Spring Colours

Blue Tit (c.OOS)

There's still another day or so to go with the Garden Bird Survey: However, there's a real spring feeling in the air: birdsong no doubt triggered by the perceptible difference in the length of daylight and quality of light.

The garden has definitely woken from its winter rest, Hellebores have been in  flower for some time now, as has the Witch Hazel.  Best of all is the Cornelian Cherry, cornus mas, which has clouds of tiny yellow blossoms right now, the first good show from a few plants that went into the ground four years ago: worth the wait!

Cornelian Cherry (c.OOS

All together now!

The Blue Tits have appeared in great numbers, up to ten birds at a time, leading to a few squabbles and shows of territorial behaviour:.  Nestboxes are likely to be inspected, but there's plenty of time to feed up and get into the best condition for the breeding season.

A young Sika deer is showing a trust in us and browses the grass through the day and indeed, rests up in a corner where it is reasonably concealed.  Tameness might not be in its best interest, though theres no threat with us, it might need to show more wildness, if it wanders.

Young Sika deer rests up under a Larch. (c.OOS)

Out of the Woods

Its been very, very windy, and with more rain than we would ever want, but mild by our winter standards.

To our eyes, there's not many obvious signs of wild, takeaway food in the woods: berries are well stripped from hedges and trees, perhaps conifer seed and oak acorns are in short supply right now: the lone peanut feeder in the garden, has certainly repaid its keep, hosting a nice eclectic selection of 'woodlanders'.

Siskin (c.OOS)

Nomadic Siskins, right on cue, arrived back with us, third week of February. Normally you could describe birds popping right up, but its upside down, in their case!  They routinely select a feeding position that might give many others a headache.. as agile as any tit species, perhaps they are well used to hanging upside down to reach birch and alder seed in the forest.  Its worth reminding ourselves that they are relatively recent garden colonists (1963 onwards) and their populations have benefited from afforestation with coniferous plantations, particularly of Spruce to their liking.

Another welcome garden visitor, on the up, but until last week, not 'bothering' to feed from the peanut feeder, is the Jay.  I suspect their acorn store is exhausted and the peanut feeder is now on their daily rounds..

Jay (c.OOS)

So that brings us to our final pick, the Great Spotted Woodpecker that has faithfully popped in to visit the peanut feeder, daily, since Christmas Eve..  I'll miss this female when she retires to the oak wood to breed: perhaps she will return with a brood of youngsters come June/July!

GSW (c.OOS)

Common as Coal Tits

A little over half way through the Garden Bird Survey: time to take stock of this seasons highs and lows..

Coals in pole position (c. OOS)

Finches are a bit thin on the ground: the Goldfinches have tapered off to just a few, Chaffinches steady and nothing as exotic as a Brambling this winter: not many, or indeed any reported around the country: there must be plenty of Beech Mast for them on mainland Europe.

The procession of three tit species keeps the view out to the peanut feeder pretty animated: there are six to eight of Coal, Blue and Great Tits daily.  The nearby coniferous forestry and broad leaved, surely harbour big populations of these birds and the offer of easy pickings on the peanut feeder in our garden, is too good to miss. In the case of Coal Tits: the seed of pine and spruce cones is harder to extract in wet weather, when the cones close up, so a good reason for them to forage in nearby gardens.

The only competitor that the Tits move over for is the daily Great Spot, a female.  Hopefully, it wont be long now til we hear the resonant drumming of displaying Woodpeckers punctuate the air.  

Making its way to the peanut feeder (c.OOS)

The Song Thrushes have stepped up their singing, Robins and Great Tits also chip in and there's a full half hour of extra daylight in the evening.  Still no room for complacency.. February can be pretty icy, but the birds seem to have survived well over the current winter, wet and windy but no really low temperatures so far.

Retreat to the big Sycamore (c.OOS)

Down to the coast

With lots of free time in early January, it was nice to head down to the Wicklow coast to view the hordes of wildfowl enjoying the watery, mild winter.

Not just willdfowl, the birds of prey are not slow to pick up and patrol the ranks of fowl: Hen harriers, Buzzards and Sparrowhawks all in evidence.

Female Kes, 6 mile point (OOS)

A particularly engaging Kestrel chose the statuesque wooden skeleton of the Windsock at Six Mile Point as its lookout.. The airfield itself was a bit surreal: it had a swimming Kittiwake and Mediterranean Gull on its flooded apron.. no sign of Michael O'Leary offering cheap flights to Dublin ( Newcastle ), just yet!                                          
On up along the railway line to look for Snow Buntings,: it was No Buntings for us!

