Just wanted to quickly say that I haven't disappeared off the face of the Earth :-) Its been a long time since I posted, but I just wanted to say that I haven't given up on this blog and I certainly haven't given up with watching the wildlife in my garden! School work is once again the reason why I have been unable to do much posting. Last month I took some AS modules, so I had been working hard for those. In case your interested by the way, the AS levels I am taking are:
- Biology
- Chemistry
- Geography
- Politics
- Photography
Because I haven't posted since November, uploading all the photos and videos I took during this period would be an absolute nightmare. So I'll just briefly describe what's been going on here over the last couple of months...
So back in November when I left you, the birds were still feeding frantically and we were getting a few unusual visitors to the garden- we had a jay (which has visited before in previous years), and a great spotted woodpecker. I did actually get some decent video footage of the jay on our bird table but I can't find the video file now :-( Will definitely upload it if and when I find it though.
We went to see family at Christmas on the Wirral (near West Kirby), and managed to get out a couple of times to watch the bird life around there. On West Kirby Marine Lake, we spotted a fairly large number of wintering turnstones (which I may upload the photos of at some point). We also managed to catch a glimpse of a Marsh Harrier at a local reserve, as the light was fading in the evening.
We then went off to east Yorkshire for a new years holiday (with family and friends). One of the highlights of the holiday was the walk along Spurn Head on the East Yorkshire coast. Below are some of the photos I took on the way:
Since we have been back home, the garden birds have been feeding very regularly. Just last week, our apricot tree was pruned a fair amount, so for a little while, the birds will have slightly less cover around the feeders. Hopefully though when the leaves start to appear on the tree again, this will provide more cover and shelter for the feeding birds. We took part in the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch again. We spotted pretty much the usual suspects, but we didn't see a coal tit (which turned up 10 minutes after we had finished counting!
- Blackbird x1
- Chaffinch x4
- Dunnock x2
- House Sparrow x5
- Magpie x2
- Starling x2
- Blackcap x1
- Great Tit x1
- Woodpigeon x7
- Blue Tit x4
- Collared Dove x1
- Goldfinch x2
- Greenfinch x2
- Robin x3
This years' counts were pretty similar to last years' counts for us. It will be interesting to see whether the same pattern was seen nationwide when the RSPB release the results.
However, since these results, we have seen a red legged partridge in the garden several times (including today). I will see if I can get some photos of video footage before it stops visiting. So I'm happy to say that the red legged partridge is another garden first for us :-)
I will post either tomorrow or the day after about how the nesting seasons appears to be just beginning again in our garden. I have plenty of video to show you for that post. For now though, I hope you have a great weekend.
