Birds Archives - Page 2 of 4 - A Year in the Valley

Grey Heron

Today we are bracing ourselves for the latest named storm, Isha – it’s windy, though not gale force as yet, grey and damp underfoot.

On Friday it was still cold and calm, with clear blue sky, and I stood on the decking camera at the ready to catch any of the small birds I haven’t yet managed to photograph. Just as I was about to give up hope, Mr C cried “Heron!”. A black dot on its way out to sea by the time I had my camera focused. The usual story! However, not only did the heron turn to fly up over the houses veering round to fly down to the coast again, but from out of nowhere another heron joined it and both then flew back up the valley over the watermeadow.

That wasn’t the end of the episode, though, as one of the herons returned about twenty minutes later and stood for a long while next door no doubt hoping to spear some lunch. I haven’t done any stream- or pond-dipping yet, but in the past we have seen little shrimpy things, tiny fish, and newts. Nothing major. In the winter when ponds are frozen over, herons will eat small waterbirds, chicks, frogs, or water voles, so perhaps this heron was hoping to see something in the grass.

The adult grey heron usually has a black crown and white nape and neck with black splashes on its breast and black feathers on its grey wings. This one doesn’t have a black crown, so may be a juvenile, though some adults do have a grey crown. To confirm the age of this heron, we’d have to see if its nape was white or grey.

Daisy D

21 January 2024

Birds

Grey Heron

Common Pheasant

It continues to be very ‘birdy’ with great tits, blue tits, clusters of long-tailed tits, sparrows, dunnock, wren, and robins visiting the bird feeder and the trees and bushes in the top garden.

There has been an elusive greenfinch, we think, and/or a chiffchaff and/or a willow warbler. All of those have shades of green in their plumage. The greenfinch has been up close to the house, so we are reasonably sure of that one, but there has been possibly another green-tinged bird hopping about at the top of the bank. There was another that I haven’t seen clearly calling ‘tsp-tsp’ and flying between the alders and other trees in the valley. Yesterday, I managed to go down the steps and walk along Hard Knot Pass, which is strewn with cut grass, so not muddy. I was able to get some good pictures of Little Venice drying out and narrowly missed the ‘tsp-tsp’ bird, who was perched on a stout pruned willow trunk. It would have been a great shot, but before I got the camera focused he was off! We know there is a chiff-chaff out there because we’ve heard it. We’ve also heard a willow warbler’s ‘wheeeep, wheeeep’. The ‘pink-pink’ bird might actually be something completely different – it’s probably not a song, but more likely an alarm or contact call.

So, just when I thought I had nothing for the blog, a male pheasant visited. We have been regularly visited by common pheasants, male and female, but over the winter there is shooting on the hill opposite, and they tend to fly off over the valley to the hills behind us. We can often hear the males squawking. The females visit later in the year often in groups. The pheasants will eat bird seed scattered or left out for them. They also eat berries and insects. The female common pheasant is mottled brown with a much shorter tail.

Daisy D

17 January 2024

Birds

Pheasant

Pied Wagtail

With the current spell of settled weather, comes the sunshine and colder temperatures. The dry spell has encouraged the watermeadow to start drying out and the flood level is going down. The paths are still very muddy and Little Venice remains splashy, so I have yet to venture down there. The birds are increasingly in evidence fluttering around, having turf wars (especially the house sparrows) and generally tuning up for spring. They are starting to look resplendent as their plumage seems to sharpen and brighten ready for dating and mating.

Although we most often see the Pied Wagtail hopping on roof tiles or tarmac, Mr C spotted this one flying up the garden from the watermeadow. It turns out that Pied Wagtails live in a variety of habitats, not just urban settings, but farmland, wetland, grassland, and coastal areas. They mainly eat insects but will eat seeds and bird table food in the winter, which is probably what this one had his eye on.

Daisy D

14 January 2024

Birds

Pied Wagtail

Jackdaws

I was in the garden scanning the trees and the grasses for birds – and other wildlife, when I heard the unmistakable “gull-gull” cry and saw this ‘clattering’ of jackdaws. They were flying down the valley towards the sea and then back and forth across the valley at the coast, as though they were larking around, having a bit of fun. A jackdaw up close has quite a big head, grey and sheeny with a black face and the grey fading to black down its body. It also has white eyes.

