The turn of the apple tree

This year has seen our best blossoms in a long time. The apricot tree blossom came quite early this year, after the cold winter. It is now the turn of the apple tree to bloom some colourful blossom. Over the last couple of weeks, the blossom has appeared. Over this time, I have taken pictures of the growing blossom.

The blossom which was first noted a few weeks ago was rather pinkish as it was only just emerging. In the sun, the colours were stunning. In the photo montage below, you will see this.

A week or so later and the blossom started to change colour to white. The evening sun lit the flowers up beautifully and I took a few shots of it. At this point the blossom was starting to get bigger too. The macro mode on my camera really came in useful with the flowers.

The montage below shows the blossom in complete bloom. I will soon start to see the large white flowers falling to the ground and the leaves will take over the tree. I wonder if the bees will like the fully emerged white blossom.

It really is amazing to follow the lives of garden plants through their blooms, especially if you get photo records too.

In my next posting, I hope to talk of my most recent nature reserve trip (albeit a short one) and my sightings there. But for now, I think I will just enjoy the sun while it lasts here in South East England.

Evening finches

When I get home from school, I sometimes hear the somewhat irritating news that it is my turn to clean our 2 rabbit's hutch out. Its irritating until the moment I open the back door to the sight of our garden birds enjoying some evening sunshine on our bird feeders! Yesterday was no exception and some of the birds seemed pretty desperate to stock up on those sunflower hearts. Maybe the midday sun is unbearable for our finches...

I usually bring out my camera whilst I am out with the rabbits, so that I can take a photo of anything that arrives whilst I am out there. It seems to be the various finches that like to feed at this time. The bossy Greenfinch in the photo below was daring enough to feed just a couple of metres away from me- although it struggled to find food in that near empty bird feeder. Those sunflower hearts are just too good to resist for the Greenfinches!

Next up on the bird feeder queue was the Goldfinch (pictured below). They are a little bit more shy than the Greenfinches and tend to perch on the shrubs of next-doors garden before feeding on our nyjer seed feeder. I haven't posted photos of this colourful bird in a while, so I was glad to get a shot of one. The thing I love most about the Goldfinches is that fantastic song they produce when in small groups. They have got to be one of the reasons why it is worth feeding garden birds.

And last, but by no means least is the female Chaffinch in the photo below. It was still quite bright outside when I took the photo, but they are so much harder to photograph than the Greenfinches and Goldfinches. Chaffinch numbers have been very high throughout this month which is why they have featured in many of my previous posts. It was nice to capture the female this time rather than the very bright males.

I thought in the last part of this posting, I would share a video that I meant to show you at least a week ago, but never got around to doing it. In case you didn't know, we have Blue Tits nesting in a nestbox on our conservatory at the moment, and we think that a female could currently be incubating eggs. One of the Blue Tit parents is spending long periods of time in the nestbox at the moment, whilst our male seems to check on her and feed her every now and then. Because this isn't a camera nestbox, it's impossible to be sure, but this is what we think is happening.

The video below shows a very cautious Blue Tit (we think it is the male after ID checking) on the hole of the nestbox. He is seen looking around to make sure the coast is clear to enter the nestbox. Maybe it is me that he has seen, but I thought I was quite well hidden in our office building with my tripod. Ah, well I managed to capture Mr Blue Tit for around 2 minutes before he flew off.



My next posting definitely will include the blossom I wanted to show you. I thought I would show the flower stages of the blossom, so taking the photos has taken a little longer than expected. Still, the post should be all set to go tomorrow, or the day after that. But for now, enjoy your evening finches.

Patch plants and garden birds

Much of our garden wildlife is out and about at the moment, especially the birds. Particularly the finches seem to be stocking up on seeds. Yesterday at about 6:00 in the afternoon, I filled up one of our bird feeders, only to find that it was empty at about 10:00 the following morning- that has to be a record. Even though it hasn't really been very cold over the last week, the birds are glued to the perches of the bird feeders.

