My local patch in the mist

In BBC Springwatch, Bill Oddie especially is always urging the viewers to visit their "local patches". Well, this morning, I did. It was great to get out early in the morning too which meant that I could see this morning's mist. The effect was quite stunning, so out came my camera! I loved every minute of it, but was a bit disappointed with the lack of birds I saw. Before I start blithering about what I saw, I had better explain what my local wildlife patch is. It is a large park with a river running through it, and some woodland. It is called the Rye park and is pretty much on my doorstep.

I'm afraid that I only have some swans and ducks to show you today but they are such photogenic birds, so I am quite pleased with the results. On the river before, I have seen Grey Herons very often, and occasionally, Kingfishers too. Thrushes and blackbirds are normally also seen on the grass of the park. But none of these were seen today. The bad visibility probably didn't help, and on another day, it could have been a very different story. The bad visibility changed throughout the day however, as you will find out in my next post.

The Mute Swan is such an elegant bird and they are great to watch. They are a little dominant and the small ducks keep their distance, but they are very funny as they follow you along the path begging for food. I tried using some new camera modes to capture them in a different way today but I think I need some more practice. The swans make such loud noises when they flap their wings too. The swan is such a large bird and they are hard to miss. This is why I am surprised that I found it difficult to see the also large Grey Heron today. The pictures below show some snippets of the swans today. There weren't many different species of ducks out today either, but I did see the Tufted Duck. I posted on Tufted Ducks recently too but I think I got better photos this time. They are less tame than the Mallards, and are smaller too so they are harder to photograph. The males have a shiny look to their plumage and are more striking than the Mallard. My mum does a daily jog through this park and says that there were some colourful ducks yesterday. Just my luck that I saw none of them today :-(

The coots have a brilliant soft look about them, and although they are of a similar colour to the Tufted duck the plumage texture looks very different and they are quite different in how they act. Pictures of the Mallard, Coot and Tufted Duck are below.

I hope that I will be able to visit the Rye again on the weekends and hope that I see a bit more next time. This afternoon was a completely different story, and I have a more successful session of wildlife watching to talk about soon.

All images were taken by me at the Rye park this morning

Wanted!

Our garden is home to quite a wide variety of garden birds plus a few unexpected woodland and countryside birds. However, I always feel I can attract more. I put out a wide variety of food too, which helps. Goldfinches were a species which didn't used to visit our garden until a couple of years ago. While these birds are very common, quite tame and easy to see and hear, they are very fussy eaters as far as seeds go.

We used to just feed whole black sunflower seeds and peanuts. At this point we had not seen or heard Goldfinches in our garden. It was only when we started to feed nyjer seeds and sunflower hearts that the Goldfinches came. At the time seeing the first Goldfinch in our garden was very exciting but now they are just as common as other birds and we take the presence for granted. I would like to get the same exciting feeling by attracting other birds, but I need help! The pictures below show a juvenile Goldfinch seen in our garden recently:

So, what are the birds that I aim to attract to my garden. Well, some of the less common and occasional visitors are: Bullfinches, Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Wrens, Goldcrests, Jays, Bramblings, Song Thrushes and Mistle Thrushes. These birds are all breif visitors, but I would like to attract some other birds too. One of the most common birds that has not been seen in my garden is the Nuthatch. Now I know for sure that a lot of people reading this will have seen one in their garden. I have seen one on holiday, but never at home.

These are colourful, small and acrobatic birds that I am sure are very entertaining to watch. But I am not sure how to attract them. I already put out peanuts, seeds of various types and fats. Does anybody know what else I could try feeding to attract them? The image below is from wikipedia. This must be a pet Nuthatch!

Another wanted bird in the garden is the Pied Wagtail. I have seen this bird countless times in car parks scavenging on food, but surprisingly this bird is not quite so common in gardens hence why I have never seen one. Not a particulary thrilling bird to watch, but important to feed nonetheless. I'm not sure if there is anything in particular that will attract these birds, but please comment if you can think of something. As far as I am aware they will not nest in nestboxes so I am not sure if there is an awful lot I can do for this bird. The picture below is again from wikipedia.

In fact this bird is probably one of the only ones that benefits from human activity, so it is maybe not essential that I feed these birds specifically apart from just to experience seeing it.

