Leaving Home.

This morning started with a lot of noise right outside my study window.

When I looked up I could see at least two young Great Tits calling as load as they could while one of the parents was gathering food. I told Pam that they had fledged and left the nest box.

When we went out side there was still a lot of noise coming from the box and we were lucky enough to watch the last three of the rood leaving home. Each one got to the hole and looked around for about a minute, weighing up whether it had the nerve to launch into the open air. Suddenly the made the jump and each time their little wings carried them to the shelter of the tree.

Moving to the opposite end of the day, as dusk approached I was sorting out today's entry and watching the Blackbirds feeding their young.

As I was loading a picture a loud cacophony of Blackbird alarming brought me to the window. I actually saw a Sparrowhawk, carrying something pursued by two adult Blackbirds. It settled just to the left of the window under a bush. I took two pictures through the window, but as I gently eased it open the bird flew off, with its prey, followed by the bereaved parents.

It was a sad end to the day. But of course nature in reality can be cruel. Blackbirds have two or three broods a year, if they all survived then we would be 10 foot deep in Blackbirds within a couple of years. On the other hand if the predation was more than the population could support the population of Blackbirds would be falling. these things do balance out. Unfortunately other changes in the countryside sometimes alter this balance, it isn't the recovery of Sparrowhawk numbers now they are better protected and organo-phosphorus chemicals are banned, that has reduced some of our song birds. Loss of hedgerows and changes in land use are major factors. However even knowing that young Sparrowhawks need feeding didn't stop me being just a little sad at the loss of one of "my" Blackbirds. Sorry about the picture quality but I was on a 10th of a second through glass.

No mans land

This male Blackbird is fairly distinctive because it a has a white chin patch. I think that many male Blackbirds have odd feathers that aren't black making them identifiable.

I woke up early this morning, about 4.30am. The dawn chorus was already in full swing and was dominated by Blackbirds. As happened last year the garden seem to be at the junction of three territories. This afternoon I watch three pairs collecting food, all on the lawn in the main garden. Occasionally two of the males would have a chase, but in general they seemed to treat the area as neutral ground. I know some birds have separate territories which they defend for breeding and other areas that are communal feeding areas but I thought that Blackbirds defended a total territory. Perhaps they are tolerant of each other because it is borderline for all three territories.

Home and Away

The Ash tree in our front garden has been heavily lopped in the past. Where the main branches now start there is a large natural cavity. In previous years this has been used for nest by a pair of Blue Tit but this year a Starling has the tenancy.

The apartment is well appointed with an upper and lower door. As you can see by the white marks, the lower doors doubles as the outside loo. As one of the parents approaches and calls the heads of the young appear.

The gaped of the young bird is so large and bright the parent feels compelled to keep filling it with food. Fortunately Starlings are the gardeners friend, being particularly fond of leather jackets that they extract from lawns.

As I had behaved well today Pam took me to Sandwich for a treat this afternoon. The hide at the Restharrow scrape could have been designed for people with new knees. The bench has a lifting part, useful if you can't get your leg over (like Ian Botham in that infamous commentary) and there is a nice extension forward to stick your legs in. When I arrived I met Julian Russell and he quickly found the Temminck's Stint, that had been around a while, on the edge to our left.

When Pam joined us in the hide the Stint had temporarily disappeared, but after Julian had left we did have a Yellow Wagtail come and bathe on the island in front of the hide. To be honest the distance is too far for decent pictures, but I didn't let that stop me getting bad ones!

Pam noticed a small wader in front of a sleeping female Tufted Duck and this appeared to be the missing Stint, atlthough I hadn't seen it fly across. I was disturbed by one of the other birds and vanished to be back of the island.

I waited a while, hoping that it would appear on our side and thought I'd been rewarded when a small wader came into view. This turned out to be a Common Sandpiper, that we had seen earlier, and I began to wonder if I'd mistaken this for the Temminck's Stint which I always think think look a bit like minature Common Sandpipers.

It wasn't long before the Stint came into view, to put my mind a rest. Again the pictures are poor, but you can see the breast band recalling a Pectoral Sandpiper. In this light it is difficult to see, but it did have yellowish legs.

Still quite distant, from this angle the dark centres to the mantle and scapular feathers are visible. After this encouraging trip we popped into the observatory and had a sociably chat and a nice cup of coffee.

Other birds around were a family party of Canada Geese, a sight that may be pretty but not one welcomed by most observers of the scrape. A few House Martins hawked over the water and there were several Swallows and a Swift as we came along the Ancient Highway. As usual Corn Bunting were constantly heard singing and a Reed Warbler was chuntering from the reed bed.

Mothing remains almost non-existent while the nights are clear and the wind cold north easterly.