In this posting, whilst I am on the subject of birds, I am also happy so announce that we have seen our first fledgling of the year. A very young Robin has been seen in the shrubs around our garden- I hope both parents are still feeding him/her because it does look quite vulnerable. Elsewhere in the garden, I spotted our nestbox Blue Tit male feed sunflower hearts to Mrs Blue Tit, who I reckon is probably incubating a clutch of eggs in the nestbox at the moment.

Below is a photo montage showing some of the main visitors. They all seemed happy to feed whilst I was outside. On the left is a Dunnock , whilst on the top right is a male Chaffinch and a female Chaffinch is in the bottom right photo. The Dunnock looks very thin in that photo, don't you think? Maybe it is currently feeding hungry chicks in a separate garden. The Chaffinches are the most common visitor at the moment, and are the main reason for the bird feeders emptying so fast.

Now, to some garden plants. It has been a while since I have mentioned my flower/wildlife patch. Plants are popping up everywhere, including some unwanted ones too. The photo below, however shows some flowers which were planted a while back. I can't believe it, but I have completely forgotten what they are. They certainly need thinning out a bit, which could probably be a job for another time. In the photo, you may also spot some little flowers. amongst the bigger plants. Again, I've no idea what those are.

Elsewhere, weeds are coming up all over the place. I know they need to be removed, but a closer look at the flowers reveals loads of colour.
Here is a closer view of the flowers that were in the top photo. As a wildlife gardener, I am unsure on many plants, even ones that I have planted myself. It could even be a weed, but I just don't know. If you know, could you tell me please. I haven't seen too many bees in the past week, mostly due to the rain, but hopefully, some of these flowers will help attract them into our garden.


In my next post, I have some more blossom to talk about. But not the apricot tree blossom that has been and gone. No, this blossom is from a different tree. Last year, I don't remember seeing much blossom on this tree, but it is appearing in large clumps at the moment. I also have a Blue Tit video to show you which was captured about 2 weeks ago now. But for now, enjoy the sun!

Easter surprises

Easter weekend was full of surprises for me. I hope you all had a great easter by the way. The collection of chocolate that I received is steadily decreasing, whilst the collection of chocolate in my stomach is steadily increasing! It was a great weekend down on the south coast at my Grandma's house, and I got a few more surprises that I certainly didn't expect...

For this posting, I thought, how about a little weekend diary to tell you about my bird sightings. The Quicksilver bird challenge from Good Friday to Easter Monday was what made me get out to do some birdwatching this weekend. The BTO Short List of British Birds (a simple bird tick-off list) meant that I could record my sightings easily. Back to the diary- let's start with last Friday then...

Good Friday- With the bird challenge up and running, I got up pretty early to do some garden birdwatching, to try and tick off some of the easy birds. I didn't get many surprises here but it was nice to see a few Starlings collecting nesting material from our lawn as well as a pair of Great Tits which hadn't visited in a while.

Afterwards I went down to the Rye Park with my Mum to see if I could spot any interesting ducks/woodland birds. The Grey Heron was one of the first birds added to the list. As I walked round to the woodland part, I saw small flocks of Blue Tits, and surprisingly, a small group of Long-tailed Tits high in the trees too. Lots of Chaffinches joined too and it was fantastic to watch. With a total of 23 already for the challenge in half a day, I must say that I was a bit optomistic for my final score. In the afternoon/evening, we travelled south to see my Grandma.

Saturday- Me and my Dad got up at the crack of dawn (well actually, about 8:00), but hey, thats early for me at the weekend. We set off to Titchfield Haven Nature Reserve for the opening time of 9:30 (Bit late for a nature reserve, don't you think)?

On the way to the reserve, my Dad had to stop off and get some cash at the cash point. Whilst I was sat in the car parked on the side of the road waiting for my dad, I experienced something truly special. I watched a pair of Great Tits in a tree next to me. They both had beaks full of insects, and to my amazement they went into a hole in the tree to feed chicks. After they had flown off, about 20 seconds later, a fox ran right in front of my eyes, and jumped over a gate next to the tree with the Great Tit nest. Meanwhile, a Blackbird sang its heart out in a berry bush on the other side of the tree. Just in the 2 minutes when my Dad stopped to get some cash- and we hadn't even been to the reserve yet!

