to the hospital, which is an hour's travel away from home, scheduled for this coming week.

 

Hopefully, I'll be back with another blog post in about a week's time. In the meantime, please take good care of yourselves and Nature. Thank you for dropping by - - - Richard

 

The First Two Weeks of January, 2024

Header image while this post is current - Yellow-browed Warbler - Oakthorpe

Well, my prediction in my last post that my output, and attendance at other blogs, might be a bit limited at the start of the year came true, and will probably stay that way for the next couple of months or so. The reasons are mainly concerned with Lindsay's condition, for which steps are now in hand to rectify, but also due to some issues with my own health which have been under investigation since mid October, with answers not expected to be forthcoming until late February. In the meantime, please bear with me if I am slow to visit your blogs, or to reply to your kind and much-appreciated comments on my blog.

For my own sanity, I am trying to get out with the camera on an approximately weekly basis, if only for a couple of hours. I am however very busy with extra household duties, but still finding time to occssionally look out of the window to observe and photograph birds and, maybe occasionally, other wildlife.

Here are a few of my observations. 

Monday, 1st January          Garden

The year started a bit slowly with bird observations in the garden, with just 13 species of bird seen putting a foot down in the garden. A female Pied Wagtail was amongst the visitors. Here she is, sitting on the garden bench - note the cob nut shell left by a squirrel.

Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba yarrellii) (female) - our garden

Tuesday, 2nd January          Garden

We were down to 12 species on this day, and I only photographed a common Blackbird. At one time, I could have been complacent about visits from this species as it used to be a daily visitor and one memorable day we counted 24 together (a pie's worth - as in 'sing a song of sixpence'). Nowadays, we can sometimes go for weeks without one

Blackbird (Turdus merula) (male) - our garden

Friday, 5th December           Garden  :  Oakthorpe

We had 7 Long-tailed Tits visit the garden on this day. We do not see these delightful birds very often in the garden, although they are quite common in the surrounding countryside. I only managed a poor shot of one of them at lunch time on this dull day.

Long-tailed Tit (Aegithalos caudatus) - our garden

Drawn by reports of a Yellow-browed Warbler at Oakthorpe, which is less than five minutes from our home, I decided to try and see it. I have only seen this species twice before - once in Northumberland, when I failed to get any photos, and once on the Isles of Scilly, when I got a distant record shot.

I arrived to find two people in attendance and was soon put onto the bird. It was not easy to photograph as it was constantly on the move in an area that was full of intervening branches. I did, nevertheless, get a few shots which I find acceptable. I'll probably never see this species again, so I'm including several shots

Yellow-browed Warbler (Phylloscopus inornatus) - Oakthorpe

While there, a small group of Long-tailed Tits came through. This is one that afforded me a better view than those in the garden that morning - I wonder if they were the same birds?!

Long-tailed Tit (Aegithalos caudatus) - Oakthorpe

Saturday, 6th January          Garden

At one time, in 2023, Jackdaw was almost a daily visitor to the garden, but in recent months it has been a a bit of a rarity. This day, one stopped off in our Sambucus which, sadly, seems to have died over the past year. This will be a significant loss at it is a main stop-off point for birds visiting our garden.

Jackdaw (Corvus monedula) - our garden

We also had another visitor that had been noticable by its absence. Starlings can congregate in large numbers and be most disruptive in the garden to the extent that we tend to be greatly relieved when they disperse. We were starting to believe that we should be more careful as to what we wish for as we were now missing them. This one was also in the top of the Sambucus.

Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) - our garden

Sunday, 7th January          Garden

I end the week with the female Pied Wagtail, that continued to visit regularly.

Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba yarrellii) (female) - our garden

We ended the week with a healthy tally of 20 different species of bird having been seen visiting our garden during the week.

