(A-Z) Magpie

As I sit working this afternoon my peace and quiet is interrupted by a familiar, unpleasant chat/squark.

I went upstairs and looked out of the window to see over my fence into the flats carpark next door. In middle is a cat with a bird it has just caught getting mobbed by a magpie. The magpie seems to be insisting that the cat leaves the meal immediately, presumably so it can eat it itself.

We have a rhyme that denotes seeing one magpie will bring sorrow; it certainly is for the cat. But I assume this is because it is unusual to see one, and a pair is much more common, or more even. A woodland walk is almost certain to include a magpie or few, and often with this peace-piercing, angry call. It is slightly more colourful than most of the corvids, only outdone by the rarer Jay. I wonder if they are jealous? People are always far more excited to see their more colourful cousin!

It sounds like I don’t like them much- which isn’t really true. You have to admire their boldness; they are clearly not easily intimidated. I have seen film of them fighting with a fox for some scraps and even when you disturb them in the woods they will only fly off for a moment before returning as soon as you pass. I do not live particularly close to woodland and yet they are often seen around the pretty much urban village. This all leads to a successful existence and their formidable reputation. That is impressive.

It is also said that they are attracted to shiny things. I gather this is not totally mythical, but the extent to which it is portrayed in fiction is probably a bit exaggerated, I presume.
I think familiarity has bred a little contempt. I will endeavour to be more sympathetic the next time I get to watch one out and about.

(A-Z) Long-tailed Tit

We had been to the cinema; sitting in the dark on a lovely sunny day, and with half an hour to spare on our way home I did a quick search of Wildlife Trust sites.
Risley Glebe is a small bit of woodland just outside the village of Risley with a stream running through it. No fences or entrance gates, just a footpath and various animal trails through the woodland. Nowadays it might be called “forest bathing” but either way it was a refreshing ½ hr of being in the woods, jumping over the stream, trying to distinguish badger footprints from dog footprints in the muddy puddles and a bit of birding.
A green woodpecker nest was the most exciting and unusual siting. The noise gave it away as the chicks can’t be far from fledging and they were keen for the next feed. It was actually on the way out, along the footpath beside some houses that the familiar “peeping” started to erupt above us. A volery of pink and white pom-poms moving from the big oak tree on one side of the path to the high hawthorn and blackthorn bushes on the other were not being secretive!

I have occasionally seen them in our garden and the same sounds make us aware of their presence. First you see one, then two, then you get your eye in and start to see many, flitting from branch to branch, one after the other. They thoroughly searched the bush for insects and then gradually moved deeper into the woodland, away from the path, the calls slowly dying out.

“Isn’t that the next bird in you’re A-Z,” said my eldest. “Yes, it is,” I replied.

(A-Z) Linnet

Just over 15yrs since I started the A-Z challenge, and nearly 7 years since my last post, but this has been in the back of the mind the whole time!
According to my records I did see a linnet in Dec 2010, before the challenge started, but it was new then and I haven’t seen one since.

Technology has changed significantly in that time, too. We now have a phone app (Merlin) which will identify birds by their call. A number of times since getting the app it has recorded a linnet, but I have never been able to see it so I don’t know if was really there or a false record!?

Today, though, we had driven to Bempton Cliffs RSPB Reserve with the main purpose being to see a puffin. I have never seen one before, where my children have! We thought it was worth a trip, so today was the day. Of course, we were interested in seeing what else was there, too, and there is a lot! The gannets are the stars of the show with kittiwakes alongside. The barn owl distracted everyone from the puffins when it made an appearance. In fact it was a slow day for puffins, we saw only three; precariously perched on the cliff face looking for nest sites.

After lunch we walked South along the coast path, enjoying the soundtrack of the gannets, when the Merlin App heard a linnet coming from a collection of brambles about 20m into the field. I crept closer as the sound continued. It isn’t a repeating call, but the mix of chirps, trills and squeaks is distinctive. I knew that I didn’t recognise it. Binoculars in hand, my family walking off ahead, I got close enough to the buses to see a bird in the thick of the brambles. It sounded like this was where the noise was coming from, so I stopped and watched. Gradually the silhouette in the bush moved towards the top, then emerged! Perching on the top most branches it continued singings. The grey head and subtle pinkish chest, blending to a rusty brown underneath was in no doubt a male linnet! After a while another joined him, then a female. More sparrow-like in brown the clear specs on the chest were distinct and elegant.

