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.

The birds have returned...

...Well, kind of anyway! The sun is out and the birds are singing. Funnily enough, since the last post about the disappearance of the birds, they are starting to return slowly but surely. However, they are awfully shy, and it has really been difficult to capture these birds on camera. A Greenfinch has showed interest in the bird food and seems to be visiting again (see picture below). I have still only seen one at a time, but its a start.

I have had quite a busy week and have struggled to get out and watch the birds, but I have still noticed a definite increase in the number of birds visiting. They seem to only take brief visits to the feeder perches, as the great tit video shows below. I haven't seen a Goldfinch for a while, but I hope the other birds encourage them to return. I re-arranged the bird feeders after I took the photos and videos below in the hope that the less popular ones will now get used . I also topped up the tables and feeders so we should get some more visitors. With the cooler, wetter, unsummerish weather we've been having before today, the bird bath has been quiet.

Below is a picture of the solitary male Greenfinch seen over the last few days. It, like everything else at the feeders usually stays for a maximum of about 2 minutes before flying off. I could not get very close to this Greenfinch, and had to take the picture from the house. Chaffinches have continued to visit in reasonably large numbers, spending quite a lot of time feeding at the seed feeder at the end of our garden.

Even the House Sparrows are quite timid, and don't appear very often. I say this but they are still visiting often. I think this one is quite young as it has a slight gape on its beak.

A Sparrowhawk is visiting a lot at the moment, which could have caused this Great Tit to be unusually timid. However, it really wasn't happy with me getting close to film it which was a bit strange. Earlier on in the year, the Great Tits were much more tame, so I'm not quite sure why this one is. The photo is a little dark (even after a bit of editing), and my camera shook around a bit while I took the video, but it still gives you an idea on what is happening. At the start of the film the Great Tit is "hiding" in the bush near our feeders, before eventually hopping onto the feeder perch. Even then, it only showed itself briefly. In part of the video, the Great Tit appears to be nervously peering around the side of the feeder. Very strange behaviour indeed!


I will soon post on our messy, overgrown garden.

All photos and videos above were taken in our garden

All quiet at the bird feeders

I was quite busy today. I woke up this morning and thought I would go outside and do a spot of birdwatching. I was a bit put off by the miserable weather, but decided to go out anyway. So, I walked out at about 9:15am with my camera and a pair of binoculars only to find... well, nothing actually.

I was patient and gazed at the empty feeders with patience, but honestly there was absoloutly nothing. I went back indoors, and got a drink. I then thought I would give it another shot about half an hour later. So, I strode out again, and this time I had a bit of luck. I saw a Dunnock, followed by a Blue Tit, 2 Great Tits and a Coal Tit. I struggled to get pictures or footage, but the Dunnock finally stayed long enough for me to record it.

Over the last few weeks there has been a much less activity at the bird feeders and tables. The Greenfinches have disappeared completely. I wonder if the poor weather is putting them off?! This hasn't been the case in the past, and somehow after some serious thought I don't think this is the cause of the problem.

There has been a cat visiting our garden recently, which could be scaring the birds off. However, when I was outside, the cat wasn't there and there were still no birds. I do also know that birds are moulting at this time of year, which could mean the birds are less active. I'm just confusing you and myself now.
I wonder if this is the case elsewhere in the country?

Have a good day and fingers crossed, I can get out to do some more birdwatching.