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| October 2014
I thought October would be a good time to start my
ramblings as all the summer visitors have gone and I
am now eagerly anticipating the arrival of winter
migrants,
who knows perhaps the Waxwings may put in a good
appearance again this year.
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October
Garden List: |
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A very mild
autumn so far with hardly any frosts. 22 bird spices
seen in the garden, but not a lot of winter visitors
about yet although it was nice to see the Goldcrest
has started to make regular visits to the garden. |
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Blackbird |
Goldcrest |
Magpie |
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Blue Tit |
Goldfinch |
Nuthatch |
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Bullfinch |
Great Spotted
Woodpecker |
Robin |
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Chaffinch |
Great Tit |
Sparrowhawk M&F |
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Coal Tit |
Greenfinch |
Starling |
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Collared Dove |
House Sparrow |
Stock
Dove |
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Dunnock |
Long-tailed Tit |
Woodpigeon |
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Wren |
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| 31st
Oct |
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The warmest Halloween since records began. The end of a
very mild month and not as many birds in the garden as
usual because of the plentiful supply of natural food
and also due to the frequent visits of the
Sparrowhawk earlier in the month. As the number of birds
visible in the garden reduced so did the frequency of
the Sparrowhawk visits, but now things are slowly getting back to
normal. |
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The Blue Tit with one foot missing is still about and
doing well, and coming regularly for its daily feed of
live mealworms |
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VIDEO -
Robins Winter
Song -
13th January
2012
There are
plenty of bird sounds and calls in the
garden at this time of year but the only
true song is that of the robin establishing
its territory for the coming winter and
breeding season next spring. |
Went to
Lyth Hill this morning to listen to the
Skylarks singing, another bird that will
sing at this time of the year when the
weather is mild and bright. As with the
robin this activity is usually associated
with territory, probably at this time of
year more about protecting a good feeding
area. There were a number of Skylarks
singing on the wing and sometimes getting so
high that they almost vanished from sight.
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28th Oct |
| Today's forecast was
mild, sunny & dry so planned an early visit to the Long Mynd at Church
Stretton as the outlook was wet & windy for next few days. Our
departure was delayed by the second appearance of a Goldcrest in the
garden this autumn, managed to get a couple of quick photographs before
it flew off again. It only visits the garden during the autumn and
winter. Our arrival at Plush
Hill at the north end of the Long Mynd was timely because before I
parked the car a flock of over 200 Golden Plovers appeared over
the hill. They circled the area for about 20 minutes before heading off
towards the southern end of the Long Mynd. |
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Golden Plover over Plush Hill on the Long Mynd |
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18th Oct |
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Went to Gog Batch this morning to watch the Ravens
soaring, gliding, and tumbling on the wind currents
produced by the surrounding hills when this one went
over with a golf ball in its bill. Someone from
Church Stretton Gold Club, on top of the nearby
hills, must have wondered where that super long
drive had ended up. |
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16th Oct |
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Female Kingfisher - Venus
Pool |
A sunny
morning so off to Venus Pool again.
A good
number of the usual ducks, geese and gulls.
also Great Crested Grebe, Cormorants,
Herons, and approx eighty Lapwings.
The star
of the morning was a female Kingfisher who
we new was in the vicinity by the the shrill
calls we could hear, she finally appeared
and conveniently perched in front of the
main hide.
My first
Redwings of the season, fifty five in the
trees opposite the house, but still not been
able to add them to my list of garden birds
photographed. |
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15th Oct |
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Rained most of the day so
took a load of food to
Cuan Wildlife Rescue at Much Wenlock for the
Squirrels and hedgehogs, then uploaded my latest
video of starlings bathing. |
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VIDEO
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Starlings Bathing
1st October 2014 |
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14th Oct |
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This female Sparrowhawk seems to have taken up
permanent residence; it regularly comes in and
settles on one of its favourite perches in the
garden. This time it was only just over 2 meters
away from my hide, otherwise known as my garden
shed. It does not fly off now when it sees me in the
garden and I was able to set up my camera and take
this short film from the hide without disturbing
her. Today it appeared to be more interested in the
mice than the birds
She seems to employ two methods of hunting, the
first is a surprise low flying swoop across the
garden hoping to take its prey by surprise and the
other is to patiently wait for something to come to
it. The first method appears to be the most
successful as the only thing I have ever seen her catch
by the wait and see method was one mouse. . She is
sitting there now keeping watch as I am uploading
this. |
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VIDEO -
My Resident Female Sparrowhawk
Filmed 14th Oct 2014 |
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13th
Oct |
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saw my first winter migrants of this
autumn as I was taking the dogs for their early
morning walk. I could hear the distinctive
trumpeting sound of Whooper Swans getting closer as
they followed the course of the river Seven, finally
three very elegant birds passed almost overhead.