I watched for a while then rushed to catch-up with the family! My son was unimpressed that he missed them, so on the way back we had another look. As we approached the collection of brambles a few birds flew off and it sees to have been our linnets as we didn’t see any more.

(A-Z) Hobby

Five years to the day since I last posted! As it seems I have started a few of these posts, this is not due to not being out wildlife watching, although it has certainly got less frequent these days. Much has happened in those five years, most notably getting married and having two children. This has always been in the back of my mind though. Every summer I wonder if I will get an opportunity to look for a hobby!!

My wife is interested in my interest in birds, but not willing to sit in a hide for long! The children are not quite up to proper watching yet, although we go out and about often. The noise usually scares anything within 2 miles!!

However, today worked out well. We could never have planned it. Heading for a friend’s birthday party near Oxford we planned to go a few hours early and see the city a bit first. Leaving a bit late meant we arrived in the area with only one hour to spare; not enough time for it to be worth going into town. So I looked for local RSPB or Wildlife Trust reserves. Otmoor Nature Reserve was only ten minutes away!

Dressed in our party clothes we checked that there were good paths for the pushchair and headed off into the reserve. I noticed on the ‘Spotted..’ chart at the entrance that hobbies had been seen regularly, so started to think it might be possible.

It was quite a windy day and there had been very heavy rain earlier so it was not as busy as the website indicates it might be on weekends. As we got into the reserve, though, there was a small group of people looking at something- always a good sign. After a brief chat, it turns out they were actually looking FOR something. Turtle doves. I have never seen one before so again this possibility got me excited! There are nesting turtle doves in the area and often seen at this one point. Not today, however, probably because if the wind!

We continued. My two-year-old enjoyed chasing a brown hairstreak butterfly along the path and it was delightful to watch a whitethroat feeding three fledgelings dotted along a hedgerow. Then it was time to head back.

As we approached the spot where the turtle doves are often seen I started looking ahead. Then something caught my eye across the marshland. It was faster than the lapwings and flying lower to the ground. Then it changed direction to chase another bird! I followed with my binoculars and saw the sickle-like wings twist and turn then disappear over the hedgerow. Definitely a bird of prey, quite small but not one that I could immediately identify so not a sparrowhawk or kestrel. I was sure it was a hobby. Then it came back over the hedge, still chasing things through the air, as I have seen them do on TV. Much darker in colour than other birds and so much more acrobatic. It disappeared behind the hedge again and that was it! Quite far away, and not over water as I was expecting, but unmistakable. At last!

As I was still looking for it, a little higher in the sky, some crows started mobbing something which turned out to be a peregrine falcon. Then a turtle dove passed right over our heads and sat in a tree close by, purring away. We met a lady who had travelled from Surrey to see them and this was a wonderful view for her.

So six years after getting to this page I can tick it off!! I hope to see another soon and be able to watch it for longer, but for an impromptu stop off with both kids, this was wonderful.

 

(A-Z) Kestrel

Although apparently in decline in this country it is still the commonest bird of prey and is certainly the one I see most of. On my commute to work, I usually see at least one, if not more. Yesterday I saw one hovering next to a tree on my way in, and saw one hovering by the same tree on my way home! Presumably the same one!?

There is also one I see from my living room window regularly. The meadows in front are obviously great hunting ground and the lampposts good perches for observation.

I was able to watch one this morning for about 20mins, switching back and forth across the meadows. The amazing ability to hover by flying into the wind always impresses me and makes it wonderful to watch. As it starts to travel further and further away it is always sad when it fades from sight. Yet I feel privileged to have watched it for a while, however regularly!

Still no Hobby.

It has been over a year since I posted! Not because I have not been watching wildlife, though. I have had a few delightful view of bullfinches on my cycle to work, one morning there were 5 pairs! Also I took  my nieces out looking for kingfishers and although we didn’t see one I then did see one from my living room window!

It is the Hobby that has stalled me. I didn’t get chance to go out looking specifically last summer and then as they migrated, freeing me to move on the challenge, I was out of the mindset! It is a shame because the next couple of birds I see regularly!

So, I am not giving up on the Hobby, in fact I am keen to see one and will try to find a couple of days to go spotting this summer, but I am also moving on with the list…

(A-Z) House Martin

Now they have returned to the country it was time to return to ‘H’.

This is another one of the birds that I have probably seen often, but never taken the time to identify. Along with swallows, swifts and sand martins they are often swooping around but for these purposes I have had to look a bit more carefully.

