Winter Birding.

A few images of species seen during my winter birding forays.

A reflective pair of Mute Swans on a very cold January day at Frensham Little Pond on the only ice free patch of water.

On the same January day a rare inland Surrey sighting was this juvenile Long-tailed Duck that spent some weeks at Frensham Great and Little Pond.

A Kestrel just taking off. A resident and regular sighting on my local patch.

On a sunnier day in January a record shot of a Dartford Warbler, a resident breeder on Thursley Common. This species appears to have fared well this winter.

A Kingfisher seen at Tices Meadows in February seeking food from a very small stream when most of the main water areas were frozen.

A trip to Staines Reservoir in early March produced this record image of a long staying male Scaup (top left) in the company of Tufted Ducks .....

... and during the same visit several Black-necked Grebes in various plumage's.

Finally, my favourite winter goose, the Dark-bellied Brent. Just one of a few thousand seen around Langstone Harbour earlier this month.

Linking to:
Wild Bird Wednesday
Saturday's Critters
I'D-Rather-B-Birdin' 

Redwing.

The most abundant thrush seen on my local patch and during my recent farmland survey is the Redwing (Turdus iliacus), a regular winter migrant from Northern Europe.

Easy to identify but definitely not the easiest species to get very close to as at the slightest hint of any disturbance they all fly off to the nearest trees. Fortunately I was able to make use of the dense hedgerow and utilize a small gap to hide my presence for these record cropped shots.

Linking to:
Wild Bird Wednesday

Grey Heron.

The current inclement weather has meant few new wildlife opportunities so I delved into the early spring archives for these shots of a confiding Grey Heron looking for lunch at a local lake.

Linking to:
Wild Bird Wednesday

Local Patch Wildlife.

It has been another week of some sunshine and plenty of showers and the pattern is set to continue well into this week. Certainly not a pleasant situation for much of our wildlife.

Once again my woodland butterfly transect walk on Saturday produced very few sightings despite the warm, humid temperature. Just a few Speckled Wood (see above) plus Green-veined White and Brimstone. I'm guessing it might be a couple of weeks before any new species such as the Skippers, Meadow Brown and Ringlet start to emerge due to all the wet weather.

A few moths and flies were on the wing but only this Scorpion Fly perched for a photo-call.

One species that definitely caught my attention was an immature female White-legged Damselfly hiding amongst the grasses close to a small pond in the woodland. From memory this is the first season that I have recorded them in this spot so I'll need to keep an eye open for any male activity over the next few weeks.

Returning through the woodland close to the car park I heard the very distinctive incessant begging calls of young Great Spotted Woodpecker (below) and fairly easily located the nest hole in a Birch. I had to wait for quite some time to see the adults returning with food but my view was hampered by the increased greenery of other trees so only managed one shot of a youngster peeking out. 

Nesting Update (14/6):

I checked the above nest site again this morning and all was very quiet indicating that the youngsters have now fledged.

Whilst I have recorded the tiny Lesser Spotted  in the same area some years ago the other common resident species is the Green Woodpecker (above) but I haven't yet found evidence of any breeding activity.

One species that only occasionally turns up, usually in the winter months, is the Greylag Goose but this individual was actually paired up with a Canada Goose (see below) just over a week ago but I don't think they have stayed around to breed another hybrid!

Linking to:

Nature Notes

Wild Bird Wednesday

Blue Tits: Fledging Update.

After the young Blue Tits fledged the nest box on 28 May (see previous post) the weather changed dramatically with lower temperatures and plenty of rain. Whilst there were occasional sightings of the parents visiting the feeders we had no idea where the family were roosting and we didn't see the youngsters again until they revisited the garden in bright sunshine during this last weekend. 

 

Most of the time they stayed hidden in the dense cover of the Hawthorn tree or in one of the nearby tall shrubs waiting patiently for mum or dad to provide some food. 

When they did venture partially into the open the lighting conditions were very harsh but here is a record shot of one of the youngsters getting fed. 

On Sunday one or two of the four youngsters occasionally popped out into the open allowing a closer inspection of their development.

With the heavy rain having washed many invertebrates off the leaves the adults (see below) topped up their own diet and that of their charges by visiting the fat feeder. Hopefully as the days pass we will see the juveniles feeding for themselves.

Linking to:
Nature Notes (# 366)
Wild Bird Wednesday 

Blue Tits Fledging.

While checking the progress of vegetable seedlings in the garden this afternoon I realised that the adult Blue Tits were extremely vocal so I went to investigate. 

Initially I thought they were indicating that one of the neighbourhood cats was nearby but then I noticed a very young head peeping out of the nest box so I dashed back indoors to tell Anita and to get the camera.

From about 1.15 pm we watched and counted four young Blue Tits leave the box and fly into a neighbours Birch. 

Including my initial sighting I'm guessing that they successfully reared at least five.

So here are a few images of this event.

 Do I really what to leave?

Hmmm ... it's a bit different out there!

OK ... Here goes.

