Sunday 16 January 2011

Where are my boundaries?

The local Tawny Owls were getting rather excited last night with 3 birds hooting and or 'kvicking' for hours despite the strong wind. I suspect some territorial dispute between the pair and a new male on the scene was taking place.
  The last of the snow has gone and the temperature is in double figures here, the first time since November. 11.6C to be exact, now my Christmas present is working fully. So you would think its would be good to get out ......wrong, a very blowy NW wind and driving rain would only make an idiot go out first thing this morning, so out I went. Venturing a little further afield for a change,  outside my Waldridge 'patch' area and into Gateshead but it wasn't too long before I was home again. Back in Waldridge the wind had dropped and there was quite a bit of bird song with 5+ Robin, 2 Blackbird and 3 Wrens singing. A Great Spotted Woodpecker called in the paddock, which reminds me, I had a Green Woodpecker yesterday, flying over the A167 by Plawsworth. A lone Grey Lag Goose flew over the house calling heading west  Interestingly, I twice saw a single Grey Lag earlier at  Birtley reedbed pools doing a similar thing. It could well have been the same bird.
The garden feeders have been nothing like as busy recently and with a maximum of only 8 Wood Pigeon, its rather civilised out there. The pair of Chaffinch have settled down and are almost always present whenever I look out. 
One of the resident Chaffinches
Also in the garden, a look around found me a weed, Hairy Bittercress (Cardamine hirsuta) my first of the year as was some Downy Birch (Betula pubescens) which had just come into flower and I saw earlier just around the corner.
Earlier this afternoon  2 Linnet also flew over the house calling, this latter species is new for my 2011 Waldridge patch. I was asked the other day where my Waldridge boundaries are. Basically what I'm calling my patch is anywhere within the old Chester-le-Street town boundary but as long as I walked there from the house. This type of patch area is becoming more popular with birders and often called OFFH  not One Floor from Heaven (a Norwegian dance party) but On Foot From House. So there you have it, my OFFH list for 2011 currently stands at 77 birds, 2 mammals and 5 flowering plants

1 comment:

  1. perhaps "us foot-sloggers" should consider getting some stickers printed up :-

    " Real Birders do it On Foot "

    ( car stickers of course ;-) )


    Environmental considerations aside, - At £1.30 add a litre im surprised everyones not OFFHing !

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