Month: February 2013

First bee of the year, garden bird list, Edinburgh Sunset.

Another great sign of spring for me happened today; my first bee of the year! Ā Very exciting, I was taking a break in the sun, I couldnā€™t resist it, the light had been streaming in through the windows while I worked on the finance pages forĀ (UPDATE: saverscene now CLOSED due to moving to carer in horticulture hope to have my gardening website up early 2019) & updating the best interest rates for ISAs, Savings and deals on credit cards was nowhere near as interesting as being outside in the sun, so I had to take that break and whilst outside soaking up a few rays of light a bee flew past and settle on a plant in flower, a beautiful blossom tree but sadly Iā€™m unsure what type Iā€™ll try and photos soon and see if anyone can recognise it as the bee seemed to really enjoy it.

Sadly my bird list hasnā€™t been as exciting as seeing the first bee of the year, there was a lot of noise and many magpies around chasing each other from tree top to tree top around the neighbourhood, was great to watch but more to hear. Ā I also think thereā€™s a small flock of starlings roosting in the monkey puzzle tree opposite my house I was taking photos of the sunset and wasnā€™t 100% on my birding game but Iā€™ll keep an eye out tomorrow and hopefully be able to add starlings to my local list.

My Garden bird list:

  1. Blackbird x 2
  2. Blue Tit x 2
  3. Carrion crow x 1
  4. Chaffinch x 1
  5. Dunnock x 2
  6. House Sparrow x 2
  7. Magpie x 16
  8. Woodpigeon x 1

And as I said before I was photographing the sunsets yesterday, and today, hereā€™s the first picture Iā€™ve had time to look at and size for web from yesterday:

Edinburgh Sunset

The start of Spring, sound of lawnmowers & a common buzzard.

Many birders and others think of the sound the Cukoo makes as the first sign of spring in the UK, for me it has to be the lawnmower and today a very very sunny day in Edinburgh, in fact t-shirt weather, the suburban streets rang with the sounds of people desperate to remove that 1mm of extra grass that has grown since the final cut in October/November last year. Ā August for my back garden as I wanted places for insects to hide over winter and when snow lay on the lawn, it looked like an icy tundra, thereā€™s a photo of the ice crystals below my garden bird list today. Ā Itā€™ll be a few more weeks before my back garden gets mown.

Todayā€™s bird list includes what Iā€™m pretty sure is a new bird for the year, the common buzzard, it wasnā€™t in my garden but soaring high above, hereā€™s the list for today:

  1. Blackbird x 1
  2. Blue Tit x 1
  3. Carrion crow x 1 ā€“ looked to have pale wings.
  4. Common Buzzard x 1
  5. Dunnock x 3
  6. House Sparrow x 2
  7. Magpie x 5
  8. Woodpigeon x 3

National Nest Box Week & my garden bird list.

Been pretty busy today so didnā€™t get a great lot of time for bird watching, did get to see 5 MagpiesĀ squabblingĀ and making loads of noise which was exciting and entertaining, also the coal tits seemed flightier and more suspicious of activity in the garden, not sure if it was a cat in the garden or it theyā€™re starting to breed, I hope not the later as Iā€™ve not finished cutting back the hedges and unsure if the weather will turn again, Iā€™ve also not got my sparrow nestbox up yet! Ā Will try to have them up very soon as it is currently NationalĀ nest box week.

Hereā€™s my garden bird list for today:

  1. Blackbird x 2
  2. Blue Tit x 1
  3. Carrion crow x 1 ā€“ flyover
  4. Coal Tit x 2
  5. Dunnock x 1
  6. Magpie x 5
  7. Woodpigeon x 1

Getting ready for nesting season!

A very sunny day here in Edinburgh, spring feels really in full swing and we were cutting back a privet hedge today to make sure itā€™s done before the birds start nesting. Ā Found an old nest in the hedge from last year, which hopefully gives promising signs that there maybe nest building and young birds in the garden later this year. Ā Hopefully Iā€™ll be out with the camera a bit more soon, my hands are starting to feel slightly better, hereā€™s the list for today:

  1. Blackbird x 1
  2. Blue Tit x 1
  3. Carrion Crow x 1 ā€“ flyover
  4. Coal Tit x 1
  5. Dunnock x 1
  6. House Sparrow x 3
  7. Magpie x 1
  8. Woodpigeon x 1

Lovely sunny day in Edinburgh Scotland, great for a garden bird list.

A very sunny and beautiful day in Edinburgh which produced a decent garden bird list including the 3 main tits, only 1 of each but I was still happy with that!

  1. Blackbird x 1
  2. Blue Tit x 1
  3. Coal Tit x 1
  4. Dunnock x 1
  5. Great Tit x 1
  6. House Sparrow x 6
  7. Magpie x 1
  8. Woodpigeon x 1

This weeks Bird Guides photo of the week is a great pic of a crested tit ā€“ Bird Guides ā€“ Crested TitĀ ā€“ a fantastic shot of a very startled looking bird.

Small amounts of snow brings out a few birds. Plus photo of a Robin.

