Yesterday was a complete washout. Wet, windy and horrible was the only way of describing it so the year got off to a poor start with only the hardiest of birds braving an appearance in the garden.
Today could not have been more different. Still and sunny and so I went out first thing to catch up with the Winter Thrush survey at Sutcliffe Park LNR. I hadn’t managed to get it done in December due to the recurrent poor weather but plan to do two this month to make up the observations. Once again though it disappointed with only Starling and Blackbird present of the surveyed species. The highlight was finding 4 House sparrows in a bush near the lake as this is a locally rare species. Amazingly I later located a further 4 (?) near to Clifton’s roundabout about half a mile away. The same 4 or another group?
The River flood plain was well flooded indicating the high level of water coming down the river following all the recent rain. It was designed to do this when it was opened up so the excess water would stay here rather than flood in residential areas along the river.
I was planning to have a first look around the Tarn but when I arrived it had been closed off. This was either due to the presence of the local authority removing the fallen trees and clearing the blocked paths or to the vary high water level. Anyway it was back to watching the garden and be rewarded with some great views of Redwing.
Late afternoon treated to a view of Female Sparrowhawk harassing Pigeons over garden. Probably hasn’t been able to hunt for the past few days due to bad weather but didn’t see if she was successful.
Mallard [sp] (Anas platyrhynchos)
Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula)
Eurasian Sparrowhawk [sp] (Accipiter nisus)
Common Moorhen [sp] (Gallinula chloropus)
Eurasian Coot [sp] (Fulica atra)
Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)
Mew Gull [sp] (Larus canus)
Lesser Black-backed Gull [sp] (Larus fuscus)
Common Pigeon [sp] (Columba livia)
Common Wood Pigeon [sp] (Columba palumbus)
Eurasian Collared Dove [sp] (Streptopelia decaocto)
Rose-ringed Parakeet [sp] (Psittacula krameri)
Eurasian Magpie [sp] (Pica pica)
Western Jackdaw [sp] (Coloeus monedula)
Carrion Crow [sp] (Corvus corone)
Great Tit [sp] (Parus major)
Eurasian Blue Tit [sp] (Cyanistes caeruleus)
Common Starling [sp] (Sturnus vulgaris)
Common Blackbird [sp] (Turdus merula)
Redwing [sp] (Turdus iliacus)
Mistle Thrush [sp] (Turdus viscivorus)
House Sparrow [sp] (Passer domesticus)
White Wagtail [sp] (Motacilla alba)
Common Chaffinch [sp] (Fringilla coelebs)
European Greenfinch [sp] (Carduelis chloris)
Pete's Favourite Things 