Blue Tits and Redshanks

Another dull, completely overcast day in the Borders. Will we ever see the sun again?!

During a quiet interval in the garden, a Blue Tit came to feed near the kitchen window:

But it didn't take long for a Chaffinch to arrive:

The first time I have seen a Coal Tit feed at the fat filled coconut:

Passing through Berwick this afternoon we made a quick, unplanned stop at the harbour after a Curlew caught my eye as we drove by.

Curlew (centre) and Oystercatcher

Redshank

Black-headed Gull - Summer plumage well on the way

Also saw a couple of Turnstones, a Grey Wagtail and a Meadow Pipit on the rocks at the water's edge.

bordersbirds.co.uk - New Web Address

If you would like to, you can now view Borders' Birds at http://www.bordersbirds.co.uk/. Click here to go straight there (if you aren't already) and update any bookmarks as necessary. It's exactly the same as before - just a new address! I will create a simple favicon for the address bar shortly.

BTO/CJ Garden BirdWatch Survey 19-25 Feb 06

The constant rainfall on Thursday brought a record flock of 65 Chaffinch to the garden, the absentees from last week returned and there was a very fast blur in the garden on Friday as a Sparrowhawk tried, but failed, to predate a finch. I posted on Tuesday to say we'd beaten our average of three Goldfinch by one - but on Saturday morning we beat it by three!

We have recorded 21 species in the garden this week; the previous record was 20.

Complete list for this week:

1. Greenfinch (28)
2. Goldfinch (6)
3. Chaffinch (65)
4. Blue Tit (4)
5. Robin (1)
6. Coal Tit (1)
7. Great Tit (1)
8. House Sparrow (2)
9. Woodpigeon (3)
10. Pied Wagtail (1)
11. Wren (1)
12. Siskin (2)
13. Brambling (1)
14. Carrion Crow (3)
15. Black-headed Gull (7)
16. Jackdaw (3)
17. Blackbird (4)
18. Starling (20)
19. Dunnock (1)
20. Pheasant (1)
21. Sparrowhawk (1)

More from the Siskins

Much less rain today ... but more wind and still very dull. Spring is definitely on the way though. The garden is coming slowly back to life, the dawn chorus is starting; although it's not yet the cacophony it soon will be. The summer plumages are starting to appear on some species; male Chaffinch are starting to look brighter and male House Sparrows are beginning to get their large black bibs.

Less rain meant fewer birds in the garden but the Siskins did return many times throughout the day:

Female Siskin Feeding Near Kitchen Window

A male Siskin can be seen feeding at the same place in this post here

Five Species in One Photograph!

Right at the bottom of the garden, three Blue Tits, a Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch and Siskin all feed together:

A not so soggy Goldfinch (taken yesterday):

Soggy Birds

A day of persistent rain usually results in a garden full of activity and today was no exception! The rain brought the birds in from the nearby wood - at one point we had 65 Chaffinch alone. There was a great mixture of species throughout the day; Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Coal Tit, House Sparrow, Starling, Blackbird, Siskin, Brambling, Black-headed Gull, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, and Robin all put in an appearance today. Twelve species were recorded as being in the garden at the same time (that was everything other than the gull and the corvids).

The following photographs were taken through the kitchen window:

Soggy but still beautiful - Goldfinch




Soggy Starling

Soggy Blue Tit

Very soggy and sorry looking Greenfinch

And the soggiest of them all - Siskin.

Goldfinch Images

We are visited daily by an average of three Goldfinch. The highest number we have ever recorded in the garden was a small flock of twelve in January 2006. Today we beat the average by one! Four Goldfinch all feeding near the kitchen window! A few shots:

BTO/CJ Garden BirdWatch Survey 12-18 Feb 06

Fifteen species were seen in the garden this week - the lowest number recorded since the end of October last year. Notable absences were Dunnock, Black-headed Gull, Jackdaw and Carrion Crow.

For the first time since last August, I have not recorded a Woodpigeon visiting the garden.

To find out more about the BTO/CJs Garden BirdWatch click here.

