Birds For Windows

It's been a busy few days so apologies for not being able to do a more substantive post.

The window feeder has continued to provide some excellent views of the blue tits who are regular visitors to the feeder and quite tolerant of us being behind the glass as long as we don't make any sudden movements.

The blackbirds had taken to using it, but they had a habit of sweeping all of the food out of the feeder leaving nothing for the other birds.  We remedied this by moving the separate perspex roof of the feeder lower so they couldn't land (there is plenty other food that we provide that they can access).

We were pleasantly surprised when one of the skittish coal tits plucked up enough courage and started to be a regular visitor to the feeder.  Unlike the blue tit, he was gone as soon as he saw any movement at all.  I managed to get these shots because I had staked out the feeder.  There where far more bad ones than good.

Over the Border

 Living in the north of Nottinghamshire, geographically we sit on the edge of neighbouring counties.  Ten minutes drive and we're in South Yorkshire or Lincolnshire.  Lincoln is actually the closest city to us.

Our retired neighbour, Bill pointed us in the direction of Whisby Nature Reserve in Lincolnshire, so a few weeks ago we decided to hop over the border and pay a visit.

We were surprised by how large the reserve was, with several large lakes on the site.  A large part of the reserve was closed when we visited, as a bridge that was being built over a train line was not quite finished.  It is hoped that it will be open at the end of February.

There are numerous hides where you can watch what is going on out on the water and a rather impressive centre which includes a shop and large cafe.  I also took a few photos of the bird feeders that they had set up from a nearby viewing point.  I thought that our own garden feeders had a lot of Grey and Blue Tits using it.  At Whisby there seemed to be dozens of them.

We're looking forward to exploring more of this reserve in the coming weeks.  When we visited it was cold, dull and very overcast and I'm looking forward to seeing what else this great reserve has to offer.

All and Sundry

The last sunrise of 2014

In the past few weeks, we have replaced damaged bird feeders and have just started to experiment with different food stuffs.   Over the past few months the type of birds that we've had at the feeders have been pretty consistent, sparrows, robins, great tits and blue tits.

The blue tits in particular have finally discovered the window feeder that we've affixed to the kitchen window. I bought the feeder on a whim but it took weeks before the birds seemed to take any interest in it.

When the snow and cold weather arrived on Boxing Day, temperatures in the area barely climbed above zero during the day and the nights where subzero for the next week.  Subsequently, the feeders have been busier than usual.

Long Tailed Tits band together during the winter to share heat during the night.  They also tend to stay close to each other during the day so it's not uncommon to see over a dozen of them on the fatballs and the peanut feeder.

With so many birds around, there has been plenty of squabbling.  Robins, starlings and blackbirds are constantly skirmishing with each other but one of the strangest confrontations we have seen  was a squaring off between the normally mild mannered woodpigeon and  a jackdaw.  The jackdaw is very partial to the bread that we throw out and most birds keep out of its way.  The woodpigeon was having none of this and chased the jackdaw away from the bread.  Bizarrely, the woodpigeon doesn't eat bread.

Woodpigeon vs Jackdaw

We've also spotted more greenfinches and coal tits around than normal.  Coal tits are small timid birds that fly onto the perch of the feeders, grab some food and fly off in a matter of seconds.  We have counted five greenfinches on one feeder at the same time with one of the birds actually feeding the others which makes us think that they are part of a family unit.

The elusive coal tit and a greenfinch

The Greater Spotted Woodpecker has also been a more frequent visitor to the nut feeder.  It won't tolerate any other birds on the feeder and will quickly chase off any that dare land on it.

At the moment, we've been refilling the bird feeders three times a week.  With so many birds around it was only a matter of time before the predators paid a visit.  We`ve seen plenty of  opportunistic  fly-bys  from sparrowhawks and kestrels hoping to catch a inattentive bird while feeding.  They've had some success judging from the circles of feathers we keep feeding in the garden.

One bird that I am hoping will return is the pale pink female bullfinch that we saw on the hedge checking out the feeders.  It was the first time that I had seen a female bullfinch before and would love to be able to get some good pictures of her.