The Tree Sparrow is the bird I would like to see the most. Its close relative, the House Sparrow is recognised by birdwatchers all over the world, but the Tree Sparrow is a seemingly declining species. Its habitat is more in the countryside but is sometimes spotted in gardens too. I think its a real shame that this bird is struggling because it is one that would be fantastic to see alongside its common relative. It is more neat and tidy looking than the House Sparrow as shown in the photo on wikipedia. I have never even seen this bird even outside my garden so it is difficult to picture what the bird would act like.

The last bird on my list is not actually one bird. But it might as well be because it is often impossible to tell the two birds apart. They are the Marsh and Willow Tit. Again, I have never seen one of these properly in the wild, but I think I may have seen glimpses. They are a lot shyer than the more common Tits so it is not surprising that I have never seen one of these in my garden. While there is woodland near our house, their main habitat is probably more dense woodland.

I am guessing that if they visited feeding stations at all, they would take seeds but please correct me if I am wrong. This is probably one of those birds that has visited our garden before but hasn't been seen. It was very sad to hear that the numbers of Marsh Tits has decreased significantly over recent years. On wikipedia it says, "There has been a >60% decline in numbers in Britain between 1960 and 2000, with numbers down to 52,800 pairs". Now I know why I am unlikely to see them!

Now I have written all this I realise that my list is quite ambitious. If I don't see these birds in my garden (which is highly likely), I will hope to see them more when I am out elsewhere.

First 2 images were taken in my garden on 28-09-08. All others are from wikipedia.

Birdwatch hut

Just last week, we had an office building built on some bare slabs near the house. This didn't disturb any wildlife in the process as there was nothing there before it was built. I hasn't really helped wildlife either. But I tell you who it has helped: me! Birdwatching really wasn't the intended use for this building, and I didn't think that the window would give such a view. The windows face towards the feeders and a nestbox, and because of the way the light reflects off the windows, the birds can't see me through the glass. So it should be great for filming and watching wildlife in the future. What an unexpected surprise!

Some of the birds in the garden will allow to get up close to them anyway, but some of the shyer visitors like the Wren I saw yesterday are much harder to see in detail. So this should allow me to take some better pictures with my camera. Not only is this good for watching birds, I think that sitting outside the house, even in an office building or a conservatory is nice to be inside. Even if there are no birds to watch, there are our crazy rabbits along with insects and plants to admire.

In my garden, there aren't really any other places in which to sit and watch the birds in peace. From my bedroom window, you can see the whole garden but its quite a distant view. The garden shed isn't practical either as the windows don't face out onto any feeders or nestboxes. And while my garden is quite overgrown there is nowhere in the garden where I can sit without being seen. In nature reserves the hides are fantastic and allow you to see shy birds in their natural environment. Admittedly our little wooden office building isn't quite the same as a large hide in a nature reserve but its the same idea.

Now, to something related to bird watching and definately related to feeding the birds. I got an email from the RSPB recently telling me about Feed The Birds Day, which takes place on the weekend of 25th and 26th October. Any very keen birdwatchers reading this will already have heard of this event, but I thought I would make it known to others too! I didn't know about it until the email came through, so I am new to it too. I have however heard of The RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch and although I haven't done it I plan to do it next year. On the weekend in which Feed The Birds Day is taking place there are many events going on all over the country.

So, why do I recommend feeding the birds. Well, as you may know the winter months can prove to be very hard for garden birds (the small ones inparticular) and its important that they eat the needed amount of energy-rich foods. You don't even have to watch the birds all the time (although I recommend that you do). It is most important that we just put the food out. I reckon that most of the people reading this probably already feed the birds anyway, but you can always do more! Now, a word of advice to someone who has never fed the birds before. Don't expect immediate results when you leave out food. It takes the birds a while to find and get used to the food being there.

I feed the birds sunflower hearts (sunflower seeds without the husks), suet, peanuts and specialist nyjer seed. In the breeding season I feed fruit and mealworms too. I must say that in recent years the peanuts get eaten far less often than the seeds and suet. So if you do take place in feed the birds day, these foods would be the best to provide. I find that nowadays even the slightest hint of a bird table or recently filled bird feeder will be sure to attract common birds. So even if you just put some kitchen scraps on the bird table, do something for birds on the 25th and 26th October.
All photos taken in my garden and office building on 28-09-08