The reserve was fantastic and had the most surprises. Within minutes, I had spotted some interesting waders like Avocets, Lapwings and Knots to add to the list. Before we got to he first hide, we saw a pair of Linnets on a gorse bush- wahay, a first sighting!

Lapwing:

Redshank:

Canada Geese:

In the first hide looking out onto scrapes, I saw hoards of Black-headed gulls, but there were a few rarities here and there, for example a couple of Mediterranean Gulls, and a very elusive Water Rail, pointed out to me by someone else in the hide. In the Collins Bird Guide it quotes, "The Mediterranean Gull is a scarce annual visitor to Britain and Ireland". This was definitely a nice surprise.

On the way out of the second hide, I saw another first sighting for me, the Chiffchaff. There was much debate as to the ID of the bird. With my dad's decent binoculars and a very distant record shot taken by me, we concluded that it wasn't the very similar Willow Warbler. Shortly after this, I saw what was my highlight of the day- the Scaup. For those of you who don't know- it is a fairly rare duck. Again, according to the Collins Bird Guide, this bird isn't often seen on the South coast of England. I really enjoyed Titchfield Haven Nature Reserve, and it made a great day out- I am sure many of you would enjoy a potter around there.

As we walked through the woodland part of the reserve we saw this Starling too:

Easter Sunday- No birding on easter day, so no additions were made to my list. We went to a Folk Music Festival for most of the afternoon. The rest of the day was made up of watching TV, eating chocolate and watching greedy Magpies take bread crusts from my Grandma's bird table.

Today- Again, no birding outings today, but as we were travelling back home on the motorway, I made some nice additions to my challenge list. Seen on the side of the road were Rooks and Jackdaws. I was kind of relying on seeing birds like the Jackdaw. Also seen was a Sparrowhawk flying overhead, and, closer to home where they are common, the Red Kite. In the Chiltern hills where we live, we get loads of Red Kites, so it was a relief to see this at such a late stage too.

So, anyway, here is my overall species list for the Quicksilver Easter Bird Challenge. My final score was 54 which I was very happy with. I did, however miss some easy species such as Coal Tit, Pheasant and Kestrel.

Mute Swan
Canada Goose
Shelduck
Gadwall
Fulvous Whistling Duck (unusual non-resident-click here for my previous confirmation of this sighting or here for confirmation on a different site)

Teal
Mallard
Shoveller
Tufted Duck
Scaup
Great Crested Grebe
Cormorant
Grey Heron
Red Kite
Sparrowhawk
Buzzard
Water Rail
Moorhen
Coot
Oystercatcher
Avocet
Lapwing
Knot
Black-tailed Godwit
Redshank
Turnstone
Mediterranean Gull
Black-headed Gull
Common Gull
Herring Gull
Feral Pigeon
Woodpigeon
Collared Dove
Swallow
Pied Wagtail
Dunnock
Robin
Blackbird
Song Thrush
Chiffchaff
Long-tailed Tit
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Jay
Magpie
Jackdaw
Rook
Carrion Crow
Starling
House Sparrow
Chaffinch
Greenfinch
Goldfinch
Linnet

Below: Fulvous Whistling Duck (see list above for details)

I look forward to seeing everyone else's list, and how mine compares. I know my score won't be close to winning, considering the highest score last time was 98, but its the fun and taking part that counts, eh... Many thanks to Andrew at Quicksilverbirds for organising.

Long-Tailed birds

Unfortunately, it looks like we have waved goodbye to the warm weather that we have had this week. On the positive side, I still have some photos to show you that I took on Thursday evening when the light levels were fantastic. The birds that visited are all fairly common birds, but it was nice to see the Long-tailed Tit return again. Actually, there was a bit of a long-tailed theme with the visiting birds on Thursday. Chaffinches and Magpies (both long-tailed birds) were present for much of the time I was outside.

