Cricket ,Tennis or Birds?

It`s a cold (-1*) grey Sunday morning and I have some free time, but I also have a dilemma, what should I choose, the Cricket, the Tennis or bird watching? Let me explain, England are playing Australia in the 5<sup>th</sup> One Day International Cricket match in Australia, Andy Murray is playing Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open Tennis Final and it`s the weekend of the annual RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch. So, over a leisurely breakfast of tea, toast and marmalade I devise a plan: - First, a quick dash out into the cold to top up the feeders and break the ice on the birdbath then turn up the central heating, turn on the radio for the end of the Cricket, turn on the TV for the Tennis and draw up my armchair to a position where I can watch the birds (and the TV), find pencil, paper and binos then put the kettle on for a nice cup of tea, and I`m sorted!

Well, all I can say is thank goodness for the birds, they saved the day by putting on a great show, as always.

We were beaten in the cricket (although our two tail enders did put on a spirited effort). And in the tennis Andy Murray was beaten in straight sets. The birds however were the stars of the morning, surprisingly though a great many of them preferred the bathing facilities to the food, and I spent most of the hour watching their antics on/in the birdbath. There was also one individual who seemed to be suffering from a late night and spend most of the hour appearing to be fast asleep!! (photo below).

Here is my list of sightings submitted to the RSPB.

Blackbird – 2 (a pair)

Blue tit – 2

Chaffinch – 1 (male)

Collared Dove – 2

Dunnock – 1

Goldfinch – 4

House Sparrow – 7

Robin – 1

Starling – 14

Woodpigeon – 2

And here are a few photos taken in poor light through the double glazed window! 

Sweet Dreams

Christmas and New Year outings. Part 1 of 2

                Caldecotte Lakes Milton Keynes, Boxing Day (26/12/10)

The South Lake was almost completely frozen over with only a small area in front of the houses free of ice. The snow was six inches plus deep making for tiring walking. Although the temperature was nudging  - 9*C the mainly sunny conditions made for beautiful views around the lake.

There were a great number of Wildfowl concentrated in the ice free area, all eager to take food from the many people who had kindly brought bread along with them. Not the ideal food, but in these conditions it certainly helps.


Some photographs of the stars of the show, against all the odds they still put on a fantastic display.

Mute Swan

Canada Geese

Cormorant

Black Headed Gull

Greylag Geese with Barnacle Goose

 Pochard (male)

 Tufted Duck (male)

(

Tufted Duck (female)

 Wigeon (male)

My Friendly Robin - not! (Part 1)

Over the last few cold and snowy days I have spent a couple of hours just watching the goings on around my bird feeders and table in the garden, and I`ve noticed one individual who seems to think that he owns the garden and everything in it! Yes it`s the friendly garden Robin, you know, the one that has its picture on countless greetings cards at this time of year, accompanied by such phrases as Seasons Greetings, Peace and Good Will, Merry Christmas, Best Wishes etc. etc. Well ‘my’ Robin certainly doesn’t live up to these sorts of greetings, oh no!!

I`ve got an evergreen bush in the garden (I`m not up on garden plant names so I can`t tell you what it`s called) that the House Sparrows love to sit in with just their heads poking out just before visiting the feeders, a lowly Dunnock was employing this same tactic when suddenly a brown streak shot across the garden and hit the bush in an explosion of snow right next to where it was sitting. Then on the bird table happily feeding away was, what I thought was ‘my’ Robin when, BANG it was knocked off the table by the same brown streak. So far I`ve seen my seasonal bringer of goodwill messages attack House Sparrows, a Dunnock, Blue tits, Great tits, Goldfinches, a Blackbird and Starlings in the same way. The only things that seem to be too big for him to attack in this manner are the Wood Pigeons and the Collared Doves although he does treat them to a lot of scalding and wing flicking to which they seem suitably unimpressed.

"Now, let`s see who`s next"

"I want my mum"

"Is that him over there?"

"Oooo help"

"I`m scared"

"I`m not, bring it on pal!"

Freezing Cold Friday

Yesterday dawned  frosty, overcast and grey. I set out from home at about 9:30 a.m. and drove to Woburn in Bedfordshire with the intention of trying to spot the flock of Waxwings that had been reported feeding there over the last few days, but alas the only birds I found feeding at the reported site were a flock of about 30 Starlings. With no joy in Woburn I decided to drive a couple of miles down the road to Stockgrove Country Park. This park covers about 80 acres and straddles the borders of Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire and is managed by the Greensand Trust, it consists of a variety of wildlife habitats including ancient oak woodland, conifer woodland, meadows, marshes and a lake and has been in use since medieval times.
When I pulled into the car park the temperature gauge in the car read -4* Celsius. Loaded up with camera gear and a big bag of bird food I walked the short distance to the lake where I knew there should be some birds to photograph (many people feed the birds in this area). The lake was completely frozen over apart from a small  section by the footbridge about 10ft x 3ft. which was occupied by 12 Mallard.

Stockgrove lake with the remains of the boathouse which burnt down in 1963. Incredibly (stupidly) there were human footprints in the snow covered ice going across the whole width of the lake !! 
The birds must have been finding the icy conditions very difficult, as they started to gather before I had begun to put any food out.

Blue tit

Great tit

Coal tit

Willow tit (note the crossed beak)

Robin

 This Robin has a large lump of ice on it`s right leg, It looks like the ice has formed over the ring that was put on when the bird was young, the good thing is it didn`t seem at all troubled by it.

Nuthatch

Blackbird (young female ?)

Dunnock

Carrion Crow

This character was feeding on the seeds that had fallen out of the bird feeders by the visitor centre and was being very vocal about it, but seemed very happy to pose for a photograph after I had put some food down for him!

After about three hours my hands were so cold I could no longer feel the camera and with the light fading fast I decided to call it a day and head on home.
All in all, after the disappointment of not finding the Waxwings, I had a most enjoyable few hours.

Photography notes :-  75-300mm lens, ISO 800/1000, f 7.1 to f10, RAW.


And finally.....

.......a grumpy Robin.

Sightings List

Wood Pigeon
Carrion Crow
Rook
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Magpie
Blue tit
Great tit
Coal tit
Willow tit
Nuthatch
Blackbird
Mallard
Moorhen
Dunnock
Chaffinch
Robin