Winter garden

Studying has been my main priority for the last 2 or 3 weeks, but I have had time to occaisionally go outside and take some photos. Enjoy!

Dunnock (the top one isn't very photogenic)
Blue Tit (I tried a bit of editing on this one). The apricot tree branches aren't really that red!

I did 2 posts today, so you might want to look at the last post too.

Sick Chaffinch

Last weekend, I saw a Chaffinch acting rather strangely in the garden. It was unusually tame and didn't look very well either. I saw it first as I got up in the morning. I was watching the birds out of the window at about 7:00 when I saw it perched on the edge of our conservatory roof. It wasn't really moving, yet I was only about 3 or 4 metres away from it. This was the first I had seen it, so at this point I wasn't sure what was wrong with it.

Throughout the day, I kept seeing it more and more, sat on our conservatory roof. In the afternoon I went outside. The Chaffinch was still there. I kept asking myself, "what shall I do". It was clearly in pain, so I left it alone. I took a few pictures for the record. It tried to find a warm place to roost for the night, but unfortunately, the sub-zero temperatures were too much for it and it died. :-(

Sad news, eh... I guess this kind of thing happens all the time. I cleaned out the feeders thoroughly the next day, and since then, I have seen no sick birds. Hurrah! In fact, our feeders have been very busy recently, and the feeder is empying in a couple of days. On a serious note, its just as important to keep the feeders clean as it is to fill them up. I will definately do it more often in the future.

If you have any ideas as to what was actually wrong with this Chaffinch, by looking at the photos, please leave a comment and I will be grateful. I wonder where it caught the disease too. I don't think it was from our garden because no other birds appear ill in any way. Just a quick note for Shirl too... Sorry I haven't joined you in the birdwatch post for the past few weeks. I have just handed in the first part of my Geography coursework which I have spent a lot of time on recently. I have some photos of the last few weeks in the garden to post today or tomorrow which will be similar to our bird watch post.

At last: a Rye heron pic

Firstly I would like to say that at the moment, I have been very busy with coursework, exam revision... etc. I am 14 and my GCSE's are mostly next year, but a few more minor ones have already taken place. This is mostly why I haven't been posting very often this month. I just haven't had as much time to gaze out of my bedroom window while the birds come and go. Also, I would like to apologize for not replying to comments very fast - I do read them all. You may notice that the posts will be a little shorter too.

Ah, I'm glad I've got all the depressing stuff out of the way. Now to something much more cheerful- our local park' s wildlife in the morning (again). I was much luckier with my latest trip to the Rye park in terms of bird sightings. It was surprising too as I was there at around 12:00 which meant that it was busy. The Grey Heron isn't a particularly rare bird, but a fantastic one to watch. In the case of the park, there is only one or two that visit, but they are regular visitors. Please forgive the washed-out photos. Considering they are large birds they aren't very tame, so the photos are taken from quite a range.

I also saw some of the usual birds. One of these is the Tufted Duck. They are fantastic to watch and this time I managed to get a close-up picture of one. The males are more striking but I have taken a picture of the female too. They don't demand bread like the Mallards do so they tend to stay away from the path which runs along the river. At a distance these birds look like they are just plain black and white but the pictures I took show some interesting colouring on the back of their necks.

All photos taken at my local park.