Jackdaws are quite sociable and roost in trees in large groups. They can be heard to chatter loudly at dusk in summer evenings, though not in our valley. There are obviously some around, but I think they actually roost further up the valley or on the hilltops. Being corvids, they are clever, and well-known for stealing eggs and baby birds and breaking into bird-feeders. They also eat insects, carrion, and fruit.

Daisy D

10 January 2024

Birds

Jackdaw

Magpie

I know, I’ve already ‘done’ the magpie, but this is an Action Shot!

Also, I’ve had a week off, as there was:

Christmas… and New Year…
No way of getting down to the watermeadow, due to it being waterlogged…
Nothing new to see in the bits I could get to, which was the Ramp and Vole County.

I’m still hoping to get a better picture of a magpie. I keep improving with the kestrel photos, so fingers crossed.

Storm Henk, and all the storms before it, drove the birds under cover. However, for the last few mornings, the wind has dropped for a while – only to return with gusto later on – and we have heard the beginnings of a dawn chorus. So, we know they are all out there. The birds that I have seen in the last two weeks have included the great tits, blue tits, sparrows, crows. All the usual suspects. And some brown birds that could have been anything, but I couldn’t get close enough to ID them. And wagtails, but I have yet to see them down in the watermeadow, they prefer hopping about on the rooftops.

Magpie update 17/01/24 – a better picture.

Daisy D

03 January 2024

Birds

Magpie

Little Egret

I was really happy to see a little egret in the valley yesterday! It’s been a long time since he paid us a visit.

The little egret is a member of the heron family. Its plumage is white, and it has a black beak, black legs, and yellow feet. In the breeding season, it has long white plumes from its head and neck.

The little egret used to be a visitor from the Mediterranean but began breeding in the UK on Brownsea Island in 1996 and has continued to make a home in the UK, gradually spreading northwards. It lives along the coast and in estuaries and wetlands, where it feeds on crustaceans and small fish.

Daisy D

24 December 2023

Birds

Little Egret

Magpies mobbing a buzzard

In case I don’t get a better photo of a magpie, I’ve included this little drama. The buzzard gets mobbed by crows and magpies on a regular basis.

I later got a good view of the pale undersides of the buzzard’s wings.

Daisy D

22 December 2023

Birds

Magpie

Buzzard

It was always going to be difficult to get a good photo of a bird in flight. But here is a buzzard circling high in the sky as it searches for prey on the ground. Notice the wings – rectangular and fringed with ‘fingers’ – and the fan tail, which you can see angled in the picture. Buzzards are brown with white on the undersides of their wings. They have a distinctive mewing cry, so sometimes you can hear them before you even spot them.

Buzzards, like a lot of raptors, have eyesight that is far better than a human’s. They are typically looking for small mammals and birds, but they will also eat carrion and earthworms. You can often spot them sitting on top of telegraph poles etc. along country lanes, presumably on the lookout for roadkill.

Buzzards are relatively common, and according to the Woodland Trust, numbers have quadrupled since the 1970’s. They can be found in a variety of habitats as long as there is enough green space around them.

Daisy D

20 December 2023

Birds

House Sparrow

This was a bird that I had down as ‘unidentified brown bird’. I have now identified it as a female House Sparrow. I mean, I call most ‘unidentified brown birds’ sparrows by default – though I’m still convinced about the dunnock that I saw earlier. This splashy-striped, brown bird is a female sparrow because she has a chubby beak, almost finch-like in its chubbiness. Also, the grey throat and pale eye-stripe sandwiched between two darker lines and the pale flash on her wings.

You can’t see her front, but it will be grey, as hinted at by her throat, with just a touch of texture.

The dunnock on the other hand had most definite speckles on its breast. I will try and get a better picture of it. There was a small brown bird with a slim dark beak in the top garden. It may have been the dunnock. It was grubbing around in the undergrowth, like a wren, but without a sticking-up tail. I will keep watching and waiting.

There isn’t much else I can do at the moment, as the watermeadow is still under water! Will we see dry land again before March??

Daisy D

15 December 2023

Birds

House Sparrow

Wren

Although the photo was taken in the top garden. The wren also frequents the watermeadow. Usually found hopping around in the undergrowth or at the base of trees, this little bird will perch in a willow tree and broadcast the most amazing and powerful song full of trills and warbles.

The wren is easily recognised by its perky tail that sticks up from its round, little body, and its pale eyestripe.

The Latin name for the wren is Troglodytes troglodytes which means cave-dweller and refers to its elaborate domed nests found deep in the lower branches of trees.

Daisy D

13 December 2023

Birds

Wren