I do like the photo of the Long-Tailed Tit in the photo below. I must say that it is a little bit weird though. The bird looked straight at me whilst I took a photo of it, and the rest of the body was nearly hidden from view, so the shot just shows the head of a Long-Tailed Tit-strange, I know. I don't think I can think of any other garden bird that can hang upside down like the tiny and agile Long-Tailed Tit. I also can't think of any other garden bird that has a beak small enough to finish off the tiny, tiny bits of fat left in the fat feeder.

The Chaffinches have to be the highlight of the evening though. The male Chaffinch, which is in all of the photos below was in the garden for the longest time, choosing the best opportunity to take a sunflower heart or 2 from our fairly new feeder. If anything, the light may have been too bright as it reflected off the feeder. The males are so brightly coloured at the moment that they are some of the most colourful garden birds at the moment.

I always find it funny to watch them struggle to grip on to the feeder perches. They look some of the most awkward garden birds as they feed, very much unlike the Long-Tailed Tit in the first photo. Apparently, Chaffinches are one of the most common prey items of the Sparrowhawk. This really doesn't surprise me. They don't seem to mind feeding with other birds and aren't quite so quarrelsome and bossy as the Greenfinches.

Just before I was about to go inside, a pair of Magpies dropped in for something to eat. It amazes me how they are able to squeeze onto the bird table like they did in the 2 photos below. I reckon its that long tail that gives them the balance needed to hang on the bird table so easily. The smaller Collared Dove really struggles to get a grip on the table. The good light just shows the amazing colours on the feathers of the Magpie too. They may be troublesome, but they are fantastic birds to watch.

In the photo below, you will see the Magpie look straight at you... just like the LTT photo at the top of the post. Scary stuff!

The Blue Tit just seemed happy to sit in the apricot tree watching the birds feeding and the sunset. I wonder if this is our nesting female. If so, did it go into the nestbox shortly after this photo was taken to roost for the night?

So there you have it... I won't be posting again until at least Monday, because I am going down to the south coast to see my Grandma for the weekend. I should be going to a nature reserve on Saturday morning for the easter bird challenge, so I'll look forward to posting on that.

Arty by accident

I am definitely not talking about my art skills in terms of painting and drawing in the title of this post- I dropped art at GCSE level for a reason! In fact, I am talking about taking photos of birds... Isn't it funny when a photo doesn't turn out how you expect it to, yet still looks good in a different way. This happened on many occasions yesterday and I thought I could base a posting on it. I found that it most often occurs that you get a strange but arty photo when you are trying to be creative with the camera. The light was fantastic yesterday, so I took photo after photo in the evening. I was bound to get a few unusual shots from the 60 odd that I took, and here they are...

The first picture below is of a Wood Pigeon in flight. Would you have guessed it- probably not, but thats just what I think makes it an interesting photo. I was attempting to get a photo of it in flight, but the shutter speed on my camera is quite slow on automatic mode, so it blurred the wings of the bird. I was actually trying to take the picture so that the pigeon was in the middle of the shot, but by accident, it ended up in the bottom left of the photo. I was surprised with the good effect.

Again, have a guess what bird is in the photo below. In fact, how about I don't tell you what it is... it makes the photo even more intriguing. Have a guess if you like as to what bird it is. I bet some of you keen birdwatchers know birds by their shape. As a clue, this is a common garden bird which likes to feed on sunflower hearts. With the fading evening light, the birds were silhouetted against the sunset, and created a great effect. Again, completely by accident, but an effective shot, if I do say so myself.


You should be able to make out the bird in the photograph below. It isn't the same bird as the one in the photo above, by the way! The Goldfinch often visits quite late into the evening, and even in the fading light, it is still easy to make out the bright colours of the bird. Not so much of a silhouette shot, but similar to the photo above. Also, not quite as shy as the more bossy Greenfinch, so easier to photograph.

So, all in all, I had great fun taking these weird shots by accident. Why not have a go yourself!

Birds in April sunshine

Its always nice to see the sun shine so much at this time of year. It was pretty warm all day yesterday, and the birds have been busy at our bird feeders all the time. It has mostly been the usual suspects in the garden, but its always pleasing to see some less common birds visit the garden, especially if you have tried to attract them with different foods. The good light is good for taking photos too.

