Hey where did all those months go? 2012 already!
Happy new year to anybody who is following or reading this.
Been out with Sparky today on my patch and can see the birds easier now the leaves have all gone! It’s been real windy here in Leeds this week. Luckily haven’t had any thing damaged but non sleep for a while! Al least it’s calm now! So I had goldfinches, bullfinches, blue tits, great tits, magpies, wood pigeons, blackbirds chaffinches and gulls this morning and most of them are now on my feeders! The bullfinches plumage is stunning in the winter.
Author: helengibsondavies
Barn Owl
Yesterday, me and Sparky went for a walk on what I call the Red Kite walk, because we always see Red Kites and I wanted to try and get that elusive pin sharp photo. So we set off, me with all my camera gear on my back and Sparky footloose and fancy free!! We saw plenty of kites and on the way back noticed some people in a field with cameras, most with telephoto lenses! Hm! Bit of a give-away. So with Sparky nice and warm on his blanket in the car, I made my way over, meeting two nice ladies who informed me that a barn owl had been quartering the field regularly. Low and behold, there he was. Actually, I don’t know if it was a he or a her! But what a beauty! I was well pleased, well pleased doesn’t really cover it – I was over the moon. I have always wanted to see a barn owl at close quarters. He didn’t seem to be bothered by 6 of us watching and went about hunting with amazing ease. It was just perfect grassy tufts/scrub that mice and voles live in. Needless to say, I took a load of photos and didn’t even realise that I’d managed to snap him actually devouring a mouse. The pictures are below.
First after the owl catches its prey it mantles it. Covers it with its wings.
Then it pops it in the mouth and swallows it whole.
Hmmmmm! That was goooood!!!
I was sooooo chuffed!!!!
Nature is A-MAZ-ING
Isn’t nature just utterly brilliant. I am at this very moment sat in my garden watching four beautiful long tail tits feeding on the food I put out for them. It’s fantastic that I can do something to encourage the birds to visit my garden, giving them something in return for the honour of just being able to sit and admire them.
Earlier this morning I took Sparky for a walk in the park. It is a beautiful sunny “nearly spring” day, with crocus and snowdrops out, the trees with their super soft downy buds and the daffodils poking well up through the grass.
I sat on a felled tree trunk and wondered at the life that is all around us. The birds of the air, the rabbits and moles of the earth, the squirrels of the trees, the lichen and moss that can grow on rocks, the insects that break down all that is dead rejuvenating the earth in its cyclic rhythms. The trees that give us breath. And us? What about us? Billions of cells of life, cells that make up organs, cells that make our skin, cells that construct our bones and brain and all that is human.
We too are part of nature and we meddle at our peril.
Status of birds of prey in the U.K.
Birds of prey |
|
|---|---|
| Former status | Current status |
| Buzzard | |
| SOURCE: RSPB | |
| Eradicated from eastern parts of Britain | Increasing in numbers and range |
Golden eagle |
|
| Eradicated from all of UK except Scotland | Population stable, but still absent from much of former range |
Goshawk |
|
| Eradicated from UK | Accidentally reintroduced, now spreading but still persecuted |
Hen harrier |
|
| Eradicated from almost all of Britain | Declining, nesting in Scotland, Wales, NI and a few in England |
Honey buzzard |
|
| Completely eradicated? | Probably stable in small pockets of Britain |
Hobby |
|
| Widespread in SE England | Doing well, increasing and spreading |
Kestrel |
|
| Reasonably widespread | Moderately declining, reasons unknown |
Marsh harrier |
|
| Eradicated | Increasing from virtually no birds in 1971 |
Merlin |
|
| Reasonably widespread in upland Britain | Status uncertain, possibly declining |
Montagu’s harrier |
|
| Always restricted in range in Britain | Always scarce |
Osprey |
|
| Completely eradicated | Increasing and spreading but still not recovered |
Peregrine |
|
| Wiped out from much of Britain | Increasing and spreading, now found in most parts of Britain |
Red kite |
|
| Eradicated from England, Scotland and NI | Recovering in all parts of UK, some areas more than others |
Sparrowhawk |
|
| Population reduced through persecution | Recently recovered but now decreasing once more |
White-tailed eagle |
|
| Completely eradicated | Reintroduced to Scotland where it is recovering, still absent from England and Wales |
Scarborough and Whitby
Have had a short break in not so sunny Scarborough on the East coast of Yorkshire.
Stayed at the Clifton Hotel overlooking North Bay. Very pleasant hotel, would recommend it. We walked around the north bay and up to the castle on the headland, which gives you smashing views of both bays. However, plastic carrier bags are a menace, being found all over the place, in trees, bushes, and no litter bins that I noticed! So I’m afraid Scarborough Council gets a big 0 out of ten.
Our coasts and countryside has enough to beat the best holiday destinations all over the world, apart from the weather! Just wish people realised this and had holidays in the UK and spent their money here, so that we could make more of our tourist spots. Glad to say the hotel was pretty full when we stayed.
We took a trip up to Whitby which is one of my most favourite places. It has such character and is so picturesque.