During the afternoon the adults made various forays to the feeder closest to the house and carried food back to their fledglings who remained in their hidden location. I caught one adult vocalising as another local feline slinked across the patio!

Linking to:
I'D-Rather-B-Birdin'
Nature Notes
Wild Bird Wednesday

Blue Tits - Nesting Update.

During the weekend Anita confirmed that there were noises coming from the box in the birch at the bottom of the garden indicating that some Blue Tit eggs had hatched. Incubation normally takes between 13 to 15 days.

So after returning from a patch walk at 2pm on Monday I spent a little while monitoring the activity around the box.

The adults are notoriously quick at entering and exiting the nest box so a little patience was required to grab a few shots during a 30 minute session before the sky darkened once again ahead of another rain shower!

The normal protein source is usually juicy caterpillars but during this session the adults were obviously visiting the garden feeders for sunflower hearts and the occasional mouthful of fat enriched with meal worms.

How they manage to call with a full mouthful to announce their arrival before entering the box beats me!!

All this effort definitely takes its toll on the adult's plumage. 

If all goes well, depending on the weather and availability of the required food sources, the nestlings should fledge in about 18 - 21 days time. The monitoring will continue.

Linking to:

Nature Notes

Wild Bird Wednesday

Troglodytes troglodytes.

On any of my walks it would be very unusual not to encounter this small active brown bird with its cocked tail often just announcing its presence with its loud voice before promptly disappearing into deep cover.

The [Eurasian] Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes), otherwise known as 'Jenny Wren' is our commonest UK breeding bird, although it does suffer declines during prolonged, severely cold winters. Currently the local population is in very healthy.

The scientific name is taken from the Greek word "troglodytes" (from "trogle" a hole, and "dyein" to creep), meaning "cave-dweller", and refers to its habit of disappearing into cavities or crevices whilst hunting arthropods or to roost.

Click below to check out its remarkably loud voice: 


If there are any problems with the sonogram here is the direct link: http://www.xeno-canto.org/313805

This individual was very obliging during a recent early morning stroll around Castle Hill LNR.

Linking to:
Through My Lens
image-in-ing
Wild Bird Wednesday

Check out FABirding.

For this week's editions of Nature Notes and Wild Bird Wednesday you will need to switch over to my photo blog FABirding where I am featuring images of five local species from the Tit family. 

Please feel free to browse through some of my other work on FABirding and let me know what you think of my efforts. (Recent posts are also shown in the link on my sidebar). FAB.

Grey Heron.

A recent visit to WWT Barnes provided a few views of our Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea).

The first individual (above) was just chilling out whereas the other one (below) was patiently waiting for something to eat.

Not sure if its utterance was an impatient reaction to its failure to find a mid morning snack or the fact that it was being watched but it quickly returned to focusing its attention on the task in hand.

Linking to:
Wild Bird Wednesday

Boardwalk Wildlife.

During the past few weeks I have enjoyed several visits to Thursley Common under both sunny and cloudy skies. So here are a few images taken while I have been  treading the boardwalks and tracks in search of the local wildlife. 

More often than not the first bird I usually encounter is a male Stonechat singing from atop a young Birch.

The main boardwalk allows access across the wettest part of the site towards 'Pine Island' where there is often something sitting atop the tallest branches ... on this visit it was a Kestrel. In a few weeks time photographers will line the boardwalk hoping to get that special shot of a Hobby hawking prey over the main pool.

The shorter section of boardwalk below leads towards 'Shrike Hill' and it is here that I look for a dark, long-tailed warbler with a red eye ....

while also listening out for its very distinctive scratchy, mechanical song.

Occasionally I get a brief glimpse of a Dartford Warbler (Sylvia undata) one of the special residents of this lowland heathland habitat. This species is dependent on mature dry heath with gorse in good condition in order to survive cold, harsh winters. The UK population crashed to a few pairs in the 1960's but it has fortunately bounced back although several fires on the common and very wet, cold winters in recent years have not helped but it is very pleasing now to see decent numbers in various locations around this site.

 

Certainly not a bird that is easy to get close to without an extremely long lens, hence this cropped shot!

Despite the chilly weather there were one or two hardy Common Lizard sunbathing on the boardwalk and well camouflaged amongst the dried grasses nearby a female Mallard was resting.

Heading out onto the tracks across the open heath provided views of Woodlark, more Stonechats and a brief encounter with one of the two Great Grey Shrikes that have been overwintering here. Their tendency to roam widely for food means they can turn up anywhere on the common although the aptly named 'Shrike Hill' is generally the best place to find them.

A detour to a patch of deciduous woodland rewards me with sightings of a recently arrived male Common Redstart (above) plus views of Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and hear my first Cuckoo of the year before I trudge up onto the gorse covered ridge, accompanied by the twittering of Linnets, for uninterrupted distant views over the extensive heathland before descending back via the sandy tracks to the boardwalk.

Linking to:
Nature Notes
Wild Bird Wednesday