bird – Stephen's Wildlife

A gaggle of greylag geese

A gaggle of greylag geese gathered on the surface of the lake,
The honking, calling and squawking increased in intensity,
A crescendo of sound filled the air.
First one, then three, then seven and thirty birds took flight,
The air now filled with feathers, as well as sound.
They flew low over the water, getting louder and larger, straight toward me,
“Duck!” I thought.
“Don’t be silly!” I chided, as I enjoyed the intensity of sight and sound.
They flew so close, I could almost reach out and touch them.

Winter lockdown

This last weekend the RSPB ran its annual survey of garden birds. By all accounts the number of people submitting data increased significantly over last year and their were reports of people being unable to access the survey web page to record their count. Quite probably this was the ‘lockdown effect’.

My own count included 8 goldfinches. They are small birds, quite striking in appearance with their red face and yellow finch stripes on the wings. They normally form groups in the winter which may contain other finches, e.g. greenfinch, siskin, chaffinch. These groups are referred to as ‘charms’.

The UK winter lockdown continues. Yesterday we lost Captain Sir Tom Moore, a covid hero who raised over £38m last year on his 100th birthday for the NHS. The vaccine rollout continues offering light at the end of the tunnel, even as the virus continues to take its toll. This latest winter lockdown does appear to be accompanied by fatigue and weariness.

Blackcap

The blackcap is a winter visitor from possibly Germany or north-east Europe. This chap arrived just before Christmas and hung around for a few days. We were having lunch in the dining room when he appeared in the bush at the end of the garden bathed in sunlight. I could not resist grabbing the camera for a few shots before he flew off.

Cormorant

There is a significant population of cormorants at Longham Lakes. When in water they float with more of their body submerged than other waterfowl. Just their heads and backs are visible. They don’t stay above water for long before they dive on their next fishing expedition. When not feeding they take to the air to find a spot to dry out. This could be a tree or a floating platform. Often they can be seen perched on the electricity lines and pylons running alongside the lake.

The cormorant pictured above was slightly unusual. Whilst not far from the lakes, it found a resting spot in an adjacent field normally occupied by horses and was just resting. I was pleased to capture this shot with the low winter sun reflected in the bird’s green eye.

Is this a chickadee?

Blue tit enjoying sunshine after Storm Christoph

“It rained and it rained and it rained. Piglet told himself that never in all his life, and he was goodness knows how old – three was it, or four? – never had he seen so much rain.”

Winnie-The-Pooh, A.A.Milne, Chapter 9 …in which Piglet is entirely surrounded by water

Storm Christoph wasn’t too bad for us personally, although there were heartbreaking pictures on the news of its impact in other parts of the country.

But today the rain stopped and the sun came out. The birds returned to the feeders.

The Blue tits visited and sang whilst performing their acrobatics. I think I prefer US name Chickadee to the UK Tit, even though it probably would only apply to our Willow tit or Marsh tit. It’s so much more genteel.

Anyway, here is a Blue tit in our garden enjoying the sun.

A Squabble

Collective nouns come up for discussion in our household now and then. They can be so descriptive. A ‘murder of crows’, a ‘parliament of owls’ and a ‘charm of goldfinch’ all offer some insight into the perceived nature of the birds.

A group of seagulls is known as a squabble. I think this recent image suggests why this particular collective noun may have been selected. This group of black-headed gulls were gathered on a short jetty on the larger of the two lakes at Longham Lakes on New Year’s Eve. As well as this half dozen on the railing there were another group on the deck of the jetty. There were probably about twenty birds or more gathered. at this location. Occasionally they would be disturbed, take to the air, and circle round the lake before returning to this favoured spot. As they jostled for landing positions there would be quarrelsome interactions between the birds.