Category: Birds

Been away for a few days & indoors so havenā€™t seen a lot.

Hi all, sorry for the slow updates, Iā€™ve been away for the past few days and havenā€™t really had a chance to see many birds, hereā€™s my list:

Sunday morning, my garden:

  1. Blackbird x 2
  2. Dunnock x 1
  3. Magpie x 1

Sunday Birmingham airport:

  1. Kestrel x 1 ā€“ first for the year.
  2. Starlings x 2

Monday was indoors all day and saw nothing

Tuesday managed to see about 20 pigeons flying past hotel window before heading to the Focus On Imaging halls at the NEC Birmingham, but after that nothing for the rest of the day.Ā  Tomorrow should get back to normal with hopefully a good list of garden birds.

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

Robin in Corstorphine Tesco Bakery section, plus Oystercatchers on playing fields.

Another very quiet day in my garden, just 3 types of birds, I added a robin to yesterdayā€™s list as I saw it just before midnight in Tescos Corstorphine hanging out in the bakery section of the store, photo, sorry poor quality from a camera phone:

Robin in Tesco bakery section, enjoying the croissants.

Robin in Tesco bakery section, enjoying the croissants.

 

As well as my garden bird list:

  1. Blackbird x 1
  2. Blue Tit x 1
  3. Dunnock x 2

I managed to take a walk down toĀ Saint Margaretā€™s Park in Corstorphine and saw:

  1. Carrion Crow x 3
  2. Oystercatchers x 2
  3. Black-headed Gulls x 5
  4. Gulls ā€“ others, distance was too great to make out but looked to be lesser black-backed or herring. Ā They were paddling in a pretty deep puddle, didnā€™t want to get closer as we had our dog with us.
  5. Woodpigeons x 10

Get ready for the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch.

The RSPBā€™s Big Garden Birdwatch is on again, I think this itā€™s 34th year, this will be the 7th year Iā€™ve participated and the first at my new house.Ā  Thereā€™s none of the Starlings, Goldfinches or the Nuthatches Iā€™ve seen in previous gardens but still a nice range of birds and I hope to get a good list!

The Big Garden Birdwatch is over the weekend of 26th & 27th of January, Iā€™ll probably do my count on 26th as thatā€™s Australia Day and weā€™ve got a few mates dropping in for a few snags & beers that night, so may not have the earliest start on the 27th when most of the birds in my garden are active.

For more information and to register to take part in the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch head over to: The RSPB: Big Garden Birdwatch and register to make things easier for entering the details on the weekend, you have until the 15th of February to add your sightings.

Hope you all join in the fun of birdwatching and helping the RSPB with their garden birdwatch studies.