Week one: Garden Bird Survey

Great start to the Garden Bird Survey: a cold and mainly dry week, conditions that brought a good selection of birds and in numbers too.

Week one: Best for us was a daily visit from a Jay, even managed a nice side lit pic in the willow tree, before it lodged itself onto the Peanut feeder.

Jay (c. OOS)

We have managed to attract 3 Goldfinches to the same peanut feeder: no Nyjer seed with us, so although that seed is a sure fire attractant for Goldies, you can get them with Peanuts! Incidentally, they have completely ignored the Teasel plants that have self seeded around, which is a bit surprising.

Goldfinch (c. OOS)

The Blackbirds (10 minimum) and Coal Tits (12 ) were the most numerous birds in the garden last week, but no sign of a real exotic such as Waxwing or Woodpecker.. not yet. Mind you, Pied Wagtails and a Bullfinch are a pretty smart looking support cast, the former feeding off the west facing gable end, where insects are still flying on sunny days. Bullfinches continue to reward the ‘lazy’ gardener: lots of weed and seed heads to forage through on our plot. A Sparrowhawk has the garden on its daily routine, it may have got a Blackbird on day one. Others on the margins of the garden are Long tailed Tits and a Treecreeper: once the call of the latter is learnt, they appear to be a regular enough visitor.

Coal Tit (c.OOS)

The only berries left in our garden are Ivy, and they’re not ripe yet, though they will no doubt be a very valuable food source when things get tough, the far side of Christmas: how gaunt and bare the old Elder tree looks now, it was festooned with bracts of shiny black berries just a few months ago ..

Pied Wagtail (c.OOS)