best birds: December 2009

HAPPY NEW YEAR

To all my friends, followers, and readers of this little blog, I would like to wish

A HAPPY NEW YEAR !!

May 2010 be good to you.

My Garden Birds | December 2009

Jack Frost had painted the landscape, transforming the appearance of all that was exposed to the touch of his ice laden brush. Overnight, water had turned to ice, trees and shrubs sparkled white, while frozen spiders webs shimmered now in the first rays of sunlight.

After the rich pickings of Autumn the birds now faced the hard cold days of winter. Those nuts and berries plus the many and varied

Merry Christmas from My Garden Birds

Merry Christmas everyone.

Merry Christmas from me too.

and us.

Yes A MERRY CHRISTMAS to you all.

Ringstone edge reservoir

A nice couple of days this week at Ringstone edge with 26 more birds ringed.

5 Goldfinch

8 Chaffinch

6 Greenfinch

1 Reed Bunting

2 Blue Tits

1 Coal Tit

2 Gt Tits

1 Dunnock

and 1 retrap Dunnock from December 2007

Wordless Wednesday

More Pictures from Cley

Thanks again to David and Pat for sending me more great shots of the Twite that was ringed in August at Whiteholme reservoir .

A flock of 27 were seen yesterday at Cley.

Saturday

Yesterday spent a Full Day out with Phil and Sara at there Allerthorpe site near York. A great day with over 140 birds caught. Every third bird seemed to be a Tree Sparrow with , Blue Tits, Gt Tits, LT Tits, Willow Tits and a Marsh Tit. Also ringed Greenfinch, Bullfinch, Chaffinch, Dunnocks, Wrens. We also Colour Ringed 4 Blackbirds. One of the last birds out of the nets was a cracking full adult Male Sparrow Hawk. A very busy day. Thanks to Phil and Sara for inviting me over.

Rishworth Twite seen at Cley today

I got a lovely email from David and Pat Wileman today:

Our friend Tony Aberdein found a couple of your C-R Twite in a flock of 34 feeding in the salt marsh adjacent to Cley West Bank this morning (Dec 11)TG045449. They occasionally went up on wires and he started trying to read the rings but only had bins. We then arrived with scopes and have hopefully
got the full combos. Wondered at first if they might have been Marcus's birds from Kelling (he passed on the details) but they seem to be different.

Bird 1
Left Red over White split ring over Carmine ring.
Right metal (code included the numbers 87) over Yellow over Blue split ring.

Ringed at Rishworh Quarry in September sorry to say the 87 is part of T938700>T938799

First reports of any of the Rishworth birds Yellow /Blue on the right leg with metal

Bird2
Left White over Red split ring over Carmine ring.
Right metal ring.
Didn't see this bird for as long as the first but don't think there was any
ring above the metal.

This Bird was ringed at Whiteholme reservoir SD960199 on the 09/08/2009

Whiteholme had white /red over Bright Pink

Thanks for the photos as well

Being a Norfolk Boy i cannot blame them for wintering in a fantastic place

End the week on a high

Back down at Cooper Bridge today 30 Birds caught.

Mainly Blue Tits and Gt Tits

2 More Bullfinch

3 Robins today

1 Coal Tit

and on the last net round

a young Male Sparrowhawk

Very Nice.

My garden Birds | Latest Visitors

Three days ago, Friday to be precise, we had a pair of Coal Tits visit the garden. This is the first occasion that we have observed this species here at home. They seemed to be quite relaxed feeding on seeds in the vertical hanging feeder, making frequent visits and flying to and fro between the neighbouring trees. I was unable to take any pictures of them, they refusing to stay still once I had

This piece continues from yesterdays post where we saw the Blackbird tucking into some meal worms in the garden. During that time he was not alone. Flitting about and watching with interest were a Robin who has become a frequent visitor again and also a Little Wren. A group of House Sparrows were constantly flying in and out but the relative peace was about to be shattered.

The Blackbird

Cooper Bridge

I was going over to Allerthorpe near York to day for a ringing session with Phil. But due to the shity weather this morning it was cancelled . I drove up to Ringstone edge to put some more seed down and had a mixed flock of 50 finches coming down. So i will try for them next week.

I then moved on to Scammonden to see if the GND was showing any better and i fell lucky, it was right down by the inflow and quite close.

See more at www.grayimages.co.uk

After taking about 300 photos i packed up and drove down to Cooper bridge where i set one 30ft net. 2 Hours later i packed up having ringed

3 Bullfinch

4 Gt Tits

2 Chaffinch

1 Coal Tit

6 Blue Tits

1 Robin

So not a bad day after a crappy start.

My Garden Blackbird

After writing the post titled Blackbird likes Holly berries, it seems that my Garden Blackbird has begun to wander more into the garden and is certainly eating more than just those berries. Perhaps he takes them as desert, a nice bit of fruit, part of the 5 a day we are all told we should eat.

"I've had enough of those Holly Berries" the handsome male Blackbird thought to himself.

"The lovely