This is the complete list for the week (the figure in brackets shows the highest number of that species seen in the garden at any one time):

Greenfinch (21)
Chaffinch (40)
Robin (1)
Goldfinch (3)
Starling (3)
Blackbird (1)
Wren (1)
House Sparrow (2)
Siskin (1)
Brambling (1)
Pied Wagtail (1)
Blue Tit (1)
Great Tit (1)
Coal Tit (1)
Pheasant (1)

Last week's count can be seen here

Due to the fact that we are still getting large flocks of Chaffinch and Greenfinch I decided to place the other feeders back in the garden today. Reducing the amount food hasn't reduced the flock sizes so I believe it to be more hygenic to spread the birds out again; this provides them with the usual three feeding stations rather than just one. I will continue to disinfect under the feeders until spring.

The most recent sick bird was seen on 11th February (male Greenfinch).

Feeling Inspired

Feeling inspired by Dean Stables' photos over at Mostlymacro, I decided to try out Bird Man's macro lens. Not many flowers around to practice on at the moment, but here's a few from the garden:




I'll keep practicing now that the garden is just beginning to come back to life and then I'll be ready for a butterfly! They stay still longer than a bird does, right?!!

Wren

A tiny Wren lands on our make-shift path

This Wren has spent a lot of time in the garden today - especially in and around the log pile. Maybe it's a male looking for suitable nesting sites?

Local Patch

Watched a courting pair of Long-tailed Tits fly acrobatic figure-of-eight maneuvers in and out of ivy-covered trees; a sign that spring is almost upon us!

A pair of Marsh Tits were singing whilst flitting from shrub to shrub.

A male Siskin was preening high in a tree following a quick dip in a small stream.

A Tawny Owl hooting again (in the afternoon!) from the small wood.

No sign of the drumming Great Spotted Woodpecker this morning.

Friendly Robins

Took these today along the lane at my local patch. If only all birds were as accommodating as the Robin!

Highland Cattle

Highland Cattle having a paddle in the Leet Water at the Hirsel Country Park:

Speak No Evil!

Couldn't resist this one! A male Chaffinch uses my orangutan as a lookout post!

Brambling Returns!

Following a week's absence, our solitary Brambling returned today - a miserable, wet and overcast Tuesday.

BTO/CJ Garden BirdWatch Survey 5-11 Feb

My complete list for the BTO Garden Birdwatch survey this week:

Robin (2 - maximum number seen at any one time this week)
Chaffinch (22)
Greenfinch (22)
Sparrowhawk (1)
Siskin (2)
Goldfinch (2)
Blackbird (2)
Blue Tit (2)
House Sparrow (2)
Black-headed Gull (3)
Coal Tit (1)
Pheasant (1)
Woodpigeon (1)
Starling (35)
Carrion Crow (2)
Wren (1)
Dunnock (1)
Jackdaw (2)
Pied Wagtail (2)
Great Tit (1)

Our solitary Brambling, who usually feeds among the chaffinch, was absent for the first time in three weeks.

...And Then His Head Fell Off...

So here's Pheasant No. 3, Not Not Phillip, just minding his own business ...
... when all of a sudden his head fell off!

Male Siskin Feeding Near Kitchen Window

Here's one I've been waiting for! This morning a male Siskin came to feed on the peanuts in front of the kitchen window.

Once the subarctic weather conditions are over I'll actually open the window to take some photographs!









A male and female Siskin both visited the window feeder last month.

Wot No Food?!

A male Greenfinch and a female Chaffinch - Wondering where their food has gone since I removed most of the hanging feeders:

Soon after I took the photo of the female Chaffinch, she flew onto the window ledge and looked through the kitchen window. Definitely trying to make me feel guilty.


(It worked!)

No Fighting, Please!

Greenfinches fighting (not kissing!) over the sunflower hearts!

We had another sick Greenfinch in the garden today - the first one I've seen since February 1st. The first case of Salmonella was January 30th. Feeders have been reduced from eleven to two for the time being.

Some Images from Today

These photos were taken from the kitchen window.

