Aliens in the garden

Recently arrived back from Australia, where snow is as rare as rocking horse poo, Cam, Ben and Rob examine the parts of an alien species that is taking shape in the garden.

Cameron appears not to have worked out that sitting on snow isn't a great idea, unless you like a cold wet posterior.

Once the full splendour of this strange mono-ped had become evident Ceri can and joined the group, although she declined to snowball fight invitation.

I thought the Dunnocks in the garden seemed a little shy of joining in the melee for food with the Pigeons an Blackbirds. I did see one yesterday trying to get on a feeder without success. I decided to put a small garden table covered with sunflower seeds near the house and next to the shrubs usually harbouring the Dunnocks. I did have to persuade the Pigeons it wasn't for them, but it did in them end gain the approval of one Dunnock ( and several Blackbirds).

The finches left it alone and continued to occupy most of the available berths on the feeders, occasionally giving way to a Robin. One Pied Wagtail paid a fleeting visit, but so far no sign of it's grey congener, a visitor in harsh conditions in previous winters.

Normally I'm only aware of the activities of the Song Thrush when I find evidence of it's anvil somewhere at the back of the garden. Today this one brought a snail to the icy bird bath and bashed it open on one of the rocks, washing it off in the icy water.

The lump in front of it is the frozen escargot, but unfortunately it took it down the garden to eat it, not wishing to pose for the camera.

Snow birds

About four or five inches of snow arrived overnight. The garden was quickly full of birds, and of course someone had to go and fill the feeders and make sure that there was water to drink.

As usual bad weather brings in loads of Blackbirds, so far I've not seen one actually on a feeders but hey make use of the seeds dropped by the finches above them.

I thought. at first.that this one had a damaged leg, but it seemed to be able to walk OK. I think that it was just reducing the heat it loss via its feet by taking one out of the snow when it was standing still.

When the weather is bad there always a chance of something more unusual coming in to the garden to feed. This Pigeon, this Ptarmigan look alike, is the nearest we got today. It is ringed, so it is one of those from someones pigeon loft. It looks very at home in the snow, and it is much less visible when the snow is on the ground than usual.

Robins are now regulars on the feeders but somehow still look more comfortable when foraging on the ground. As we are getting near Christmas I thought that this Christmas Card type scene was quite appropriate.

I have put a few feeders close to the house, and some of the birds, particularly Blue Tits are quite happy feeding right out side the kitchen window.

Will it be a white Christmas?

This was the garden at 3.15 pm. Unlike much of Kent we woke up to very little snow this morning, and so far there has only been a about 1/4 inch added this evening. Unfortunately the rest of the south-east suffered a much heavier fall, making road conditions pretty bad. The long tern forecast doesn't give too many clues for Christmas day, them temperature is forecast for 1 deg and rain all day. This would normally be cold enough for snow, so who knows.

A little be of sad news came from Australia, in a note from Peter Jacobs, who lives in Waikerie.

Peter informed me that Mrs Stella Mack, of Eremophila Park died on Dec 9th. On Oct 22nd 2007 she kindly showed the Birdquest group I was with in Australia, the Malleefowl nest that had featured in David Attenborough's life of birds.

David's note said "Stella and her late husband were very focused on preserving habitat for birds, especially for the very endangered malleefowl. Her legacy will live on. "

This is the incredible nest that the Malleefowl lay their eggs in. They control the temperature of the eggs by covering them with the required amount of vegetation.

Redpoll memories

There's been a bit of discussion about Mealy (Common) Redpolls in Kent. Adam Whitehouse at East Malling has been lucky enough to photo what looks like a good Mealy in the last couple of days. I thought I take the opportunity for a "here's one I took earlier" post.

Mealy (Common) Redpoll (Carduelis flammea), taken on 26th September 2003 at Sumburgh, Shetland.

For comparison here's an Arctic Redpoll (Carduelis hornemanni) I took on Fair Isle on 22nd Sept 2003.

