Naturelog: Patch update January 2014

Its been rather a strange month on my patch. Due to the bad weather the Tarn and surrounding area area has been closed for almost the whole month and this coupled with the wet and stormy weather might have led to this being a much poorer start to the year than normal. However 31 bird species were seen on the patch this month which is only 1 short of the total I had in January last year.The winter Thrushes have already begun to thin out. Mistle Thrush and Song Thrush have not been seen since the first week of the month and although Redwing numbers peaked at 18, the numbers quickly subsided and none have been seen for the last week of the month.

The highlight of the month was undoubtedly the visit of a male Common Pheasant to the garden on the afternoon of the 24th. This was a first for the area as well as for the patch. It has also been good to see the female Blackcap coming to the feeder on a number of days during the month. The male has not been seen since the beginning of December and so has either not survived the bad weather or has moved onto another wintering site.

Common Pheasant [sp] (Phasianus colchicus)
Canada Goose [sp] (Branta canadensis)
Muscovy Duck (Cairina moschata)
Mallard [sp] (Anas platyrhynchos)
Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula)
Great Cormorant [sp] (Phalacrocorax carbo)
Eurasian Sparrowhawk [sp] (Accipiter nisus)
Common Moorhen [sp] (Gallinula chloropus)
Eurasian Coot [sp] (Fulica atra)
Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)
European Herring Gull [sp] (Larus argentatus)
Common Pigeon [sp] (Columba livia)
Common Wood Pigeon [sp] (Columba palumbus)
Rose-ringed Parakeet [sp] (Psittacula krameri)
European Green Woodpecker [sp] (Picus viridis)
Eurasian Jay [sp] (Garrulus glandarius)
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)
Eurasian Blackcap [sp] (Sylvia atricapilla)
Eurasian Nuthatch [sp] (Sitta europaea)
Common Starling [sp] (Sturnus vulgaris)
Common Blackbird [sp] (Turdus merula)
Redwing [sp] (Turdus iliacus)
Song Thrush [sp] (Turdus philomelos)
Mistle Thrush [sp] (Turdus viscivorus)
European Robin [sp] (Erithacus rubecula)
Common Chaffinch [sp] (Fringilla coelebs)
European Greenfinch [sp] (Carduelis chloris)