Tag: Blue Tits

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.

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

Dunnocks showing mating behaviour, my garden bird list.

Yesterday Iā€™d forgotten to add a Robin to my list, it wasnā€™t in my garden and i hadnā€™t written it down when I saw it, so edited the post and all up to date now. Ā Today all seen in the garden or flying over, first time thereā€™s been a great tit for a while and the dunnocks are displaying a lot of mating behaviour. Ā Hereā€™s the list of birds I saw today:

  1. Blackbird x 3
  2. Blue Tit x 1
  3. Coal Tit x 1
  4. Dunnock x 3
  5. Great Tit x 1
  6. House Sparrow x 7
  7. Lesser black-backed gull x 3 fly overs ā€“ a new one for this year, although probably seen them at a distance theyā€™d never been close enough to ID.
  8. Magpie x 1 ā€“ heard only
  9. Woodpigeon x 3

A new first for the year ā€“ Greater Spotted Woodpecker

Thatā€™s right I saw a Greater Spotted Woodpecker, not in my garden but a tree opposite my house, so very pleased with that one! Ā The rest of the list is from my garden today:

  1. Blackbird x 1
  2. Black-headed Gull x 1 ā€“ flyover.
  3. Blue Tit x 1
  4. Coal Tit x 1
  5. Dunnock x 1
  6. Greater Spotted Woodpecker x 1
  7. House Sparrow x 3
  8. Robin x 1 ā€“ not in my garden on the street nearby.
  9. Woodpigeon x 2

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

Grey Heron and Tawny Owl show up on my list for first time this year.

Just after midnight last night I heard a Tawny Owl, first Iā€™ve heard since moving into my new place a bit further down Corstorphine Hill than I used to live, a bit of a surprise as thereā€™s a lot less trees around here. Ā Thanks to Edinburgh Hawkwatch for their page on ā€“ Tawny Owl ā€“ EdinburghĀ for a little more detail about Tawny Owls in the area. Ā Whilst watching the Rugby I noticed a very large bird arrive on the horizon I thought thatā€™s too big to be a gull it has to be something else, it continued to fly straight towards me and it was a heron, another first for the year, hereā€™s the garden bird list Iā€™ve seen today:

  1. Blackbird x 3
  2. Blue Tit x 2
  3. Chaffinch x 4
  4. Coal Tit x 1
  5. Grey Heron x 1 ā€“ fly over
  6. House Sparrow x 6
  7. Tawny Owl x 1 ā€“ heard only
  8. Woodpigeon x 1
  9. Wren x 1