Click on the photos to see full size. The statue that always seems to have a gull perched on its head is Captain James Cook. a replica of the Golden Hind lies in the harbour. There is still a small fishing fleet working out of Whitby and the fish and chips in the town are some of the best I have ever tasted. The Magpie cafe is a big favourite with everybody, just on the harbour side. Further on there are some chippys that are pretty good too.
The “archway” is actually made from the bones of a whales jaw!
There is a big Dracula goth cult here too as it is the place that Dracula first stepped onto English land. Every year there is a goth week and the town is taken over by sinister looking people in black! This is all done with good humour. There is also the Whitby folk week every year too.
It has a beautiful little harbour, surrounded by small fishing cottages with their red roofs.
A great place to wander around just taking in the atmosphere, looking at quaint buildings, gazing down narrow alleyways or doing a bit of shopping. Whitby is also famous for its “jet” stone, which is incorporated into much silver jewellery being sold.
The ruins of the abbey, founded AD656, on the cliff top are well worth a visit as is the nearby church.
You really just have to visit to appreciate.
Busy at the birdfeeders
Well we had a return of the snow yesterday, but has gone again today. However, the birds have gone into feeding overdrive. Blue tits, great tits, long tailed tits, chaffinch, bullfinch, greenfinch, goldfinch, house sparrow, robin, blackbirds, starlings, dunnock, wood pigeon, collared dove and there’s been a greater spotted woodpecker around that is so close, but I have not been able to locate it.
I’m going way to Scarborough on the Yorkshire coast tomorrow for a few days, so hopefully will get some new sightings and photos. We are going to visit the newest RSPB reserve – Saltholme – near Middlesborough on the Tees.
So until Thursday………………………………………….Au Revoir
Weather
This is a typically British post! Other nationalities know that us Brits like to talk about the weather. To be honest, it’s a bit of a joke isn’t it? We know ourselves we do it – hardly a day goes by when I don’t hear someone (myself included) talk about the weather! It’s really not surprising though is it? We live on a small island and have one heck of a lot of influences on our weather – it is so unpredictable, that the weather forecasters rarely get it right! (For Leeds anyway). The BBC weather on the internet site, is updated regularly throughout the day. Temperatures can go up or down within a mile!
This week we’ve had strong winds, gales, freezing temperatures, temperatures of 12 degrees, sunshine, blue sky and fog, all within days of each other. If you’re British, you just have to say “to hell with the weather” and just get on with it. It is hard to plan what you are going to do though – we often say , “let’s see what the weathers like.”
There are signs that spring might just be around the corner though. The snowdrops are blooming and the crocus and daffodils are peeping through. Plenty of birds singing at the park this morning in the rain. Watched a pair of common crows flying, chasing, some lovely agile acrobatics with each other.
DOMINANCE IN HOUSE SPARROWS
Can you tell which of the House sparrows is more dominant????
And which is not a sparrow??
Can you name the one that is not a sparrow??
Do you know what this bird used to be called??
RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch
This weekend just gone, was the annual RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch. This is where the public are asked to watch their garden for an hour and record which birds visit. A form is filled in online or you can send a form in. All information is collated and there is a report later in the year, which gives a nationwide view of garden bird distribution.
Its a great thing to do because it gets loads of people interested. However, I’m not too sure of the scientific credibility of it? Anybody???
My count was done on Sunday and I didn’t get as many birds as I have done on other days.
Blue tit 2
Great tit 2
Bullfinch 2
House Sparrows 10
Dunnock 1
Blackbird 2
Brambling 1
Goldfinch 1
Robin 1
Greenfinch 2
Collared Dove
Long tailed tit 3
Coal tit 1
Actually, I suppose I did get most of the species I usually get, but not as many. I didn’t get any Starlings which is unusual or any Wood Pigeon, or Magpies or Chaffinch.
Anybody else????
Starlings are beautiful and clever!
I was thinking about Linda’s post about starlings, as I watched them devouring the fat block I put out!
Love ’em or hate them starlings really are very clever and when the sun is shining on their feathers, in their best plumage, starlings really are stunning. Yes, they are the bully boys at the feeders, but you’ve got to admire their tenacity and intelligence.
I try to put fat out away from the feeders and in a couple of places so that its more spread out and this seems to work! I did however buy a feeding contraption from the RSPB, which was supposed to allow smaller birds in and the bigger ones out. Look what the starling thought to that!!!!
It really made me laugh! What a waste of money!
We have had a small flock of about 30 starlings that have roosted in a huge leylandii cypress tree in the garden next but one! Sharp intakes of breath…………..! So we have two of some peoples most hated things together!! Not only those pesky, noisy, starlings but that tree that people in England use to make hedges out of, that grow out of control and cause so many arguments with neighbours!
Anyway, I quite liked having them there, watching their roosting behaviour, as they collect together and form a swarm, speeding through the evening sky, this way and that, inches away from each other, moving in perfect harmony like one being (murmuration).
During the summer months in my back garden, I sat watching these birds who are so common they are almost overlooked and realised how absolutely beautiful they were. I took a number of photographs that summer – below are some of them which I hope highlights their best side.
