RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch 2009

Is it really a year since the last one! I enjoyed last years event although it was bit of a disappointment with very few of the regular birds showing up. This year couldn't have been any more different. It was slow going at first with just a Blackbird in the tree and a Dunnock wandering round the foot of the bird table.

Twenty minutes in though, I started getting a little bit exited as a little brown job, or I should say tiny brown job, appeared on the scene and was darting about frantically in the tree. Then I saw the the yellow flash on it's head and then I nearly passed out!

I've only ever seen a Goldcrest once before and that was only a couple of weeks ago, high up in a very tall tree. Our garden Goldcrest stayed for over half an hour, playing that classic bird game, catch me if you can, I'm faster than you're autofocus is!

I did get a few shots but it would have been better if the forecast sunshine had materialised.









With all the excitement, it was hard to take my eyes off it to see if anything else had arrive but even so, I don't think I missed anything. The full count goes like this:

Blackbird x 2 Males
Dunnock x 2
Goldfinch x 6
Chaffinch x 1 Female
Greenfinch x 3
House Sparrow x 1 Male & 1 Female
Goldcrest x 1
Magpie x 1
Starling x 2

Off now to submit my results to the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch.

Paul.

What's On Your Table?

The hardest thing about photographing birds in the garden isn't anything to do with the camera, although that can have it's moments, it's pleasing the feathered diners who may pop in for a bite to eat.

Here is our bird feeding area..



On our bird table we have got the following tasty treats:

Fat balls - Starlings and Blue Tits love these.
Mealworms - Meant for the Robin but the Starlings pinch them all.
Garden Bird Food Mix - Collared Doves and House Sparrows like this.
Bird Cake - For attracting Long Tailed Tits which I've seen once but the Starlings eat it.
Sunflower Hearts - The Goldfinch love these, they won't touch normal sunflower seeds.
Nyger Seed - The Goldfinch love this almost as much as the sunflower hearts.
Fat Block - The Starlings love this, I've got one hanging and also laid one down in a tray, the Robin and Goldfinch prefer it this way.

After seeing that apples can attract more visitors at Trisha's Tales,
Shirls Garden Watch and Wildlife In A Suburban Garden, I've added a couple of apple halves to my pear tree.

The Goldfinch were wary at first, we stared with this:



What's this then, is that pilchard behind the window trying to poison us?

Then we had:



Look, it's not sunflower hearts, it's not nyger seed, it's not a fat block and it's definitely not a partridge, I shall sulk for a while.

Eventually, after about half an hour, they got back to the business of feeding on their favorites. Who knows if there will be any takers for the apple, I shall be on fruit watch today.

Paul.

Return Of The Goldfinch

I bought two new nyger seed feeders from RSPB Old Moor on Friday, they've only been up a couple of days and the Goldfinch have already found them and have been munching away this afternoon.



As well as the nyger seed, I also replaced the mixed seed from the hopper with sunflower hearts and the goldfinch have discovered that as well. Another idea I had was to place a fat block in a feeding tray after noticing the Robin on there when I put the last corner of a block in there last week. To my surprise the Goldfinch also got stuck into that, I've only ever seem them take seed before.



It's great to have the Goldfinch back again, they queue up on the pear tree I planted next to the bird table last year, allowing me to get shots of them while they wait for lunch. The tree is about the same height as the bird table at the moment, eventually it should provide cover together with the pyracantha I planted all around the base last Autumn.

Cover or no cover, when the Jackdaws drop in everything else disappears while they are here, luckily they soon get bored and move on.



It's back to work for me tomorrow, so I shan't see daylight in the garden again until next weekend, time for garden bird photography will at a premium but I'm determined to put more effort in to this than last year. All I ask is for a little bit of sunshine over the weekends!

Paul.

Chilly RSPB Old Moor

We had a couple of hours down at RSPB Old Moor today, still freezing weather but at least the sun made an appearance. The main reason for going was to get some of those tiny nyger seed feeders and some nyger seed as we've run out and the Goldfinch have gone on strike.

It would have been rude not to visit all the hides on the reserve, so we did, although we spend 95% of the time in the bird garden as we always do. The garden was alive with Greenfinch, Bullfinch, Tree Sparrows, Robins, Goldfinch, Chaffinch and our beloved Long Tailed Tit.

On the way out we picked up the nyger seed and also came back will sunflower hearts and a cylinder of fat which are all in position in our garden ready for tomorrow.





















Paul