Showing posts with label Bullfinch. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bullfinch. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 04, 2022

Happy New Year ....

According to the oracle that is Twitter, the majority of birders this year are going to be either local or green or both. Long term readers of this blog might remember I did my first on foot from home list (OFFH) back in 2010, 12 years ago. Since then I have decided that it is too easy to play the martyr and forsake all others to prove a point so now, my annual routine for several years has been a nice balance of both local birding with some variety too. Four basic patterns are followed.

My local patch recording is done within a 1km radius of home mostly but I consider a couple of kms either way north and south to be 'local' I tried the 5km radius last year and found it too much. It was starting to become a job again where I was not allowed out for good behaviour. So that's gone by the by this year. At least my home patch gets watched every single day of the year unless I am away on holiday.

I also have a second patch all of 3km south, at Boulmer. Again this is an area I have watched for even longer than my home patch with early visits in the 90s and with a more concentrated effort since 2005. I treat it like a fair weather friend that is visited weekly or if the weather dictates.

Then we have the rest. If the coast is busy or the weather is clear and birding quiet we cover several 'inland patches' for a whole range of biodiversity from Fungi to Spiders. This wider picture is described well here - Steve Gale's 'Uber Patch'...

Ive posted this image before, but here is the extended or 'Uber Patch'.

The final bit of the puzzle is a confession that yes I do like a county twitch and even a bit further too if it takes my fancy, which is, its fair to say, quite rare these days, but I never rule it out. A Pallas's Sandgrouse in Yorkshire would certainly fire up the Quattro...


2022 will be made up of a smorgasbord of these things, in that order.

To avoid the crowds the Uber called on Sunday morning and delivered too...

A good hike on the moors turned up some nice birds to start the year...

On arrival, several flocks of Redwings flushed out of roosts in battered flat conifer plantations first thing. The devastation in these upland woods from Storm Arwen is amazing. It might even have done some good to the dark monoculture, allowing light in to the areas and in future they will be clear felled.

Mistle Thrush was in full song as were a few male Crossbills with a dozen being seen. 3 Ravens included a displaying bird trying to fly upside down then snapping the tops off the remaining upstanding pines. 

Raven, trying to take greenery from the pine tops.

After trying unsuccessfully to navigate a normally open track through the the wood due to a Grand National type blockage of fallen trees making countless 'fences' we eventually made it out on to open moor. John came up with the double here. While standing trying to get our breath back he noticed this, small Scarlet Caterpillar Club fungi emerging from the grass. It doesn't look much but is quite sinister in its ecology as it is growing out of the body of a caterpillar or pupa it has infected, below the grass. The first I've seen.

Scarlet Caterpillar Club fungi.

 As I tried to get a shot in focus with my phone, above, John called again - Hen Harrier, grey male! Up onto my feet and I had missed it over the brow of a hill, but it soon drifted back over, giving us a distant view as it skirted up the rise to eventually vanish from sight. Its always a good morning when it involves a Hen Harrier. I did not release news of this bird, and forgive me, but will not be giving a location here either.

Distant and into the light etc, but it is a male Hen Harrier so who cares!


Onwards beyond the next plantation where more Crossbills are dotted about,   never seen well enough for a photo, but a juv male Peregrine came very close, if only I was quick enough to get the camera off my shoulder. A nice dark streaked, black hooded bird with an over all brown colouring, it was seen twice on our walk. Kestrel and Buzzard were also seen.

Down on another newly cleared area a flock of 13 Lesser Redpolls fed on heather seeds between the stumps as did these three nice Bullfinches to brighten the day.

Bullfinch Christmas tree.

A good Sunday morning trip out, not on patch, granted, but not another human was seen ( always good) and some good birds all within that Uber patch above...

 






Tuesday, March 24, 2020

BWKN0 ....

My second day working from home from 8am until 4pm sat at the computer with only an odd break away for a cuppa or to let Peggy out. During this time in some nice early spring weather I managged to add a few new species to the garden list.