St Margaret's Players I've finished my set of pictures of the Players production of Abigail's Party acessible here.

The first of the new generation.

Things have been fairly slow as far as babies go, in the garden so far. The first brood of Blackbirds that I've seen in the garden were outside my study at 7.00 am this morning.

They always look very Walt Disney to me. This youngster managed to take some water from the fountain, that was only just dribbling until it was topped up. The adults quickly took it off into cover where I could hear them, but not see them.

As I am pretty well confined to a couple of short trips into the garden at them moment this little book is coming into its own. Originally it was to have be authored by Steve Hopkin who was tragically killed in a car crash. Richard Lewington, the main illustrator took over the book and has produced a little gem. The birds are illustrated by his brother Ian, which means that the books has pictures by two of the best wildlife illustrators in the country. It covers all the groups, and of course if it awakens a particular interest you call always move on to a more specialised book for that group. I find it useful and it is suitable for all ages.

Published by British Wildlife Publishing it is well worth the £12.95 price. British Wildlife also publish a superb bi-monthly journal of that name, that is a great read and covers all areas of the natural world.

Ready for some visitors

Most of the welcoming party is ready but the guests haven't arrived yet. I have seen various appeals for records of migrant butterflies and moths, Painted Ladies and Hummingbird Hawkmoths being the best known. I've got most of the plants ready. The Echiums are out and full of bees and other insects.
The Red Valarian is starting to come out, and this is normally a major draw for butterflies and moths.
The heavily scented Honeysuckle is another great attraction, but what do I get.
Setaceous Hebrew Character, a common moth, but the second earliest I've recorded, but not a migrant from across the sea.
Heart and Dart, another common moth, distinguished by the black across the head. With the weather forecast for NE winds for the nest few day I expect that my mothing will remain unexciting.

Birds Two Siskins are still coming to the garden feeders and the noise of the young Great Tits must mean that they are not long for fledging. Pam took me out for a pint at the Coastguards this evening and I picked up my binoculars to watch a group of passing Cormorants, and was surprised to see three Cormorants with a single Brent Goose, that was behaving as if it thought it was one of them.

43 years later........

The buildings of the Old Lantern Inn in Martin date back to 11th year of Charles I, 1636 when they formed two farm cottages. In 1803 the then occupier, Jacob Sawley, applied for and was granted a licence to sell ale. It remained an Inn, sometimes with a grocers shop attached until the 20th century. In 1976, the name of the house was changed to the “Old Lantern” .

This evening I took my first outing since I got out of hospital when Pam and I went for a meal at The Old Lantern Tavern, Martin. The food was perfectly adequate, but not exciting and the restaurant didn't exude the sort of atmosphere you might have expected given the historic nature of the buildings. Overall we had a great evening, celebrating our 43rd wedding anniversary. It seems hard to believe it is 43 years since I took Pam to Edale, after leading her up the aisle, and introduced her to the joys of Redstarts in dry stone walls and Twite on winding hill tops.

Censorship

On reflection, if anyone wants to post anonymously, fine, it not my preference but so be it.

I have been accused of censorship by an anonymous commenter on this blog. What I actually did was to remove two comments because, despite requesting it twice, the person didn't put a name to the comments. I don't mind people disagreeing with me, anyone is entitled to be wrong, but to request the simply courtesy of signing a name seems reasonable to me. Just a name and where you are from would be quite sufficient, I'm willing to say who I am, if you disagree with a point I've made about global warming or dropping rubbish, that fine. By the way, disliking our roads covered in rubbish isn't whinging, especially as I actually carry bags with me so that if I get the time I can clear up other peoples mess.

I would like all comments to carry a name, and I will continue to remove those that are both anonymous and by their nature expect a debate or reply.

Peanut Control

Once again the poor weather kept me behind glass. Lord's wasn't the only place where bad light curtailed play.

This Great Tit has suddenly taken to using this peanut feeder. It had remained virtually unused for several weeks but it has now become a favourite of this bird.

Not only is it using the feeder regularly but it seems to be acting as a peanut quality control mechanism all by itself. I'm not at all clear what the criteria are, they all come from the same, fresh bag and they all look the same to me, but the bird sits at the feeder opening and picks out a peanut, looks at it and then more often or not quite deliberately drops it on the ground. Occasionally it likes the look of one and takes it up the tree, and hammers at it while it eats it.

Magpies are resourceful birds and this one has taken to feeding under the peanut feeder and collecting the peanuts that have been rejected by the Great Tit.

Strangely, it then takes them up to the bird bath, where it dunks them before eating them. I can understand that this is an advantage when softening stale bread, but it don't think it can have any affect on the peanuts.

Moths Still very quiet but I did catch my first White Ermine and Garden Carpet of the year.

White Ermine

Garden Carpet.