Let's hope that if the cold snap arrives it brings a couple of these with it!

Just Like Lars' Goldfinch

One of the best selling and most influential bird books ever published was Lars Jonsson's "Birds of Europe with North Africa and the Middle East". It is an amalgamation of five books, first published in Swedish between 1976 and 1980.

Although widely acclaimed the one criticism that was regularly heard was that some of his birds were too round and cuddly. The Goldfinch on page 513 is in an almost identical pose to this one, taken this morning. The temperature was about zero and unlike the sleek streamlined Goldfinch of a summers day the bird is slightly fluffed up, using the duvet type quality of it's feathers. It really looks like a Lars Bird!

As well as the field Guide Lars has also written "Birds and Light" The Art of Lars Jonsson, one of my favourite books by a bird artist. The paintings, not just of birds, show the fantastic empathy the artist has for the environment he works in.

Any one lost their Pigeons?

With the cold snap arriving I made sure that there was a lot of food out for the visiting flocks that I was anticipating.

Unfortunately the most prolific visitors to make use of my generosity were the flock of Pigeons that I don't seem able to put off using my garden to fatten up. I'm not sure where they arrived from, but I'm fed up with feeding them.

The number of Greenfinches in the garden at any one time is about forty, so they are building up. They are aggressive feeders and can monopolise the feeders for periods. Goldfinches and Chaffinches get in when they can.

Chaffinches seem much happier feeding on the ground, they never manage to keep on the feeders for long sessions, always flitting on and off. The one above is a dull looking specimen, some of the males are already looking pretty handsome.

This Jay spent a long time in and out of the back of the garden. I couldn't work out whether it was retrieving or hiding things, but it was certainly probing into the long grass, that I should have cut before the monsoon season set in.

This blue Tit seems to have started sorting out it's housing arrangements for nest year already. This nest box wasn't used this year, so it's all ready for next April, if this one survives the winter.

Little Drummer Boy

First thing this morning I noticed two Great Spotted Woodpeckers chasing each other with crows raised, I presume competing for a feeding territory.

The "winner" went on to feed on one of the sunflower seed feeders.

When it had had it's fill it went back up into the tree and perched on the stump of a lopped branch.

It then gave several bursts of drumming, a noise that I associate with spring. A quick look at BWP and I discovered that they normally drum from mid January to June, occasionally in September, so this one was a bit previous, perhaps stimulated by the altercation with the other bird and stirred on by the closeness to Christmas and the popularity of the "Little Drummer Boy" by various artists at Christmas over the years.

So nice was the weather that I had a walk to the South Foreland Valley. On the edge of the wood I watched this kestrel as it scanned the ground for it's next meal.

As is usual at this time of year the woodland was very quiet, the silence only being broken by the occasional call of a Great Spotted Woodpecker and the vigorous song of a single Wren. The walk was pleasant but there were few lines filled in my notebook. However from the cliff top I could hear the guttural calls of Fulmars as they prospected nesting sites on the cliff. There was not possibility of seeing then here so I decided to see if any were taking up occupation of their nest "caves" at the undercliff at Kingsdown.

The area was alive with Fulmars flying up to various ledges and at least two holes had noisy birds sitting in them.

The ritual of birds flying up to the cliff face was continuous and their noisy call echoed along with the calls of Jackdaws that also seemed to be taking occupation of different sites.

The tide was low and a single Curlew picked about on the rocks along side various gulls.

One bird I hadn't been expecting down here was a Green Woodpecker. I presume the soft grassy areas offered it some good turf to probe. I flushed it, accidentally, several times as I walked along, each time it had become hidden in the grass and it surprised me as much as I surprised it. Finally it got fed up with this ritual and found the nearest thing to a tree, that is down there, and sat on it to watch my progress along the path. It finally disappeared over the low end of the cliff, probably to feed on the golf course or the lawns of the houses along the Lees.