The Long-Tailed Tit in the photo below has got to be my favourite. The quality of the shot probably isn't amazing, but the amazing agility of the tiny bird makes the photo quite quirky. Most other birds would probably be unable to access the fat cake in that feeder, but this one decided to hang upside down off the feeder in order to get to the food! At the moment, there only seems to be one Long-tailed Tit visiting, instead of the small flock that sometimes come.

The Blue Tit pair that are nesting in our nestbox at the moment are frequently seen at the feeders, or on their favourite look-out perch in next-door's garden. The first photo shows a Blue Tit that looks like it is feeding on the buds of the plant they use as a perch. Maybe not quite as agile as the Long-tailed Tit in the photo above, but nonetheless very entertaining to watch as they flit from branch to branch.

The female Blue Tit looks around to make sure she is safe before flying into the nestbox to do some housework in the photo below.

Big, bold and green, the Greenfinch has been a common sight again recently. I don't think we still see them in the numbers that we used to (9-10 at any one time) but they arrive in 4's or 5's and are quite aggressive when they scare off smaller birds and fight with one another. Again, Greenfinches are quite hard to photograph probably because they are quite timid, and my camera doesn't have a good enough zoom to get a picture from a long-distance.

The chaffinch in the photo below the Greenfinch is just one of many visiting at the moment. One of my planned postings for the next week will include some more Chaffinch shots in even better light. I have always thought that they are a bit useless at clinging on to bird feeders, and seem to frantically try to get a grip on a feeder perch.

Again, the photo below isn't the greatest- mostly because of the swing which takes up much of the shot. However, at a second look on the computer, I was amazed at the colours on the Magpies' wing and tail feathers. The shiny blue is stunning-don't you think. I also noticed the fact that the Magpie had managed to turn its head right round so that it was facing the opposite direction to the rest of its body. There is more to the Magpie than you first think!

Just before I finish, I hope you like the change of blog template. I like to present my blog well, so I am constantly making changes to themes, colours, fonts, etc.

April Forget-Me-Nots

Its the easter holidays and I must say that I am loving the garden action at the moment. In terms of plants and wildlife, spring is well underway in our south-eastern england garden. Spring has got to be my favourite time of year, so I have collected some of my favourite spring plant shots, including the appearance of a new flower in the garden...

The garden plants are in spring mode now and are definitely starting to show some more colour. Our Apricot Tree is now covered in leaves rather than blossom, and much of the garden is more green than it was last month. Many of our garden birds have started nesting, especially a pair of Blackbirds which are currently collecting mouthfuls of insects and flying off with them. It seems that the Blue Tit nest in our non-camera nestbox could be pretty much complete now, as they don't seem to be taking material into the box anymore.

Elsewhere in the garden, flowers are starting to emerge, especially at the far end of our garden, where Forget-Me-Nots are growing. They have seeded themselves near our compost heap, and the flowers are now out. They have grown in little clusters and more are popping up elsewhere in the garden. Below are some of the shots I got of these pretty flowers. I hope you like the close-ups.

This photo shows the flowers close-up.


The size of the tiny flowers made it a little difficult for my camera to focus on the flowers rather than the stems.


The last of our apricot tree still lingers on a shaded part of the tree. The green-white colour contrast is brilliant at the moment. The photo below literally shows the last blossom flowers I could see on the tree. It is becoming more and more difficult to spot the birds in the dense leaves now. It is now hard for us to see the Robin nestbox which is on the "trunk" of the apricot tree.


Whilst the colourful flowers pop up here and there, weeds are also growing rapidly. I think that I may have to de-weed some parts of the garden during the easter holidays.

Next weekend should be a good experience with Andrews' Quicksilverbirds easter bird challenge. I didn't take part in the Christmas one, but should be able to take part this time around. My score WON'T be brilliant but its the taking part that counts! As I am going to the south coast again next weekend, I may be able to boost my score a little at Titchfield Marsh Nature Reserve. Fingers crossed for that!