Monday, 8th January          Garden

I had only just finished bemoaning to Lindsay the fact that we'd not seen a winter thrush (Redwing. Fieldfare, Mistle Thrush) visit the garden this winter, when I noticed a bird up in the top of our nut tree - which turned out to be a Redwing! I only managed a record shot before it departed without stopping for a snack

Redwing (Turdus iliacus) - our garden

I had previously noticed a Grey Squirrel in the garden that had unusual white patches behind the ears. It was with us again on this day.

Grey Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) - our garden

Tuesday, 9th January          Garden

The Pied Wagtails were still visiting regularly, and this time I got some shots of the male.

Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba yarrellii) (male) - our garden

I was also quite pleased to get this shot of a Blackbird with the light allowing some feather detail.

Blackbird (Turdus merula) (male) - our garden

Wednesday, 10th January          Oakthorpe

The news came through on the county Rare Bird Alert WhatsApp Group that there were now two Yellow-browed Warblers at Oakthorpe, and that just a few hundred metres away, a Waxwing was feeding at a crab-apple tree. I was in need of a trip out, so went to investigate, taking the shortest driving route, but by far the longest walking route, to get there.

On my way there, along the course of a long-disused railway line, on the far side of one of the flashes to the west of the track was a tree with Black-headed Gulls roosting. While I was taking some shots of this, some of the gulls took to the air.

Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)  - near Oakthorpe

I never found the Waxwing, and I only had two very brief views (no photos) of one of the Yellow-browed Warblers at the original site. I did, however, get my first photos of this winter of Fieldfare, although the light and locations were not good. These two shots at one location were the best that I could manage.

Fieldfare (Turdus pilaris) - Oakthorpe

At the Yellow-browed Warbler location, I only managed shots of a Robin that seemed very interested in what I was doing, keeping close to me for much of the time. Perhaps it thought that I was going to offer some tasty titbits.

Robin (Erithacus rubecula) - Oakthorpe

Thursday, 11th January          Garden

This was a joyful day as we had our first Siskin of the winter. This was a female - although the male Siskin is very brightly coloured, I favour the subtle beauty of the female. Here she is, in the company of a somewhat less subtly plumed male Bullfinch.

Siskin (Spinus spinus) (female) + Bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula) (male) - our garden

The Stock Doves, which used to visit us several times a day, have also become somewhat sparse with their visits. This one was observed from my study window.

Stock Dove (Columba oenas) - our garden

Friday, 12th January          Garden

Although Lindsay reckons that the Wrens live behind the brick wall at the end of our garden, I'm not convinced. We don't often see Wren, but when we do, it tends to be omnipresent for a few hours. This is one of several shots I took this day.

Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) - our garden

Saturday, 13th January          Peggs Green  :  Garden

I'd been hoping for reports of a Waxwing sighting closer to home than those that were currently being reported in the county. I then saw that four Waxwings were at a location that is just 10 minutes from our home, so off I went on a bright sunny morning. 

The birds were all present when I arrived. In spite of the fine weather, there were limited positions to view them from, all of which were less than ideal for the direction of the sun, and the birds were either up in a tree almost above the viewing locations, but largely behind intervenig branches, or down in a 'Pink Pagoda' Sorbus that was against the house, the drive to which we were at the entrance of, about 15 metres away. I did manage some photos before, after about 40 minutes, something spooked them and the birds departed.

The first image, below, is a poor one, but I find it interesting because it shows the markings on an outstretched wing.

Waxwing (Bombycilla garrulus) - Peggs Green

In December, 2010, we had Waxwings on our short cul-de-sac, just 60 metres from our home. These were feeding on Sorbus 'Pink Pagoda'. I was so taken by this sight that I was determined to source this tree to plant in our own front garden. I eventually found one. It has been very slow-growing and has not fruited very proficiently - until this year. This year it has been so laden with fruit to the extent that we feared it would break. Fortunately, it has not done so, but it seems that it is still too small to attract the birds.