Today started off slightly white, pretty sure itā€™s the first snow for just over 2 weeks and then finished very wet. Ā The birds were loving a left over vegan pancake from yesterday. Ā The bad weather brought out the birds today and one of the longest lists Iā€™ve had in a few days:

  1. Blackbird x 4
  2. Blue Tit x 1
  3. Carrion crow x 4 ā€“ fly overs
  4. Chaffinch x 1
  5. Coal Tit x 1
  6. Dunnock x 1
  7. Feral Pigeon x 1
  8. House Sparrow x 3
  9. Robin x 1
  10. Woodpigeon x 3

Hopefully get Robins nesting in the garden this year, below is a photo of one that was collecting my hair that Iā€™d had cut and put out for the birds:

Robin collecting hair for nest building

Robin collecting hair for nest building

Not sure why but colours have washed out a lot on export.

The Tesco Robin is back and a new species for my year list.

The other day I added the Robin in Corstorphine Tesco ā€“ 4th of February 2013Ā ā€“ I was down there last night, not sure if it was after midnight but my guess is it would have been or very close so Iā€™ve added it to todayā€™s list. Ā In good news I have finally managed to add Starlings to my list for the year.

  1. Blackbird x 1
  2. Chaffinch x 2
  3. Dunnock x 1
  4. House Sparrow x 3
  5. Magpie x 1
  6. Starlings x 5 ā€“ fly overs
  7. Woodpigeon x 3

At Tesco Corstorphine:

  1. Robin x 1

Hopefully the starlings will start to show in the garden rather than just flying over, and I get chances to photograph them like this:

Starlings feeding time

Starlings feeding time

Garden bird list and 20+ Woodpigeons feeding on the grass in Corstorphine Woods.

Iā€™ve been a bit busy today working on (UPDATE: saverscene now CLOSED due to moving to carer in horticulture hope to have my gardening website up early 2019) -best deals on credit cards, ISA and savings, and didnā€™t have a lot of time to watch birds, so grabbed a quick glimpse at the garden and on the way to physio which brought 20+ woodpigeons feeding on the grass at Corstorphine Woods.

My garden bird list:

  1. Blackbird x 2
  2. Dunnock x 1
  3. Woodpigeon x 1

And from the car looking into Corstorphine Woods:

  1. Woodpigeon x 20+

Not a lot of birds for me today. Also signs of Spring.

Sadly spent most of my day in bed,Ā succumbedĀ to one of these winter colds, the small chance I did get to see any birds this is my count

  1. Blackbird x 1
  2. Coal Tit x 1
  3. Woodpigeon x 4

It seems Iā€™m not the only one noticing that spring seems to be starting, this was from Jim on the Lothian Bird News Yahoo group:

It felt as if Spring had sprung at Gosford this morning:

2 pr Heron on nests
2 singing Chaffinch
3 drumming GSW
4 Nuthatch (2 singing)
lots of singing Song Thrush, tits, Dunnock, Stock Dove etcā€¦

Another new bird for the year, Song Thrush & Tawny Owl is back.

Sadly when moving the website to a new server I lost a lot of internal links, sorry that the links on here do not work.

My bird list isnā€™t as exciting as Wesā€™s (A good day at Rainham Marshes) but I have a new one for this years bird list and the Tawny Owl was back last night, there was also a Song Thrush in the front garden today, very happy with that! Ā There were roughly 20 geese flying east to west over the Pentland hills ā€“ photo of Pentland Hills, south of Edinburgh today, strangely they were flying in one straight line and not the VĀ that weā€™re all so familiar with, wasnā€™t sure what species of geese they were so havenā€™t added them to my list.

As well as the Dunnocks ā€“Ā Dunnocks showing mating behaviour, my garden bird list.Ā ā€“ showing mating behaviour the other day, the two woodpigeons I saw today were also getting ready to nest, it has been a very mild winter here in Edinburgh. Ā Hereā€™s my garden bird list that I saw today:

  1. Blackbird x 2
  2. Blue Tit x 2
  3. Chaffinch x 3
  4. Coal Tit x 2
  5. Dunnock x 1
  6. House Sparrow x 3
  7. Magpie x 1
  8. Song Thrush x 1
  9. Tawny Owl x 1 ā€“ heard only
  10. Woodpigeon x 2

This list below is from Wes, you can see his latest updates on:Ā https://twitter.com/WesDonze

A good day at Rainham Marshes

Visited the RSPB site at Rainham Marshes today and had a good visit there for about 3 hours ā€“ 42 species in total

So here is the list in order seen

Magpie, Collared Dove, House Sparrow, Robin, Dunnock, Lapwing, Blackbird, Coot, Shelduck, Carrion Crow, Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Starling, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Moorhen, Shoveler, Dunlin, Reed Bunting, Grey Heron, Little Egret, Kestrel, Mute Swan, Marsh Harrier, Herring Gull, Golden Plover, Canada Goose, Little Grebe ( heard only), Cormorant, Pachard, Cettiā€™s Warbler, Stonechat, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit,Blue Tit, Common Pheasant, Black Headed Gull,Lesser Black Backed Gull, Redshank, Greenfinch, Wood Pigeon

 

Best ever view of Cettiā€™s Warbler ā€“ previously only had fleeting glimpses but today the one i saw was showing well