A Happy 2011

The New Year went off with a bang,  many bangs unfortunately, as it seems someone was selling off cheap fireworks which were going off continuously well after one o'clock. This meant there was no chance I was going to hear Tawny Owl but, one final listen at 01:25hrs, just before I called it a night and there he was, quietly hooting from the South Burn Woods. So the year list was standing at one when I set off to do some birding 6 hours later.

I added another 17 as I slowly walked through Garden Farm Estate, in order, Rook, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Blue Tit, Collared Dove, Wood Pigeon, Blackbird, Wren, Redwing, Robin, Common Starling, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Black-headed Gull, Common Gull, Feral Pigeon and Jackdaw.
Along Chester-le-Street main Street and I was still ticking, adding another three, Goldfinch, Herring Gull and Pied Wagtail, bringing the total to 21.

3 Goldfinches just of Chester-le-Street main Street

I followed the South Burn to the river and walked along the riverside path adding Mallard, an immature Grey Heron in the South Burn,

The young Grey Heron on the South Burn

On or by the Wear, 20+ Goosander, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Coot, now 161 Tufted Duck, last year's Scaup, Canada Goose, the Whooper Swan, Grey Wagtail, 5 Cormorant, Chaffinch, 5 Lesser Redpoll, 2 Bullfinch and the female Mandarin. The latter was now upstream, above the weir, in the calmer waters with about 10 Mallard, tucked into the bank and not that easy to see.

Female Mandarin keeping a low profile

I'm not sure how I missed the Scaup the other day, but I'll use the excuse that it must have been with the 20 or so extra Tufted Duck that are also here today. Not bad going, the list was now 37 but no sign of any Dipper or Kingfisher.

The not so elusive Scaup

Continuing on along the river past the cricket ground and through the ridiculously called riverside wildlife area which usually has more dogs that wildlife.This stretch produced 4 Little Grebe,  a Willow Tit by the river, 2 Jays on the opposite bank, several Great Tit, 2 Siskin, a Pheasant, a Great Spotted Woodpecker and 2 Coal Tit. I came out onto the A167, walked along a bit and crossed over and through the Hermitage Woods, then along Waldridge Lane and onto the fell. Adding extra birds was now getting tough but Long-tailed Tit (4 separate  groups), a large female Sparrowhawk, a single Goldcrest, a Song Thrush and finally 8 Yellowhammer were all finally seen giving a total of 50. Not too but quite a few common birds missed or to be got another day.

The origin of the Chinese Goose at the Park is perhaps not China after all!

There's still patches of snow about  including a bit in the garden so it's not surprising that apart from the birds there was little else noted. I did see Phellinus igniarius (Willow Bracket Fungi) on one of the dead Crack Willows by the riverside but the only plants in flower I noted were the same three as last week,  the three trees with their catkins - Silver Birch, Hazel and Alder

The three species of tree in flower - Hazel (left), Silver Birch (middle) and Alder (right)

Alder catkin buds and cones

End of year but back to the future

Well this is it, in a few hours it will be time to start all the lists again, First of the year, last of the year, total for the year etc. It will also be the first time I will concentrate my watching here at home instead of going all over the place. Its kind of scary doing some proper patch watching but so far its been rewarding and I'm optimistic I'll make some good discoveries this year.

The Whooper Swan at the Riverside Park

 
As I said the other day, the adult Whooper Swan is still on the Wear at the Riverside Park.  It arrived on the 23rd September and I posted some pictures of it with its ring on 25th September. I've just had a reply  on where it was rung.

Many thanks for your email regarding Whooper Swan. It's ringing history is as follows:

 

26.09.10 - Female Whooper Swan - River Ouse, Cawood, York (SE 574 379)

 

Best Wishes, Dan

Yorkshire Swan & Wildlife Rescue Hospital 

 

So there you have it, I photographed the bird and its ring the day before it was put on its leg ... Spooky or what? I've asked Dan to check his date.

 

.

Long tails tough it out

With now only scattered patches of snow still lying around and the temperature a screeching 6C, it's looking a bit better for the the new year. Five Long-tailed Tits visited the bird table at lunchtime, just to confirm I was worried over nothing about them managing to survive the cold weather. The Great spotted Woodpecker paid a visit too but once again decided not to bother to use the feeders whilst I was there watching.

Long-tailed Tit at the feeder

The Tawny Owls are still calling and even now at 21:30hrs there is one hooting away..

More thaw

It managed to stay above zero during the night so things are continuing to thaw. I had to pop into the town centre first thing but as I got there a tad too early I wandered down to the riverside until the shops opened.  The river was running high and fast but clear of the ice it had recently. Along the South Burn 2 Dippers had paired up and the male was singing. In fact there was quite a bit of song with a couple of Robin, 4+ Dunnock and a Great Tit also singing this morning. The feeding station was lifting with wildfowl -

The feeding station was lifting with wildfowl.