I was a bit disappointed that there was no obvious overhead passage going on, but some of the locals appeared co-operatively.

First thing a Curlew flew south over the garden. This is not an unusual occurrence but by this time most have moved on inland or further north so I was pleased to get this one out of the way.

A Tractor ploughing a strip of the back field was a good sign and I felt sure it would add something like a Lesser black backed or Med Gull but no, only a few Herring Gulls attended but it did flush Skylark and Rook while a Stock Dove landed with 19 Woodpigeons on the fine tilth afterwards.

Around the feeders and garden itself were Song Thrush, Bullfinch, 2 Sparrowhawks, male and female and a Magpie. A loudly honking Greylag flew very low overhead this afternoon bringing my wildfowl list to one.

Bird list now stand at a respectable 33 species for the last few days.
Late edit - 3 Long tailed Tits over the feeders were forgotten and late last night a calling Redwing emigrating back home was pulled in by the light of the moth trap. Revised Total 35

This post is quite photo heavy to give readers an idea of my garden patch at the present time..


Two angles looking out of the kitchen window facing West. This is a good skyline to watch and the farmland is mainly rough grass and mixed. The hill you can see is the Hips Heugh, it is a cliff on the far side and is part of the Whin Sill geology.

The feeders will have a part to play providing I can get the seed! This is Tree Sparrow Tesco...

Another look facing NW. A Barn Owl sometimes hunts right along the wall edging the drive giving great views from inside the house. It hasn't shown yet...

Along the drive to the old pig sty sheds and copse on the N edge of the garden. It pulls in a few migrants mainly in autumn but you never know.

The main East garden. Viewing more resiricted here but is is sheltered and good for insects. That hedge along the wall top has had Barred Warbler.

Another bird table. This only gets a few bits of food for the shy species that dont want to be in the main flock. The sea is approx 300 mtrs that way.


This tractor was ploughing part of the back field but only these few were attracted. Photo from our drive.
Hen Blackie always arrives as I start feeding the birds.

The Bully returned to the cherry tree in a neighbours garden today.

This Magpie cleared the small birds from the feeders briefly.

Starling was late and had to make do with peanuts.

Sunday, November 29, 2015

Another poor day...


Top - a real winter squall over Amble Harbour and a few minutes later the sun came out...

Not much doing this morning or during the weekend on the bird front.

Highlight for me was a nice finch flock along our lane end that contained about 150+ birds, mainly Linnets and Chaffinches but also had 6 Brambling, 2 Lesser Redpoll and a Bullfinch. 30 Siskins fed in alders nearby.

This morning was spent helping Jane get to the Xmas Fair at Howick Hall before popping down to Warkworth for a chat with John. It was mixed weather there with some quite serious stormy spells curtailing any attempts a bird finding ( Above)


Jane's stall at the Fair...

And my only attempt a bird photograph this weekend...


Sunday, January 25, 2015

The Coquet Estuary....


Amble Harbour

Eider displaying.
The day dawned calmish and quite bright but soon became dull, making these photos very grainy and drab. We covered the Coquet estuary from Amble Harbour up to Birling Carrs, adding a couple of new species to JWR's patch list.

On arrival a huge number of Rooks and Jackdaws were leaving their roost, numbering several thousand birds. The sky was full of them, the air ringing with their calls.

The estuary was full of birds with up to 700 Golden Plover, 300 Lapwing, Dunlins and Redshank. A lone Grey Plover and a few Knot added interest. Up at the harbour, an adult Mediterranean Gull loafed, but it wasn't the usual bird carrying a red darvic. This one only had a metal ring on one leg.

8+ Red breasted Merganser were spread right up the river, one or two pairs were in full display mode and a female Goosander was up near the road bridge.

2 Purple Sandpipers were on the pier, 2 Grey Partridges were along the braid with another 5 at Birling. 5 Roe Deer showed well near the river.

