Our local Sparrowhawk

Barely an hour passes without this large and beautiful female Sparrowhawk visiting the garden. Occasionally she tries a low sweep through the garden other times its a lethargic glide and search with an accompanying mob of  Swallows, Greenfinches and Crows trying to divert the bird away. Only occasionally does she stop at the bottom of the garden and I'm there with my camera ready for a quick snap.

Small Brindled Beauty

I thought it might be interesting to try the Moth trap in early spring this year -something I've not tried before. Under a misty overcast sky and very mild temperatures to the constant sound of Redwings migrating through, I recorded this interesting moth. Originally, I thought this was a Brindled beauty, but checking my field guides carefully, I beIieve this to be the smaller and similar Small Brindled Beauty. It has a metallic brass sheen to its wings which vaguely recalls the Burnished Brass recorded elsewhere on my blog. I think my images could have been better as it looked a prettier Moth in the hand. Still, there's plenty of nights ahead to practice.

Chiffchaff - first spring migrant

Much warmer and milder weather today, (with a SW westerly breeze to), brought in a Chiffchaff to the garden. It was singing from the Larch at the front of the house this afternoon. Its our first summer migrant of the spring.

14 degrees good-bye winter?

Sunday and today have seen a big leap in sunshine and temperature. Spring is now warm enough for the first visits down the garden of the Brimestone butterfly - ( unfortunately to quick for me to photograph). They are also accompanied by basking Peacock Butterflies interested in nothing more than a spot of sun bathing. Bees are here to, on the hunt for nectar rich plants and catkins, but as yet there isn't too much in flower to feed on. In our garden the Sallows always provide early spring blossom but will not be in full flower for another week yet.

Winter light on Blue Tit

After late February's cold and relentlessy wet weather we now have bitterly cold but sunny March days. The wind is from the North and the threat of a snow flurry never far away. Still, at least we are now getting some sunshine and on the continent they really are still in the grip of winter. My son George, returned from Koblenz today, and there was freshly fallen thick snow in Germany and Belgium.

Back in the garden - spring is trying to show signs of promise. My first Bumble Bee was seen yesterday, Chaffinches and Blackbirds are battling over territories, a pair of Robins exchange centipedes strengthening the bond and the pond has plenty of Newt activity.

Blue Tits have started to return and rebuild last year's nests in the boxes. Having now depleted the hedgerows of berries, Redwings and Fieldfares in the pasture field, are now fattening up on Earthworms in readiness for their Northward bound return to Scandinavia and Russia. Interestingly our 'garden' Fieldfare is still very much with us, feasting on a 'gift' apple a day at the bottom of the garden.

Redwings foraging in the pasture field

Fieldfares are numerous in the pasture field at the moment, but I think this bird is still the same one that has been visiting for Apples since Christmas.

Fieldfare feasting on garden Rose Hips

A brisk north-easterly wind has brought snow once again to Kent and a return visit of Fieldfares to the garden too. Whilst some birds are still feeding on Apples at the back of the garden, two are feeding close to the house on the Dog Rose berries (Rose hips in the garden hedge. The Rose hips, tough and and unmovable for most of the winter, have now softened and the Fieldfares have quickly devoured most of the fruit they can reach. What remaining Rose hips there are lie at the end of thin stems, a place from where this large Thrush struggles to collect, but now the Fieldfares fly-up, strike and knock the berries down to eat from the lawn.

Interestingly, our local garden Blackbird pair are very aggressive to the Fieldfares near the house, constantly chasing the them away. This is something of a surprise to me, as the much larger Fieldfare is usually the undisputed and (uninvited) garden king.

Apologies for yet another collection of Fieldfare close-ups. These were taken with much better light conditions, and you should find these are higher quality images than those on previous posts. Also, you simply never know when Fieldfares will arrive back in our winter gardens, the last time was 10 years ago.





This is 'our' Blackbird who has been busy chasing the Fieldfares away from it's garden territory. Frustratingly, it won't tolerate our garden Song Thrushes either. Our bird (we should have given it a name by now) is easily recognisable by its drooped left wing. It's been around the garden and fathered dozen of fledglings for at least four years.

Bullfinch feeding on snow covered Bramble

Just 20 feet down the garden we have left a thicket of Bramble and Dog Rose build-up over 10 years. After the pond I wonder if this is the most valuable and important wildlife resource in the garden?
In spring it is used as a nesting site for Blackbird and Song Thrush, in summer it is ofter visited by White Admiral Butterfly, Honey Bees and Hornets. In winter there is a roost of House Sparrows and Starlings, and the bramble fruit heads which we leave to go to seed - and admitidely looking rather scruffy, are an important food resource for the scarce Bullfinch. These once common and slightly docile looking finches seem to be scarcer than in my childhood memories. I once read a game-keeping article that considered the decline was caused by an increase number of Sparrowhawks. I guess Gamekeepers would say that, wouldn't they - but the round-headed, thick-necked and dumpy Bullfinch appear to offer a Sparrowhawk an easier catch than, perhaps, an agile Chaffinch?

Back to the garden: As with last winter, we presently have a party of 3 Bullfinches which forage for hours in the bramble stems. There are two striking crimson-breasted males and a demure and equally beautiful female bird. It may just be coincidence, but our Bullfinches seem to appear when the weather is particularly bad - for instance the middle of this snow storm. They're very shy birds making photography a real challenge. I like these pictures because they show the birds feeding naturally and not, for instance, at a bird feeder.

For some reason our Bullfinches will not take any interest in the sunflower or nyjer seed at out feeding stations and once they've depleted the bramble seeds, they'll probably be gone till next winter.