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Whooper Swan
9th October 2009 at Venus Pool |
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12th Oct
A busy day in the life of my local Sparrowhawk |
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I have got my own
small murmuration of starlings, up to about 70
at times, who circle the garden for quite a
while before coming in to roost in the ivy
growing on the back of the house which they
share with about 20 pairs of house sparrows. In
the autumn, for the last three years now a
Sparrowhawk has noticed this daily event and
now makes a habit of coming and perching in one
of the trees at sunset and lies in wait, until
it is practically dark, in the hope of an easy
meal. Most of the time it is unsuccessful as
once the starlings get into the ivy they seem to
be safe despite the fact that it will sometimes
try to follow them into the ivy. |
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Today the female made her first appearance at 8.30
this morning, stayed for about 15 minutes them left
empty handed. At
midday she was back again and stayed for about 20
minutes, luckily I had got the camera set up and was
able to film her this time. Usually the arrival of a
Sparrowhawk in greeted with a chorus of alarm calls
and then followed with complete silence, but on this
occasion all the small birds continued to make what
I would call a scolding sound all the tine she was
there. Again no catch. 4.00 pm flew over
again but was harassed by a carrion crow. Ten
minutes later she was back, only briefly, bur scared
the living daylights out of a collard dove I was
filming at the time. Final visit of the day was at
6.15 for the usual 'Starling Watch'.
Four visits today
that I saw and no catch.
Garden Birds 4 Sparrowhawk 0 |
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10th Oct |
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A beautiful Autumn morning, clear blue sky and only
a gentle breeze so decided to pay a visit to our
local nature reserve, Venus Pool. It is owned by the
Shropshire Ornithological Society and is only
six miles south of Shrewsbury. It was really
was looking at it best today. |
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Plenty of the usual birds on show including a pair
of Common Sandpipers, a Kingfisher very briefly
sitting on a post just in front of the hide so no
photos, pintails on the far side of the pool again
too far away for photos. The highlight of the visit
was an appearance by a Redshank who seemed to be
making the most of the calm conditions and Autumn
sunshine. |
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| 8th Oct |
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| It's
that time of year again when birds are staring to flock.
Today I have seen groups of Starlings, Woodpigeons,
Canada Geese and Goldfinches flying over the house. The
numbers of Goldfinches are beginning to build up, last
year as many as seventy would gather in the tops of tall
trees opposite the house and as a group, or charm as
they are very aptly called, make sorties over my
garden and return to the trees before finally settling
deep in one of the tall evergreens for the night |
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Video
CHARMING
GOLDFINCHES
- flocking prior to roosting |
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4th Oct |
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This morning I
noticed the first frost, just a touch on the long
grass in the field as I took the dogs for their
early morning walk. This must have been a signal for
the Coal Tit to start caching food for the coming
winter as it was busy making trips to and fro with
sunflower hearts from the feeder and secreting them
in various hiding places all over the garden. It
would push then into cracks in tree bark, into the
dense growth in the yew tree and even between the
moss covered stones in the garden. Just how many of
these it would retrieve again in the winter is
anybodies guess.
Video -
Coal Tit Caching Food
- filmed October
2011 |
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1st Oct |
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| Sometimes nature can
be quite hard but this Blue Tit is a real survivor, with one foot
missing and a fungal infection, similar to that seen
on chaffinches, has been in the garden from the
beginning of the year and has raised a brood of
young in the Spring and is still going strong as
Autumn approaches. As it is still looking strong and
keeps coming to be fed, on live mealworms, I will
keep a close eye on it as winter creeps nearer and
intervene if necessary. The local wildlife rescue,
Cuan Wildlife, said that if it did start
to deteriorate in the winter, and if I could catch it,
that it was possible that they could do something to
elevate the fungal condition. Keep
watching! |
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HOME |
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Welcome to my
new blog.
