April part 1

I blogged theses pictures last year but have since read that during the bluetits mating display the male will make a simple flight of a few metre's from one perch to another as in the pictures. Courtship is a long process and is repeated each spring even by birds that have been paired for a long time.I hpe you dont mind the repeat.

March 2012 part 4

24th In the afternoon we went back to the kite feeding station we visited in the summer. They tell us that they feed different birds on different days and there is a pecking order with different birds arriving at different times, a 'blond' kite arribed in a later batch of feeders. They feed them in the afternoon so they still hunt in the mornings.
 A crowd of crows and rooks linned upon the fence to wait their turn.

25th We walk along the river to the bridge we see chaffinch chasing around, blue tuts, a wren, a robin, blackbirds,, rooks gathering mud from the river banks and 2 cole tits collecting moss and grass then dissapearing into a crevise  onbetween two stones at the top of the bank. A pellet lies under  a tree the locals tell us it belongs to a tawny owl.

As we pack up 3 buzzards soar overhead causing a panic in the rookery.
26th Back home and the first sighting this year of a hedgehog.
29th 4 goldfinch and 2 longtailed tits in the garden.
31st After a week of record highs March ends with a frost.

March 2012 part2

20th Visitors in the garden. blue tits, great tits, cole tits, sparrows,starlings, blackbirds. pigeons, collered doves, robins,2 dunnocks and 2 goldfinch. They are already talking about a drought.
21st A beautiful sunny day and a greenfinch is in the garden.
23rd Riverbend Caravan Park nr Welshpool.
After setting up camp we revisited the RSPB hide at lake Vyrnwy to get beautiful close up views of male and female chaffinch,

blue tits,

great  tits, greenfinch, cole tits,

dunnocks, greater spotted woodpecker,

siskin,

female and male pheasants,

nuthatch,

and a squirrel,

If your ever in this area I recommend comong here.

March 2012 part 1

1st A beautiful day daffodils are in flower.
3rd Driving back home from friends we see a meteor:  A piece of rock that travels through space until it falls within the gravitation field of a star or planet.
Blackthorn is in blossom , the first of the blossoms to appear.
13th Dads bush is covered in ladybirds. I think they shelter through the winter inside it. 2 ravens fight in the garden and sparrows are carrying nesting material.
15th Robin feeding mate in the garden.

 19th Trip to the wood on the nature reserve. We heard 2 woodpeckers, saw several blue tits, great tits, lesser celendine in flower and a tiny white flower carpeting the ground.

Common Chickweed ( Stellaria media) A world wide annual weed that has tiny white flowers. The seeds can be eaten by birds.
We also see 3 buzzards, a group of greylag geese, a small group of canada geeses, a wren, 4 blackbirds and this hole dug by a tree . What animal did this ?

March 2012 part 3

24th A walk along the river at the campsite. Daffodils are in flower along with lesser celendine daises and a  wood anenome.

2 Male mallards and a dipper flew past. Also saw blue tits, great tits, longtailed tits, chaffinch, goldfinch and a pied wagtail.
Rooks are nesting nearby their calling is loud.

The collective name for rooks is a clamor or a building.

Rooks

Raucous calling

Never ceasing, flying to and fro,

Collecting sticks

And collecting mud

Nests to build 

               High above.            

                  .P.Beach