It will end in tears

The latest spell of better weather seems to have convinced the garden bird population to get cracking
This Blue Tit was gathering strands of garden twine whilst imitating a 'blue owl'

and the Dunnock stripped the stone frog of its mossy covering.

A pair of Blackbirds have chosen a small privet which is roughly no more than a two feet diameter sphere as their secret spot only it was secret for no more than four hours from when they started to build.

A pity that the one uncovering the secret was this guy

 who has its own  nest no more than fifty yards away. I watched it on top of the privet with its head inside to see what was going on, so no doubt it will return.
Its all going to end in tears.          AND IT DID

Tawny Mining bee

A full month later than last year provides our first garden sighting of a Tawny Mining bee

New visitor

We are still getting good numbers of birds visiting our garden feeders and we were particularly pleased to see a male and female Siskin.

Regular visits by Goldfinch and Greenfinch brighten up the garden.
Although this is the time of year when we  would reduce the amount of feed available I have decided to keep it going a little longer since there seems little more available naturally now than there was in January.

Garden visitors

Th colder weather continues to push the birds into the gardens. The last couple of mornings have seen Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Mistle Thrush, Robin, Blackbird, Wood Pigeon, Robin, Coal Tit and of course Blue Tit as regular visitors.

They reckon its the most adaptable species that survive, and with that the winner has to be the Wood Pigeon. There are nine or ten in our area and no matter what we put out they just hoover it up. Apart from the regular food they dive into special fried rice, pasties, and any kind of protein on offer. If you travel along the by pass above Ryton you will have seen the huge flock in that area.

A pair of Bullfinch were not too far from home patch yesterday.

Surprise Visitors

The recent fall of snow had the effect of driving all the locals into the garden to see what may be on offer.
That included a pair of Mistle Thrush which were a welcome sight.

I have been watching them over the last 3-4 months perching on the highest trees around the area of the old Sanderson Hospital grounds in Gosforth, but this was the first time they have visited the garden on regular basis. They would appear to have an arrangement where one of them perches on sentry lookout duty while the other feeds.
At times they can be quite tolerant of people having been able to get within 10-12 feet
One of them was perched on the garden fence for almost an hour presenting great views

St. Mary's

A few days ago we had the chance to drive down to St. Mary's Island which was a sight to behold with a strong northerly wind building  some significant waves.
I have come to realise that these conditions , at high tide can result in a decent feeding bird population on the north beach.
Sure enough there were about fifty Sanderling working on the remaining couple of yards of sand while twenty Turnstone and fifteen Purple Sandpiper picked over the piles of kelp deposited at the top of the beach
I somehow managed to get down onto the top of the beach in one piece, and still vertical, and watched the Sanderling running in and out with the surf and as soon as they got the chance it was heads down probing for some morsels of protein.

Fascinating to watch and was able to do so from no more than ten feet

Shortie's

I have just read PCF's account of Short-eared Owls at Prestwick Carr published in Birds in Northumbria 2011.

It brought back enjoyable memories of seeing them there myself.
The sight of a dozen owls spiralling upward into the evening sky was magical indeed.
I was fortunate enough to be able to introduce three groups of friends from out of the area to the Prestwick Carr delights.
Not been able to visit recently so thought I'd conjure up an image for myself