A Waldridge Naturalist

Definitely a feel of spring this morning despite a rather heavy frost and freezing overnight temperatures which wisely put me off putting the moth trap out. Like yesterday, the bird table was particularly busy, with several Blackbird, Dunnock, Coal Tit and Chaffinch feeding, drinking & bathing at first light.

Chaffinch, Dunnock and Blackbird in the garden this morning

This bright sunny morning persuaded me to have a little look around before setting off for work. I only wandered into the South Burn woods and hung around the little overgrown pond at Brass Castle. There was a fair bit of activity on the common bird front and a lot of bird song. A pair of Long-tailed Tit were seen mating and several Jays were particularly noisy, presumably establishing their territories.  I was hoping I might get a singing Chiffchaff but it really still is a bit too early. There may be the odd butterfly on the wing today, but it was too early in the day  for anything like that when I was there. Several Goldcrest were flitting about, including one singing but they never stayed still enough for a decent photograph.

Peek-a-boo - This was the best of the Goldcrest views.

 I didn't stay very long myself, but long enough to watch a flock of 27 Golden Plover fly over, heading west. Most of these birds were in summer plumage but unlike most flocks around at this time of year they did not appear to be brightly marked northern birds making me think that these were of the southern race. This is the subspecies that breed on our moors and it would be nice to think that, that is where this little flock were heading.

Golden Plovers heading west.