Sparrowhawk in garden again

This morning topped off a very interesting weekend of garden wildlife. After the chiffchaff, goldcrest, fox and sparrowhawk I managed to spot in our garden yesterday, I thought it couldn't get much better than that. But this morning, as I got up, I looked out of my bedroom window to see a male sparrowhawk on the garden fence- it looked the same as the one I saw yesterday.

It didn't have anything in its talons and it seemed perfectly happy to sit on the fence- maybe it had just failed to catch something. Anyway, I took a few quick photos through my bedroom window, in case it flew away in the next 30 seconds or so. But, amazingly, it stayed sat on the fence for plenty of shots. After looking at them on the PC, only the one below was properly focused...

I do appreciate that Sparrowhawks have to eat as well which is why I don't usually mind seeing them in the garden (as long as they aren't too frequent).

That's all for now, have a great day :)

Not quite what I was looking for

A trip to Wendover woods occupied me yesterday. I went in the afternoon, and unfortunately, the place was quite busy, already reducing my chances of seeing some wildlife. It was busy, mostly because of picknickers, but as soon as we had walked a short distance from the car park and picnic benches, it was a lot quieter on the paths. The woods are great for birdwatching, and renowned for being home of a very special and rare bird: the Firecrest. However, I later found out that there were only 10 breeding pairs of Firecrests in the entire forest.

We arrived in the early afternoon, and walked on the nearly 3 mile-long "Firecrest Trail". According to the leaflet about the place, the tiny birds are heard more often than seen. They make a very high-pitched song. Unbelievably, we heard a song matching the description of that in the leaflet, but we later found out that it belonged to another very small bird, the Coal Tit. From a distance, I have to say that I thought that it was a Firecrest. With a closer look through the binoculas, I saw not just one Coal Tit, but at least 10 of them. Coal Tits are known to prefer conifer trees, and these woods were mostly conifers, as you can see in the photo above. Coal Tits are beautiful birds, but they are quite common, so it was no real surprise to see them. Firecrests are very rare where we live, so it would have been great to see one. Throughout the walk, we ended up seeing hundreds of them, along with a suspected Sparrowhawk, and some Long-tailed Tits. But no Firecrests. It was difficult to take a picture of the Coal Tits, because they were quite high up in the trees, and more timid than most that I see in our garden.

Below are some photos and illustrations of Coal Tits and Firecrests from the RSPB website. Shame they are not from my camera! Firecrests look very similar to Goldcrests, which sometimes causes some confusion.

Top image taken by me at Wendover Woods, and all others are from the RSPB website.

A first for everything

Most years, we get plenty of Ladybirds in and around our garden. My dad grows a crop of vegetables every year. The crops attract large groups of Blackfly and Aphids that the Ladybirds would normally eat. This year, the veg is growing as good as ever, and there are thousands of Blackfly and Aphids. But where have all the Ladybirds gone. I have seen only 1 so far this year (which I have pictures of below). I saw it crawling across our lawn. Even this one didn't look very well. It stopped for a few minutes on a dead leaf, which allowed me to fetch my camera.

So where have all the Ladybirds gone. Well, I did a Google search to see if I could find anything of interest. I searched "seven spot ladybird being outcompeted", and clicked on the first result (a Wikipedia page about the Seven Spot Ladybird or "Coccinella septempunctata". Towards the bottom of the article, I saw a little part, which said, "In the United Kingdom, there are fears that the seven-spot ladybird is being out-competed for food by the Harlequin Ladybird". I have proof! And, having seen the picture of the Harlequin Ladybird on Wikipedia, I know that I have seen this type of Ladybird in our garden and shed. I wonder if others have found this pattern too? Leave a comment on this topic if you wish.
Here are the photos:


Harlequin Ladybird. The colours are known to vary widely, so you may not see one like this. Picture from Wikipedia.

Seven Spot Ladybird in garden:

I thought I might just add in a quick note about some interesting and unusual birds seen in our garden over the last week or so. We have had the usual visitors such as House Sparrows, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Robins, Chaffinches, Greenfinches, Goldfinches, etc. But we also had a Sparrowhawk fly over the garden and land on a nearby greenhouse. It then flew over 2 more times in the next few days (including once today). A Great Spotted Woodpecker also visited and took some fat. I have only ever seen Coal Tits on their own, but yesterday I saw a group of 3 take it in turns to feed. They really don't stay long. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of any of these rarer birds, but I hope they give me another chance by returning.