Chaffinch (adult male)

Goldfinch
Blue Tit

Also in the garden today: Siskin, Pheasant, Coal Tit, Greenfinch, Carrion Crow, Black-headed Gull, Blackbird, Woodpigeon, House Sparrow, Starling and a Sparrowhawk.

We have had no sick birds in the garden since February 1st

Male Bullfinch

We decided to have a walk along the lane this afternoon after we were finished in the garden. Trying to do a bit of birding is no easy task when you are accompanied by a very talkative three-year-old!

Bird Man managed a few shots of a handsome male Bullfinch so I thought I'd put a couple of the pics on my blog to go with the female Bullfinch I added a few days ago


Saw all the usual suspects along the lane: Treecreeper, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Blue Tit, Coal Tit, Great Tit, Goldcrest, Wren, Blackbird and Robin with the added bonus of the very cute Long-tailed Tit - the first time I've seen them down there. We also heard the familiar sound of the Great Spotted Woodpecker drumming and, most unusually, we also heard a couple of Tawny Owls hooting and calling at two o'clock in the afternoon! They only called a few times and we didn't manage to locate them.

Blue Tit on Window Feeder

A few more images of a Blue Tit on the window feeder. I would love to take credit for these shots as I really like them, however, they were actually taken by Bird Man! The nice colours in the background come courtesy of next door's shed!

My GardenKlens order arrived from CJs today so I have treated the ground underneath all of the feeding areas. I also dug (and weeded whilst at it!) all the borders which get compacted by all the little feet.

I have prepared the ground under the three lawn feeders ready for tomorrow when we will hammer in some fixed log border edging, which we will then fill with bark chippings. I am hoping this will prove to be a more hygienic place for the birds to ground feed as it's not really possible to scrub grass clean! I will regularly turn the chippings over and give them a good blast with the hosepipe and I'll continue to use GardenKlens once a week until the spring arrives when a majority of our birds leave us until the autumn.

P.S The Goldcrest paid us a second visit today. He landed in one of the buddleias and again examined the honeysuckle.

Some Images from Today

There was a massive reduction in the number of birds visiting the garden today following the removal of most of the feeders and the relocation of the remaining ones. Today, all I put out was one sunflower heart feeder and one mesh peanut feeder. We still had Greenfinch, Goldfinch and Chaffinch but in much smaller numbers. A couple of Blackbirds also visited - and took the halved pears I put out for them. Also: a Robin and, the star of the show, a Goldcrest (see below). We placed the sunflower heart feeder closer to the kitchen window, so I took the opportunity to take some photos - but the weather was very dull.

Robin

Goldfinch

Greenfinch (male)

Greenfinch (female)

Chaffinch (female)

A New Garden Tick - Goldcrest!

We have been visited for the first time today by a Goldcrest. He or she stayed around the edges of the garden for a couple of minutes, examining the corkscrew hazel and the honeysuckle, before flying back in to the wood. Fingers are crossed for a return visit!

Goldcrest is the 29th species recorded. Not bad for an eight-month-old garden!

More Sick Birds

Spotted two more sick birds in the garden today - a female Sparrow and a male Greenfinch. All three feeders have been brought in, emptied and scrubbed. I haven't put them back out yet - still undecided on what to do for the best. I am pretty sure that a majority of our birds are relying on us for food at the moment, though there are other people in the street feeding the birds, too.

See this post - Salmonella


We're going to get some bark chippings at the weekend (to place under the hanging feeders on the lawn) which I will be able to turn over regularly and disinfect every week. Hopefully it will be a quick fix, if nothing else. I really don't want to have to stop feeding the birds during the coldest part of the year when they need the extra food just to get through the cold nights.

Salmonella is passed from bird to bird through droppings (seed/food becomes infected when it falls to the floor at a feeding station) and Trichomoniasis (canker) is passed through saliva (If an infected bird picks up a seed and then discards it due to the inability to swallow, the infection can then be passed on to the next bird which picks that seed up). Symptoms seen suggest it is more likely Salmonella.

GardenKlens didn't arrive today so I've not been able to disinfect the garden.

Congratulations, Phillip!

February 1st! The shooting season for Pheasant is officially over! Phillip lives to see the breeding season!