A charm of 34 goldfinches in the top of our sycamore. What a sound.
Anybody else had any birdy treats over the hols?
(I don’t mean suet pellets and mealworm!)

Lovely flock of long tailed tits on our feeders the other day.

A single Waxwing on my sister in laws apple tree, not bothered at all when I got to within about 3m of it.

Anybody else had any birdy treats over the hols?

Excellent goose yesterday, and a brace of pheasant lined up for dinner on Saturday.

Loads of goldfinches out and about this morning, aces.

Anybody else had any birdy treats over the hols?

We had turkey for dinner yesterday.

A red kite was circling yesterday and putting the wind up my ducks and a local buzzard

Waxwing, nice! Whereabouts?

I get the occasional treat of a goldcrest round here, so I’m quite used to them amongst the adorable gang of long tailed tits. But this week, in the garden, was an unmistakable firecrest hitching along with the group of long tailed tits.

Guess I should look up collective noun for long tailed tits….

Flasheart 1 : Scotroutes 0

I saw some great tits.

Riding alongside a barn owl on a night ride was good. Early morning rides are great for birding though, little owls, Jays aplenty this year, buzzards, red kites and woodpeckers have been some highlights. But being brushed by a sparrowhawk was probably a once in a lifetime experience.

My wife knows my sense of humour well. And some Flutter Butter and a feeder for the garden, plus a bird book.

Also, yesterday morning’s dog walk was a treat: just out the front door and around the local park but there was no sounds of cars in the background for a change. Instead the blue sky was filled with the song of robins, blackbirds, redwings, blue tits, coal tits and I even spotted a greater spotted wood pecker which is not a common sight. Not bad for a 30 minute stroll.

Great spotted woodpecker has found our bird feeder. Been here every day fir sat 3 days. Woods round here are full of them, but they are very shy and it’s rare to see one close up

driving home in the pm with the family – pootling down the country road home and the headlights picked out a barn owl sat on a low branch of one of the overhanging trees. It calmly sat there as we trundled down the road and went underneath it.

About 20 metres down the road, another barn owl. Sat on a low tree branch. And again, happily sat there whilst we drove along the road and under it…

We see and hear them on the wing a fair bit – there was one we used to watch whilst it hunted over the cricket pitch opposite our house in the early evening. Never seen two so close together, let alone one (or two) that was so happy to sit there as we drove within a few feet of it.

They returned in greater numbers:

What a ‘charming’ treat 😉

I’ve seen plenty of Red Wing this winter. Which is nice. Hoping to see Waxwing again this year as I saw them for the first time a couple of winters ago. Smaller than I thought but easy to get close. Unsurprisingly, since they live out in Scandinavian forests most of the year, and will see no one.