karen's country calendar

Not having had much time over the weekend I decided to do my bird count today.  So after lunch I settled down in the Conservatory with some crochet and started counting...  Within 5 minutes I had seen greenfinches, goldfinches and bluetits on the feeders, chaffinches, blackbird, dunnock,  and house sparrows on the ground. Soon a pair of collared doves arrived followed by a pair of amorous woodpigeons.   The flurry of activity continued for about 15 minutes when there was suddenly a few loud bangs (possibly from a neighbours garden) and with the flutter of wings my garden was emptied!    After 10 minutes the birds started to return but no more different species although a flock of woodpigeons did settle in the trees to the  rear. Total bird count: 4 chaffinch 1 bluetit 2 blackbirds 1 house sparrow 1 dunnock 3 goldfinch 2 collared dove 8 woodpigeon No robins, great tits or long tailed tits today.

With a fine day forecast before the colder weather sets in for a while, I decided to make a visit to Welney to see if I could add a few more birds to my list. It is always nice to sit in a warm heated hide and from this main hide all the usual ducks, geese and swans were visible including the migrant Whooper swans which Welney is known for.  I also saw pochard, large flocks of black tailed godwit and a single redshank from a further hide. On leaving I glanced up at the bushes where there was quite a lot of twittering going on and noticed a flock of tree sparrows which was another tick for this years.   Whooper Swan          Flock of black tailed godwits Pochard    What a difference the light makes! Tree sparrows