Small stuff around the Braid car park included a female Bullfinch, several Long tailed Tits and a host of Goldfinches.

Mediterranean Gull at the Little Shore.  

Starling singing from lobster pots.

Female Bullfinch.
Long tailed Tit


Back home, a short look along the shore added othing to the Howick list, but 5 Grey Plovers were extra noteworthy, not being annual here, 2 Harbour Porpoises off shore near 2 Red throated Divers.

A cold spell forecast for mid week might shuffle the pack a bit...

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Bright as a Bully.



A longish walk around the wooded areas of Howick this morning was very pleasant. It was bright with  light westerly breeze. Around the arboretum, lots of small birds were active, the most obvious being several groups of Bullfinches. One party in particular, contained 7 birds, a couple of which allowed quite a close approach for the photos above. An interesting bit of plumage seen in the images is the white margins to the primary feathers, a feature often mooted as being indicative of Northern birds. In  this case, these were bog standard British type Bullies in every other respect, including the call.

Only one year tick, revealed itself by calling sharply from the back of the pond -  a Kingfisher. It sat for a while, quite distantly, perched in the sunshine.

Further around, a Red Squirrel was too quick for photos as it dashed across the path, 2 Roe Deer and 2 Brown Hares flushed from the wood.

A bit more distant than the Bullfinches...
   77. Kingfisher

Saturday, August 09, 2014

Bully for him...


Sitting in the garden on Thursday evening we were visited by this Bullfinch that came to sample the honeysuckle berries around our door. He didn't seem too bothered by our presence as we sat quite still till he ate his snack before vanishing back into cover...

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Its snowing....

First Snowdrops of the year.
Only a short couple of walks from home with Bunty this morning. On the first one at sunrise, a female / fw type Snow Bunting ( the white in the wings was seen from below) flew low north over Seahouses farm, calling as it went. They can be tricky in the New Year here so its a good one for the patch list.

Generally the whole area was almost bird-less but a wander into the pond field mid morning added a couple more common species for the patch.

I could only find one small clump of Snowdrops in flower, making them a bit late this year. This is probably due to the mild weather, these bulbs need a sharp cold snap before a mild one to set them off. Its still like autumn here.

Alder catkins.
 The Alders looked nice in the morning sun decked with catkins,and 3 Bullfinches fed on bramble and docks along the track side briefly.

Bullfinch on bramble seeds

Sunday, December 30, 2012

The Holly and the Survey...

(I remember when this blog wasn't this bad...I know, I have a long memory...)

This morning, Mr JW Rutter and myself popped 'along the doors' to do a farmland birds survey at nearby Littlemill. The farm here has entered the countryside stewardship scheme and requires info on what is around, and for this a donation is given to the Alnwick Wildlife Group.

The wind was blowing strongly, a W6, but the sun was shining so we headed off prepared to see very little on what looked like unremarkable farmland.


A few fields were planted with some kind of game or bird seed crop like this one. I'm not sure what it is, maybe Linseed or Flax? but they proved quite attractive to small seed eating species.





The area in the photo above held over 40 Brambling and 5 Tree Sparrow, while others had 38 Yellowhammers, Bullfinch, Chaffinch, Linnets etc. A flock of 44 Redwing was flushed and 9 Brown Hares were spread across the relatively small area. Only 4 Grey Partridges were seen which was a little disappointing, but coveys may have been off the survey route.

The commonest species by far was the Woodpigeon, with up to 2000 present including a flock of 1200+.

Other notable species included a Jay, 2 Treecreepers and 2 Goldcrests.

The cherry on the cake came when John spotted a fully white Ermine fossicking about in some brashed pines. Unforunately it sloped off while a fumbled for the camera. I bet this is the animal from last winter seen nearby.

Oh and what of the Holly in the appalling attempt of a pun-ish ( punished!) title, this berry laden one was right next to the car as we ended the route...


Tickety boo....