22 Canada Goose, 139 Mute Swan, 27 Goosander, 498 Mallard, 4 Cormorant, 144 Tufted Duck, 1 Whooper Swan, and a female Mandarin.

 1 of 144 Tufted Duck I counted this morning

Opposite a Great Spotted Woodpecker and a small flock of Long-tailed Tit were in the riverside trees whilst by the play area another flock of Long-tail Tits  and 45 Siskin were feeding in the Alders. No sign of a Kingfisher today however.
A little later I found myself in Chester Moor where there was another Long-tailed Tit flock and with more at the South Burn Wood entrance, it looks like many have come through this cold spell relatively unscathed. Also at Chester Moor were about a dozen mixed Redwing and Fieldfare  in the hedgerow and a good count of 22 House Sparrow.

Chester Moor still has a good population of House Sparrow

A single Grey Heron flew over  and another patch of Alder held 64 Siskin but they were off as soon as I stopped and raised my binoculars.
By the time I got home the temperature was reading 4C and with little patches of green appearing through the thawing snow and ice and several species of bird in song it was almost spring-like!

Thaw'th Night

The temperature has been (just) above zero for the last 24hrs and a thaw has started, though slowly. But that little rise in temperature has woken up a few things, particularly at night.
The Tawny Owls having been quiet for a while have become very vocal with 3-4 birds calling within hearing distance of the house the last two nights and tonight just before I post this at 18:30 hrs, two are still hooting and a moth was flying around the outside light and when I caught it, it was, not surprising, a Winter Moth. Also last night, a vixen Red Fox screeched on a number of occasions from the Hermitage Woods.
This morning, from his usual song perch in the garden, the resident Dunnock gave a snatch of song, confirming he has managed to get through this latest cold shape successfully.

Still snow n Waxwings

Its still -2C and the snow is covering everything. A month ago (24th November) I said rather excitedly .... "Its 18:20hrs and the first snow of the winter.".....  Little did I know that there would be snow in the garden every day from then until now.
The birds are struggling with the ground being either so hard or under so much snow that I'm having to top up the bird table in the garden twice a day when I can but the total number of birds has diminished. 17 Wood Pigeon and 2 Collarded Dove are currently dominating the area but rarely more than 1 or 2 are present until late morning, giving the smaller birds such as the Blue Tit, Great Tit and Coal Tit, Robin, Song Thrush and Dunnocks a chance to feed. The Siskin and Blackbird seem to be less bothered about the bully pigeons. A Sparrowhawk has probably noted the birds now and I've seen it several times in the past few days and if it hasn't already, it will soon, start using the garden as one of it's local fly-in takeaways.

A walk around the fell produced a lot of snow but little in the way of wildlife, but despite all this nature carries on. I have seen 3 species of plant, all trees as it happens, in flower, during the week. There were Betula pendula (Silver Birch), Corylus avellana (Hazel) and Populus tremula (Aspen).
There was still 1-2 Willow Tit, 4 Bullfinch and a Nuthatch in South Burn woods. The Fell itself had a few more Bullfinch and a scattering of five species of thrush , ie Blackbird, Redwing, Song Thrush, Mistle Thrush and Fieldfare. However the best birds were 3 Waxwing that flew over heading towards Sacriston so I hope hope these hang around until the new year. I could not find any Long-tailed Tit or Lesser Redpoll today, the latter I was hoping to track down both to photograph and check them,  as there has been a few Mealy and Arctic Redpolls around the last few days.

I've been sussed

Its still rather cold, with -7C overnight,  but rather strangely,  only a dusting of snow compared with many parts of the NE and the rest of the UK. It makes a nice change to listen to other people complaining about the deep snow and we hardly have any. That is apart from the snow-hills on the street corners left by the snowplough ten days ago and showing no sign of melting.

Yet another Woodcock flew over this morning as did a Grey Wagtail and despite the cold night,  the local Tawny Owls were very vocal. The first time I've heard them for a few weeks.

Even though the feeders in the garden are small,  for some reason they seem to attract more than their fair share of large birds. I put food out and melt the ice in the water feeder before first light every morning. The resident Robin roosts in the far corner of the garden but 'tic's as soon as I get near the feeders, alerting me to its presence. It's getting tamer by the day and was on top of the post holding the feeders as I put the food out this morning and was feeding as soon as I turned my back despite it still being dark. But other birds are being to suss out my routine. The Wood Pigeons have been somewhat displaced by two rather aggressive Jackdaws and there were 8 Blackbirds and 2 Song Thrush  feeding there before I left for work this morning. The small birds have to use the hanging feeders as the table and the ground under it is Big Boy territory.