Month: January 2018

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26 January 2018

A Blackcap has been visiting my garden now for a few days and yesterday I was delighted to see not only a male Blackcap in the garden but also a male Brambling. The birds must be finding food is in short supply and they are starting to come into the gardens for food.
Today not only did the Blackcap come back in, but later in the day a Treecreeper also appeared. As I was photographing the Treecreeper a little Goldcrest also came in but it was too quick for me to get a picture of it. There was no sign of the Brambling today, so it must have moved on. Hopefully the other birds will continue to come back in for a few weeks.
There were plenty of the usual birds in the garden and I had twelve or more Siskins which is quite a lot to see at one time. Usually when the Siskins start to come in, one or more Lesser Redpolls start to appear with them too. So I will look out for those.
This weekend is the Big Garden Birdwatch, so it would be great if there was a wide variety of birds in for that.
I went for a walk around Sanquhar Pond today and saw a Goosander and a Tufted Duck in the pond with the Mallards. Two people told me there had been a Kingfisher seen there recently but unfortunately it was not seen today. I have only ever see Kingfishers flying past me, never sitting on a branch so it would be lovely to see one. As we walked round the pond we saw a Grey Heron in the reeds, a Jay calling on a tree above us and a Great Spotted Woodpecker.

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19 January 2018

I have abandoned the idea of writing this blog at the end of each month and decided to write it only on days when I have seen things of interest.

 

Today was  a beautiful sunny day but extremely frosty.  One of those crispy winter days that most of us like.  Up till now January has been pretty uneventful both in the garden and out and about for bird watching.  However, today was much more interesting.  Firstly a lovely Fieldfare flew into the apple tree this morning.  Unfortunately it did not hang around even though I had apples on the ground.  Hopefully it will come back.

We decided to head along the coast from Burghead to Hopeman.  Waxwings had been seen in a garden in Burghead during the last week and I had hoped to see them.  Unfortunately they were not to be seen.  On some rocks at Burghead a small group of Redshanks were sheltering as the tide was in.  Their red legs and beaks stood out brightly against the grey rocks.

On the harbour wall there was a small group of Turnstones scurrying along the wall.  At first I  did not notice them, but looking at them more closely I saw two Purple Sandpipers in the middle of them.  At the mouth of the harbour there appeared a group of over eighty Eider Ducks  and a Cormorant.  Only one Eider and the Cormorant actually came into the harbour where I saw the usual  Seal.

At Burghead Point  there were four Goldeneye in the water and lots of Eider flying past.  A lone Herring Gull was standing at the point thinking about its next meal.

On the way back I spotted another Fieldfare near Roseisle and I saw a Grey Heron on the back road to Kinloss.

In the afternoon three Long-tailed Tits came into the garden to the feeders.  They are such cute balls of fluff.   Later, when I was upstairs  saw a small flock of birds land on the top of some trees in a garden in the distance down the road.  I did wonder if they might be Waxwings so I got out my binoculars.  Sure enough, in among Chaffinches and Goldfinches were four Waxwings – the first I had seen this year.  Disappointingly they were far too far away to get a photograph.

I will keep putting apples on the ground in the hope that the Fieldfare or the Waxwings come into the garden long enough for me to get a picture.  Although that might be a bit of a forlorn hope as I saw a Sparrowhawk fly through the garden at the end of the day.