Anyway - back to this day! The female Siskin had become a regular visitor to the garden, and this day I managed some slightly better shots.

Siskin (Spinus spinus) (female) - our garden

A Coal Tit also put in an appearance.

Coal Tit (Periparus ater) - our garden

Sunday, 14th January          Garden

Wren was with us again this day. This time, it was rummaging around in the leaf litter outside my study window.

Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) - our garden

That brings me to the end of the second week in January, when the tally of birds observed setting foot in our garden came in at 21 species for the week. 

I suspect that my next blog post will not be much before about two weeks away as there's a lot going on in our lives at the moment, but time will tell. In the meantime, please take good care of yourselves and Nature. Thank you for dropping by - - - Richard

Calke Park with the New Camera - on 24th March, 2023

On 24th March I had a short session with the new camera at Calke Park. Being in the hide gave me a good variety of lighting conditions and background situations, plus an almost endless stream of birds, enabling me to get in some much-needed practice with the new equipment. I was delighted with the results, although some problems were discovered, and later resolved.

The owl sculpture just before the hide at Calke Explore, although a little on the naive side, is weathering nicely. I just managed to squeze it all in with the lens wound back to 100mm and turning the camera into portrait orientation - something that I don't think I've done for many years.

Owl Sculpture - Calke Explore

I was fortunate to find a space in the hide, and that someone had had the foresight to bring some suet pellets with them, as it seems that the feeders in front of the hide are not being replenished at the moment.

There were a few Reed Buntings in the area, both male and female, and these were not too difficult to photograph. The female, in the first image, was quite close to the hide, but the male in the second image was way behind.

Reed Bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus) (female) - Calke Park

Reed Bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus) (male) - Calke Park

There were also a few Nuthatches to keep me entertained, but they were not so easy to photograph as they habitually zoom in, grab food and then zoom away again.  One did, however, briefly stop quite close!

Nuthatch (Sitta europaea) - Calke Park

During the next five minutes, I took some more shots, two of which I offer below.

 

Coal Tit (Periparus ater) - Calk Park

Reed Bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus) (female) - Calke Park

It was then that a minor calamity struck. A Water Rail - always exciting to see - wandered into view and I started firing off shots, only to find that my camera suddenly stopped and refused to take any more shots. There was a message to say that the card was full. This puzzled me as the camera has two card slots and I thought that I had set it up so that it automatically switched to the second card. By the time I found a workaround, the Water Rail had gone. I had, however, managed a few shots before I hit the stops.

 

Water Rail (Rallus aquaticus) - Calke Park

I managed to sort out the problem when I got home again.

 

After this, I stayed a while longer, hoping for the Water Rail to return, but it didn't. Here are some more shots of some of the birds photographed during this session. With the objective of getting to know the camera better, I was trying for shots in a variety of situations, rather than a variety of birds, so the subject matter might seem a little repetitive.

Dunnock (Prunella modularis) - Calke Park

Reed Bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus) (male) - Calke Park

Nuthatch (Sitta europaea) - Calke Park

Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) - Calke Park

One small negative aspect of the new camera set-up came to light during this session, and it was one that I had not considered. My old Sigma 50-500 offered maximum appertures of f4.5 at 50mm and f6.3 at 500mm. The new 100-400 lens is f5.6 at 100mm and f8.0 at 400mm. This makes it a little more difficult to lose busy and confusing backgrounds behind the main subject.

 

I also have another minor problem, and that is that I had the camera set up to give a gentle 'beep' when focus was achieved. Since updating the firmware a few days ago, this 'beep' no longer happens. The camera beeps OK when I select it during the 'set up' process, but fails to carry it through to when the camera is in use. I am waiting for Canon to come back to me on this one.

 

Overall, however, I'm delighted to have made the switch.

 

 

I shall close now, and hope to be back with another post in, as usual, about a week's time.

 

In the meantime, please take good care of yourselves and Nature. Thank you for dropping by - - - Richard