A lovely Stonechat was the standout bird, offering great views in the still, bright winter conditions: its a real pleasure to be out observing wildlife in this weather.  The birds too seemed to be relaxing in the benign conditions, I've never seen so many sleeping ducks! The action was provided by an Otter, pretending to be a dolphin, in on the coastal marshes.

Back on the coast: female Stonechat (c. OOS)

The Stonechats are definitely enjoying the mild winter: they made great increases in the period since the last Atlas, only to fall over the exceptionally hard winters of 2009/10, 2010/11. Just as well they have a sure fire recovery mechanism with multi broods in good summers: they were actually absent from regular coastal haunts in County Wicklow in the last few winters, but have recovered since: I have only once seen one here in Rathdrrum, perhaps a migrant in autumn, on its way to an Irish coast or one further south..

A Happy, bird filled New Year!

The Christmas holiday period represents a great chance to catch up with the birds in the garden: We usually stock up on garden bird supplies to cover us into the New Year.   Despite the often foul weather, the flow of birds to the feeders is fairly constant and gives pleasure and delight to armchair bird watching.

Star Quality: the first visitors to the Nyjer feeder (c. OOS)

I haven't used a Nyjer feeder in the garden for a year or two now: not that I  don't want to attract a few exotic looking finch species: I think our last Nyjer feeder took off in a storm: I have a garden shed with quite a few retired feeders hanging motionless from a hook: all missing parts and testament to our windy site.

Being Christmas I thought a present to self was in order, to benefit the birds of course.  A heavy duty, quick release,Ring Pull Nyjer feeder from the Jacobi Jayne range looked perfect for our situation. The fine, oily Nyjer Seed was purchased, adding to the peanuts ( minimum of 5kg back up needed to keep the Woodpeckers on board), Fat balls and a supply of Sunflower seeds for the squadron of Coal Tits. 

(c.OOS)

The return on the investment has been fantastic:  Goldfinches were attracted to the new feeder within 2 days, and numbers built up nicely to at least 11 birds, from an initial pair.  It is fascinating to watch them queue for the four port feeder: unruly and chattering, often tangling in mid air, flashing the band of gold across the wings before returning to the feeder.  This sharing of information amongst their number benefits the flock but brings competition and displays of territoriality and aggression.  

The species list for the garden rises to 27 since early December, with Siskin just added and still some 'easy ones' to come: no Jackdaw, Starling or House Sparrow yet, though the latter two are breeders here.

Sharing with the Greenfinches (c.OOS)

Christmas Crackers

I hope all our followers and Garden Bird Surveyors have a great, bird filled Christmas and New Year.

19 plus Goldfinches on Nyjer feeder ( Ita Martin)

Not everybody might be as lucky as Ita Martin who captured this wonderful picture of Goldfinches back in September in her County Dublin garden.. Note the number of young birds taking to the feeder.

Down Wicklow way we still have the Great Spotted Woodpecker coming to the peanut feeder: it continues to be very shy, but if you don't move around inside, it will spend a good five minutes on the feeder, unbroken, before towering away high into the trees and back to the oak forest.  The BTO reckon that the decline in Starlings means less competition for nest holes, benefitting Woodpeckers and supplementary feeding also increases their survival through winter.. What a great recent addition to our avifauna, in any 

case!

GSW : currently a daily visitor (OOS)

Other notable visitors are the hordes of Coal Tits: just as well we have Pheasants to hoover up the spoil below the seed feeder.

Male Pheasant cleans up! (OOS)

Great Spotted Start to GBS

Female Great spotted Woodpecker ( c. OOS)

Last weekend, we fulfilled an ambition of 3 or 4 years: a garden visit from a woodpecker finally happened: Discovered on Saturday morning first thing, bleary eyed,  I watched it on the peanut feeder.  However the visit was fleeting as I reached for the camera downstairs it took off back across the garden, into a high Sycamore and on to the adjacent Birch wood.

The woodpeckers appearance was followed 15 minutes later by a buzz around the feeder by a Sparrowhawk: I hope that doesn't end in grief! 

All was well though and I managed to get a few photos around lunchtime and it appeared again on Sunday.

Because I leave and return to the garden in darkness, I wont get a chance to record it for the Garden Bird Survey until next Saturday, or so I thought: However my 10 year old daughter rang to confirm not one but 2 woodpeckers this Tuesday morning.  Roll on the weekend!

(C.OOS)