Too Much Excitement for One Day

Just went to the kitchen to make a cup of tea and looked to see the Goldfinches feeding. What was that on the ground? Several male chaffinches? No. Too much colour. The Canon was in the other room but fortunately the Camcorder is always set up by the window so I managed a couple of seconds of video before they were spooked and flew away. Later I identified them as a group of about six Brambling. I had not seen even a single one before and now I had a small group.

I have slowed the video down to a quarter speed as the clip was so short and it starts with a still from the video.



Later:
Managed to get a quick shot when one returned.



Still very overcast with poor lighting conditions.

Too Many to Count - but What?

Just on our way back home from our morning walk when I spotted a large flock of birds flying across the village. A rough count gave somewhere between 150 and 200 in that group, all flying silently due south. Then another group, then another and another. Some groups with less birds but one with a good 500 all heading in the same direction. A short while later quite a few seemed to flying back, lower, towards the coast and I think some were landing in a nearby field. It was almost unnerving to see so many birds but not a single sound from any of them.

I managed a few blurry photos. The sky was completely overcast and the lighting wasn't very good even for 7 in the morning.





To me they seemed the usual sea birds, type unknown, I often see but I have never seen such large flocks before. Were they migrating or just coming inland to scavenge on the fields?

Friday at the Flicks - Great Tit and a Glut of Goldfinches

The peanut feeder seems to have become a favourite of the Great Tit.



Since I moved the Nyjer seed feeders to the bottom of the garden even more Goldfinches have been feeding from them. They arrive as a flock of up to thirty up to three times a day.By the number of juveniles thay have had a really good breeding season.



Have a great weekend observing the wildlife around you.

October Colour in the Garden

The weather seems to have settled to a routine of  wet and dry days.  This is a screen shot from Cumulus, a shareware program, showing the rainfall in inches for the past thirty days as measured by my weather station. Doesn't seem much in total but many days it was fine drizzle which is just as good at soaking things as a decent downpour. Some of the smaller graphs show changes for the past 24hrs.



At least yesterday was fine enough to get the grass cut and have a look round to see what colour was left in the garden. There was a reasonable variety but only the occasional plant of each type in flower plus a few fungi to brighten things up a bit.

Macro on Monday - Guess What

First last week's puzzle alongside a full picture of the object:

  

This time it was Jan who deserves the gold star for correctly identifying it as a seed case from a Chinese Lantern Plant (Physalis). Well done Jan.

Now on to the new puzzle picture, this time taken through the microscope at about 35x magnification:



Clue: Definitely not a contender for the four minute mile record.
No prizes for correct identification other than having your name in lights.
Answer next Monday.

Dunnocks

No, not an expletive but one of my shy regular visitors. With the return of Sunshine after yet another rainy day I was watching the birds visiting the feeders. Creeping about the shadows was a Dunnock, every so often stopping to flutter its wings. I guess this was the female Dunnock equivalent of fluttering its eyelashes to attract the attention of a male. Sure enough a second appeared and seemed interested but never got close enough to get them both in one shot. Every so often the female would come out in the open and have a little flutter session.



I normally see just one Dunnock at a time so it was fascinating watching what appeared to be a bonding session. Then to my amazement a third appeared. I assume this was a second male as  there was a short altercation between it and one of the others and it beat a hasty retreat. After that the original two Dunnocks went their separate way in the garden and started gleaning any dropped seeds they could find.



Eventually they disappeared back into the dappled shade of the bushes. Just as I though that was going to be the only really interesting observation for the day I spied a Wren which spent most of its time partly or fully hidden from view but just for a few seconds it landed on the roof of my shed which gave a quick photo opportunity.



It was really lovely to see two of the shy visitors to the garden and look forward to capturing the pair of Dunnocks on video one day.

Friday at the Flicks - House Sparrows, Great and Blue Tits

What a washout most of this week has been. Yesterday was the only decent sunny day. On all the others it rained. According to my weather station it rained on  sixteen days in September giving a total of 2.31 inches.

House Sparrows gleaning scattered seed on the lawn and then competing with the Starlings at the fat ball feeder:



Here the peanuts  are the least favoured food. Maybe it's because they have to work a bit harder to peck pieces off but occasionally the Great Tits and Blue Tits are prepared to put in the effort.



Have a great weekend watching the antics of the wildlife around you.