This morning, looking out of my window, I saw something new. We had swallows a couple of weeks ago but I could tell straight away that these were not swallows. Too small. The Mease Meadow is out of my flat window, and running along the opposite edge is a brook. These birds were swooping over the water, then over the meadow, then high up into the air for a while. Were they sand or house martins? I tried to get a lock on them with my binoculars but as they darted around, this way and that, I couldn’t get a good view of the tails. The house martin’s tail is a bit more forked, but I just couldn’t see them well enough.

Another quick look in the book and the black chest band became the important feature, or rather for a house martin, the lack of! Just then, one of them came and turned right in front of my window and I saw very clearly that there was no chest band!

A real harbinger of summer, although how much of a summer we will have remains to be seen. I hope these little things frequent my meadow!

(A-Z) Jay

Still at Ynys-hir and wherever you are in the woodland, every 10mins or so there is some kind of kerfuffle high up in the trees. The first time it happened whilst I was still in the car-park I looked up and saw a big bird in silhouette and thought it might be a sparrowhawk with all the fuss it was causing, but then when I saw a further 3 or 4 of them following I recognised them as Jays.

There were about 10 of them in this mob that seemed to move around the woodland all afternoon and I saw them often. A very charismatic bird, bold and balshy but colourful and delightful to see.  Not dissimilar in character to a magpie, but less sinister looking due to the colours.

Whilst I was cycling in Spain last summer we left our lunch unattended for a few moments, whilst by a mountain stream, and it was soon attended by a mob of about 30 jays. Even when we came back one or two would come right onto the table to steal a bit of bread.

They were abundant when I lived in the South East, but not so common up here in The Midlands. A few weeks ago my Mum claims to have seen one whilst we were out on a walk, but I didn’t.

(A-Z) Garden Warbler

It has been a bumper weekend for my A-Z Challenge, which is dragging on well into the second year, third summer!

I made it to ‘G’ back in December 2011, but then failed to see a garden warbler last summer, so here we are. I needed to make a special effort to see one, and I am pretty sure I have. As sure one can be with these ‘little brown jobs’.

I was heading to Cors Dyfi, a Montgomeryshire Wilflife Trust Reserve, to see the Osprey Project based there and since they boast to have 9 different warblers on the reserve I thought I would be sure to see one, and maybe even have some help in identifying one too! However, I had forgotten that he reserve is closed because they are building a fantastic new observation center. The osprey viewing hide is still open, though, so I got to see them, and also heard of garden warbler sightings in the car-park earlier in the week. So I sat in my car to have lunch, binoculars at the ready. The wind and rain made it unlikely, and it was not a success. However I also heard in the hide that just down the road at Ynys-hir RSPB Reserve, there lots seen that morning!

So, off I went. Even before going into the reserve I saw a blackcap and a white-throat and two slightly different LBJs but was one of them a garden warbler? I checked in the reference book in the bookshop and still wasn’t sure. I was looking for one that was more grey than the yellowy wood warbler, and singing like a black-cap without a black cap!

I saw lots more LBJs, but the lack of sunshine meant very few of them were singing. A couple did, showing that they were not my garden warbler, but then…
I heard close by what sounded like it could be a blackcap. After a visual search through the branches and new leaves I managed to focus the binoculars on the singer and to my joy I could not see a black cap! It was more yellow chested than I was lead to expect, but as far as I could tell it was my garden warbler! And to be honest, even if it wasn’t I am sure at least one of the others that refused to sing for me was one!

Despite being somewhat plain, the intent with which they mingle through the branches and leaves is exciting enough! And especially on a dull, windy, rainy day their bursts of song thrill the woodland. I am sure I will see one again, but I may not be so eager to identify it!

(A-Z) Jackdaw

I am pretty sure I see jackdaws everyday. There is a rook/jackdaw roost in the fields close to my house, and so if I am ever out in the evening I can hear them. Most are rooks, and it is just difficult to tell as the fly over each evening, which are jackdaws. I read somewhere that a jackdaws are more defined than crows and rooks, which seem to have fingers on the end. They are also usually in pairs. That said, I hadn’t been able to see close enough to be sure, and even when I went out to the roost to look it is just a bit too far from the road to see clearly enough.

I am sure, however, that it was a jackdaw that I saw today. Two, in fact. They were poking around and jumping up and down from a cow-trough. They always look so mean and devious. All corvids have this about them, but where crows and rooks have a sense of foreboding, the jackdaw is too nimble and quick to be sinister. Instead their piercing eyes and sharp beak just make them totally untrustworthy! Black, with less iridescence than other black birds I think, and stunning but not quite beautiful. They look too devious to be beautiful!