I only made a short patch visit this morning, in some bitingly cold winds and swirling snow flurries, but it wasn't without some reward.
Again it was the Lakes that provided the highlight for the visit, when two
MUTE SWANS (
68) were seen on the water, only a handful of sightings of this species have been had actually on one of the small Lakes here, so it was nice to see them, looking whiter even than the swirling snowflakes :-) Just one more new species for this month is now needed to set a new record February species tally!
A scan around the rest of the water and tree overhangs was pretty disappointing, just two MOORHEN and a pair of CANADA GOOSE were company for the COOT pair, that is until a pair of GADWALL dropped in, these must surely be the ones I saw yesterday at the College Grounds, and on the lakes 3 days ago.
I spent some time just watching and listening around the Scrubby Woods, and saw a pair of COAL TITS chasing about, plus a GOLDCREST feeding in a spruce tree, BULLFINCH, NUTHATCH, and TREECEEPER were heard to call, then a GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER started drumming.
I got a bit chilled soon after, and moved on to the Tree Nursery to seek some shelter from the biting wind and to watch the sky for a while, I was hoping for something nice to pass over, maybe my first Yellowhammer for the month would be seen, however, after 15 mins I had only recorded HERRING and BLACK HEADED GULLS, but did also have the bonus of 17 LAPWING, before succumbing to the cold and heading of for a hot brew :-)
This afternoon I did some garden bird watching, however things were much quieter than recent days, mainly due to this cheeky SPARROWHAWK continually dropping in, at one point it was on the floor creeping about, trying to stalk its prey like a cat! I took some ''through the double glazing'' record shots of it :-)
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| Sparrrowhawk |
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| Sparrowhawk - creeping about like a cat |
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| Sparrowhawk |
Blog brighteners for today are the rest of the LONG TAILED TIT images taken from my garden earlier in the week, when I thought spring was just about to arrive!
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| Long Tailed Tit |
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| Long Tailed tit |
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| Long Tailed Tit |
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| Long Tailed Tit |
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| Long Tailed Tit |
4 comments:
Lovely views of the Sparrowhawk. I wouldnt mind a shot of one perched myself.
The Sprawk hasn't been so troublesome this winter Marc, but today it was very persistent!
Well done on the swans Warren :-) I remember you saying that you don't see them on your patch very often, Mute Swans, Coots, Mallards, Moorhens, Canada Geese GCGs and the odd Tufty are about the only water fowl I do see on a fairly regular basis around here. It's strange how things vary so much, in different areas of the country, although with similar looking habitat.
There is often a Sprawk around my garden, they are magnificent looking but I prefer not to see them too often ;-)
Lovely LTT photos, such dainty little birds.
You're getting quite good at this photography lark - crackin portraits again despite the double glazing.
Cheers
DaveyMan
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