I live in Shrewsbury and although most of my blog
will be a diary and observations about garden birds
I will inevitably be drawn out to the beautiful
surrounding countryside of Shropshire, from the
meres in the north to the rolling South Shropshire
Hills.
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GARDEN BIRD PHOTO GALLEY |
| A selection of some of the 39 species of birds that visit my garden. I have gradually changed my urban back garden into a wildlife friendly area by adding water features, fruit and berry bushes & trees and letting the ivy cover the fence, trees and back of the house. I have introduced a rough grass area and encouraged wild flowers such as trefoil, knapweed, nettles & teasel to grow. By year round feeding & adding nest boxes I have recorded 39 different species of birds including predators, which I suppose is a sign of a well stocked wildlife garden.
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The 39 garden bird species captured on film or
photographed: Blackbird, Blackcap, Blue Tit, Brambling,
Bullfinch, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch. Chiffchaff, Coal
Tit, Collard Dove, Common Redpoll, Dunnock, Fieldfare,
Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great
Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Wagtail, House Sparrow, Jay,
Lesser Redpoll, Long-tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Mistle
Thrush, Nuthatch, Pied Wagtail, Reed Bunting, Robin,
Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stock Dove, Willow
Warbler, Wood Pigeon, Wren. and a Garden Warbler no
photo |
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SHROPSHIRE BIRD PHOTO GALLERY |
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My list of
Shropshire bird photos: |
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Arctic Tern,
Bar-headed
Goose,
Barnacle
Goose,
Bee-eater, Bewick's Swan, Blackbird, Blackcap,
Black-headed Gull, Black-tailed Godwit,
Black
Redstart, Black Swan, Blue Tit, Brambling, Brent
Goose, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Canada Goose,
Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Coal Tit,
Collard Dove, Common Sandpiper, Common Redpoll,
Coot, Cormorant, Curlew, Dipper, Dunlin,
Dunnock, Egyptian Goose, Fieldfare, Gadwall,
Garganey, Golden Plover, Goldeneye, Goldfinch,
Goldcrest, Goosander, Great Crested Grebe, Great
Spotted Woodpecker,
Great Tit, Green Sandpiper, Green
Woodpecker, Greenfinch, Greenshank,
Green-winged Teal, Grey Heron, Grey
Wagtail, Greylag Goose, Herring
Gull, Hobby, House Martin, House Sparrow,
Jackdaw, Jay, Kestrel, Kingfisher, Lapwing,
Lesser Black-backed Gull,
Lesser Redpoll, Linnet, Little
Egret, Little Grebe, Little Ringed Plover,
Long-tailed Tit, Magpie,
Mallard,
Marsh Tit, Meadow Pipit, Mistle
Thrush, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Nuthatch, Osprey,
Oystercatcher, Peregrin Falcon, Pheasant, Pied
Wagtail, Pink-footed Goose, Pintail, Pochard,
Raven, Redwing, Redstart,
Redshank, Red-legged Partridge,
Red Kite, Reed Bunting, Reed Warbler, Ringed
Plover, Robin, Rook, Ruff, Sand Martin, Scaup,
Sedge Warbler, Shelduck, Shoveler Duck, Siskin,
Skylark, Snipe, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk,
Spoonbill,
Spotted Flycatcher, Spotted Redshank, Starling,
Stock Dove, Stonechat, Swallow, Swift, Teal,
Whooper Swan Tree Sparrow, Treecreeper, Tufted
Duck, Turnstone, Waxwing, Wheatear,
Whitethroat, White-fronted Goose, Wigeon, Willow
Warbler, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellow Wagtail,
Yellowhammer |
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If
you wish to
Email
Me please use this Link |
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More photos & videos on my: |
| Website
Shropshire Bird & Wildlife |
| Website
Shropshire Bird Videos |
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YouTube -
Shropshire Birds |
Twitter -
@MauriceBaker8 |
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| Support local wildlife by
supporting |
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Cuan Wildlife Rescue |
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Much
Wenlock |
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