Snow

Its been snowing quite heavily on and off for about ten days now. I haven't actually made it out quite as much as i'd like in order to see what the birds are doing and how they're reacting to the white stuff.
One really notable thing is the movement of birds into urban areas, which doesn't really require leaving the house in most cases. In the garden there have been the usual suspects but they've been bolstered by some other arrivals. The female Blackcap has been joined by a male, although she is more dominant and chases him off, however the past couple of days have seen their absence which is disappointing. A coal tit, which is usually regular, but has been absent for some weeks, returned the other day but hasn't been seen much. Goldcrests have also been showing on and off feeding in the pine tree.

The usual pattern of thrushes moving in has been the most obvious though, and the blackbird numbers have increased, with many birds taking advantage of the windfall apples in the garden. A song thrush was also present the other day but since the weekend when snow came on thicker, it hasnt been seen again. The best bird however, has been a Fieldfare. Lots of these winter thrushes have been noted around west bridgford over the last couple of days and this loner has been in the garden since sunday. It is happily sitting, eating apples from the ground and hiding amongst the branches of the apple tree when resting. It seems unusual for there to be only one but it seems happy enough. Annoyingly i haven't got my camera here at the moment so no chance of a photo, i had hoped it would stay til the weekend, but i feel the milder weather that is forecast will see it off, along with all the other fieldfares, into the countryside again to eat worms and berries.

In other news, waxwings are still about but in small numbers and not really nearby. Small flocks in Gotham, Calverton and other outlying villages have been reported but they seem to have forsaken Nottingham for greener pastures. A flock of 15 was supposedly at Lady Bay bridge the other day, when it was particularly chilly, and as I was 5 mins down the road when it was reported, I decided to have a look. Sadly there were no waxwings, although there were lots of cornubia berries being gobbled up by flocks of hungry Redwings and Blackbirds. The hunt for waxwings goes on!


I did have a nice wander round Attenborough last friday (18th) which was quite productive, with 44 species seen, which in winter is just below average i'd say. The snow was falling quite heavily which meant birds were on the deck and therefore harder to see, although there were plenty to see at the bird tables. The delta gate bird table was particularly busy, with loads of tits and finches visiting, as well as a Nuthatch and Willow Tit. Some siskins were heard nearby too. The ponds were mostly iced over which meant there weren't many waterfowl to be seen and the poor visibility didn't help either, although good numbers of Goldeneye and Goosander were present, as well as my first Shelducks of the year which were seen on the clifton pond island. Lots of Redwing and Blackbird were about, feeding under the shade of trees in the leaf litter along with smaller numbers of Song Thrush, and a few Fieldfare were seen feeding on berries in a garden near the cricket field.

The snow and cold weather is here for another couple of days and then its set to get milder I think. I'd like to get out once again before it warms up, but will welcome a bit of milder weather so I can get on my bike again. The plan from now is to try to finish my BIKEIT list, though there's some on there I know I will fail to see, but Lesser Pecker is my main mission.