BTO Garden Birdwatch 23-29 December 2007

1. Goldfinch (4)
2. Blackbird (15)
3. Chaffinch (12)
4. Starling (5)
5. House Sparrow (2)
6. Robin (3)
7. Black-headed Gull (9)
8. Greenfinch (4)
9. Woodpigeon (5)
10. Song Thrush (1)
11. Nuthatch (1)
12. Dunnock (1)
13. Carrion Crow (2)
14. Blue Tit (3)
15. Sparrowhawk (1)
16. Wren (1)

The garden was rather quiet on Christmas day - which was a shame, because watching the birds is infinitely more interesting than watching a Scalextric...

So, just a few shots from Christmas day...

Black-headed Gull on the frosty lawn in the morning

And a Blackbird on the birdbath in the afternoon






I want more -8°C temperatures!

BTO Garden BirdWatch 16-22 December 2007

Big list this week thanks to the very cold weather...

1. Blackbird (14)
2. Chaffinch (32)
3. Greenfinch (7)
4. Goldfinch (6)
5. Robin (3)
6. House Sparrow (4)
7. Starling (26)
8. Carrion Crow (2)
9. Feral Pigeon (2)
10. Blue Tit (3)
11. Nuthatch (1)
12. Woodpigeon (4)
13. Wren (1)
14. Great Spotted Woodpecker (1)
15. Dunnock (1)
16. Pied Wagtail (1)
17. Song Thrush (1)
18. Yellowhammer (1)
19. Jackdaw (1)
20. Black-headed Gull (9)
21. Great Tit (1)
22. Collared Dove (1)
23. Sparrowhawk (1)
24. Fieldfare (1)
25. Siskin (1)

(taken yesterday)

Song Thrush



Robin




Blue Tit

A Blackbird catching the splashes from the birdbath

Frosty!

Took some photos on the way to Kielder today... Looks like snow, but it's not!

A Frozen River Tweed

Kelso

More of the Tweed

And, As If By Magic... A Fieldfare!

Ta-daaa!

Less that ten minutes after my last post a Fieldfare landed on the lawn. I'd just about given up with the camera as the light was getting too poor.

Not only was the Fieldfare a garden year tick - it was also a new garden tick. The first one I've seen in the garden!

Shortest Day

-8°C at 8am. A neighbour claimed -10°C at 6.45am.

Another busy day with fourteen Blackbirds all feeding at the same time, beating yesterday's record by three! Now all I need is a Fieldfare, Redwing and Mistle Thrush to follow them in!

Blue Tit







The Black-headed Gulls arrived early, but as usual didn't stay long. Eleven of them today.


Robin



House Sparrow in warm water

Starlings

Pied Wagtail

The temperature was -5°C at 8am and stayed at around -3°C for most of the day.

We've had a record 11 Blackbirds in the garden today. It took me ages to count them as they darted in and out of the shrub borders, but eventually all eleven were visible at the same time.

Robin




Chaffinch

Jackdaw

Carrion Crow

Black-headed Gull



There were 9 of them at one point

And we had a very brief visit from a male Yellowhammer

One-eyed Jack is still with us
Goldfinch
House Sparrow

Feral Pigeon

Robin

Robin Redbreast

We currently have three regular Robins in the garden - two of which are constantly chasing each other away but one of them seems more tolerant/tolerated so maybe two of them are a pair. They've not been coming to the garden for very long so I'm not yet able to tell them apart.

Didn't check the thermometer this morning, but there was a hard frost. The bird bath is now almost constantly frozen solid. We remove the ice, clean and then refill the bath but it starts to freeze again before we've even gone back inside. We've put plant pot saucers of fresh clean water on the lawn instead - they're much easier to empty (in the warm kitchen under a warm tap!).

-7°C

-7°C at 8am this morning - tropical!

Nuthatch


Willy Wagtail



Blue Tit




And a couple of late arrivals - appearing not long before dark...

Song Thrush

And a Great Spotted Woodpecker. This is the first time I've seen one on this feeder - it's a step closer than it's usual spot.
One step further and it'll be at the kitchen window feeder.

BTO Garden Birdwatch 9 - 15 December 2007

1. Greenfinch (4)
2. Woodpigeon (4)
3. Blackbird (2)
4. Chaffinch (8)
5. House Sparrow (2)
6. Goldfinch (2)
7. Robin (1)
8. Blue Tit (3)
9. Nuthatch (1)
10. Feral Pigeon (2)
11. Dunnock (1)
12. Pied Wagtail (1)
13. Collared Dove (1)
14. Coal Tit (1)
15. Wren (1)
16. Song Thrush (1)
17. Carrion Crow (1)
18. Starling (4)

Blue Tit feeding on a fat-filled coconut.


Robin feeding on the coconut left on the table


Starling

A Chilly Saturday

A rather chilly -3°C here this morning with a hard frost, but we did start off with some sunshine, and I managed to get a few pics before going shopping...

Our Nuthatch - he's currently visiting us several times a day. He always flies off with his sunflower hearts to eat them elsewhere...

Starling

Pied Wagtail - they love grated cheese but the Starlings usually get there first...

Blue Tit. Still no birds using the nest box overnight. There was another visit this week but he or she again went no further than the entrance.



Blackbird

More from the Sparrowhawk

The Sparrowhawk tried (unsuccessfully) three times today. As he's always so quick, I only managed to get him once. Unfortunately, I missed him on top of the bird table which is right in front of the kitchen window...

BTO Garden BirdWatch 2 - 8 December 2007

Greenfinch (6)
Goldfinch (7)
Chaffinch (9)
Woodpigeon (3)
Blackbird (2)
Blue Tit (2)
Pied Wagtail (1)
House Sparrow (5)
Coal Tit (1)
Sparrowhawk (1)
Robin (1)
Dunnock (1)


The figure in brackets shows the highest number of that species seen at any one time this week.

For more information on the BTO's Garden BirdWatch survey click here

We had a bright morning today - the first one in over a week...

As is quite normal, a Blackbird was busy in the garden before the sun was up. I scatter a pint of sunflower hearts around the shrub borders each evening and throw out some apples when I have them. The Blackbirds always arrive first, closely followed by a Robin.

The Siskins have been AWOL since mid-September. Hoping for a return visit soon.

Male Chaffinch

Pied Wagtail



And this little chap, a Blue Tit...

Wonder what happened to him...

Even using my binoculars I couldn't make out his left eye.

BTO Garden BirdWatch 25 Nov - 1 Dec 2007

The garden is still very quiet at the moment with most of the activity coming first thing in the morning, with very little then happening until just before dusk. This makes it a) a bit boring to watch, and b) not very good for taking photos!

We've had a few visits to the bird box from Blue Tits, but they're going no further than the entrance at the moment.

As there's nothing to tell, I thought I'd start blogging the BTO Garden Birdwatch lists again, or I might lose the will to blog!

The figure in brackets shows the highest number of that species recorded in the garden at any one time this week:

1. Starling (2)
2. Chaffinch (9)
3. Greenfinch (4)
4. Robin (1)
5. Woodpigeon (4)
6. Blue Tit (1)
7. Goldfinch (8)
8. Pied Wagtail (1)
9. Wren (1)
10. House Sparrow (6)
11. Nuthatch (1)
12. Blackbird (1)
13. Dunnock (1)