Blackbird – Stephen's Wildlife

Walking with a purpose

Most of my walking is without a camera. I probably clock up 20 miles a week just doing the school run. Its part of my fitness regime, which I missed out on during the first UK lockdown when schools were closed. Joe Wicks did a sterling job with his online HIIT workouts during that time, although the ‘High Intensity’ element was a bit challenging.

Most days I will join Jacki and Pippin on the daily mid morning exercise walk. I may take my camera on this. I love the countryside of East Dorset. We have an amazing diversity of habitat: woodland, heathland, farmland, riverside walks, lakes, beaches, cliffs and gardens. We also have quite diverse wildlife. One can never be sure what one will see.

The season has an impact on the light, which is quite important for a photographer. I was out over the weekend and the light was constantly changing: bright sunshine one moment and cloud cover the next. I was changing camera settings for every shot and making further adjustment for whether the subject was light on a dark background or dark on a light background.

For the past two years I have focused my photography on wildlife requiring fast shutter speeds, a lot of patience and a sudden flurry of activity lasting only a few seconds. More recently I am trying to introduce more landscape photography. The fundamentals are the same, but the technique is quite different. The landscape isn’t moving so slower shutter speeds can be used and a tripod. The lens is different too. Instead of a long telephoto lens, landscape photography uses more of a wide-angled lens. I am still getting to grips with the technique and will try and share some of my efforts in the blog over time.

This blog post includes some recent shots from heathland walks. First are a couple of landscape shots of Holt Heath in the sunshine. Followed by an excited Pippin. Then we have a few birds: peregrine falcon, yellowhammer, blackbird, thrush and dartford warbler all from heathland locations. As the nights are now drawing in and sunset is about 4.30 pm, there are a couple of moon shots. And finally, a rainbow; we’ve had quite a few of these recently reflecting the changeable nature of the Dorset weather at the moment.

The Blackbird

There are 5.1 million pairs of Blackbird in the UK. Most are resident, but some are migrants from northern and eastern Europe. The adult male is matt black, with a yellow-orange beak and ring around the eye. First year males, such as the ‘victorious’ one pictured above, have brown flight feathers.

Territorial fight between an adult and a first year male

The territorial fight pictured here occurred earlier this year and was between an adult male and a challenger, being a first year male. Both birds completely ignored me and my cat as we watched the fracas unfold. The younger bird appeared to win on points, but both birds continued to visit, albeit at different times.

During the summer we had a number juvenile birds in the garden, including this blackbird.

Garden visitors – April 2019

The garden has seen an explosion of colour this month. I must have been aware of this in previous years, but this year I have observed it more closely – yellow primroses and daffodils; white snowdrops and blossom; purple crocuses; pink camellia, cherry blossom, clematis and apple blossom; blue bluebells; green grass and new foliage.

Whilst the background colours and textures have changed, the change in visiting bird-life has been more subtle and not quite what I expected. The bird species I have seen are: sparrow, dunnock, pigeon, magpie, starling, robin, goldfinch, blue tit, blackbird.

There have been absences too. Where are the long tailed tits, siskins, chaffinches, coal tits, wrens, blackcaps? Have they deserted the garden feeding stations now that nature is producing abundant new growth and insects?

My photography knowledge has increased. I leave it to others to judge whether this has resulted in improved quality. I now photograph in RAW instead of JPEG, giving greater flexibility in the post production stage. My camera is now set on manual rather than automatic and I now select the ISO, shutter speed and aperture setting. Most wildlife photo ops are fleeting, lasting only a few seconds and require patience and perseverance. Familiarity with camera controls and settings are essential to respond when those brief seconds present themselves.

With warmer temperatures and school holidays I have ventured beyond the confines of the garden. These are a few pictures taken at Brownsea Island, Pamphill and Moors Valley.

Garden visitors – March 2019

March coincides with the Church’s observance of Lent, a period of repentance and penitence. Jesus himself was the model for the Lent period. Following his baptism he was ‘led by the Spirit’ into the wilderness and emerged 40 days later ‘in the power of the Spirit’. The Church of England has produced a series of devotional readings and prayers using the Beatitudes from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. They offer timeless teaching of spiritual rebirth with the ultimate promise and hope of sharing in Jesus’ resurrection.

Access to the garden has been restricted in March for various reasons and so it has been a joy in recent days to get back to see what I have been missing, particularly now that the storms appear to have passed and temperatures are slowly increasing.

Spring has arrived and the number of daylight hours now exceed the hours of darkness. The bird population that has survived the winter will now begin the process of renewal and rebirth. Insects are reappearing. Blossom and green shoots are bursting into life.

Bee collecting pollen
Honey bee

In the garden two themes are apparent: nesting activity and birdsong.

Nesting

A few years ago we put up a nest box in the garden. Its never been used. I saw a blue tit inspecting it the other morning, but it must have found a better site, as it has not returned. To be fair the location isn’t brilliant. Its close to a feeding station, but it lacks privacy and security from squirrels, cats and other threats.

Male sparrow collecting nesting material

Female blackbird collecting nesting material

Whilst I have yet to see any evidence of birds actually nesting in the garden, there have been plenty of birds collecting nesting material.

Birdsong

Blackbird “Billy” in song
Dunnock perched prominently in song

The dawn chorus starts at 5.30 am. Robins, blackbirds, dunnocks and pigeons are clearly discernible. Throughout the day birdsong in the garden will rise and fall as the birds come and go.

Female sparrow
Male sparrow

In recent days the sparrow population has been particularly vocal.

The starlings click, whistle and squawk at each other and then descend on the feeding station, hoovering up the meal worm as fast as it is put out.

New visitors

I have seen a wren on a number of occasions and actually managed to capture a few images this month.

Despite the wren being one of the UK’s most numerous birds (see UK population table below), my experience is that it is quite secretive and normally scuttles away into the undergrowth.

The siskin, male and female, has been a constant visitor, but difficult to spot as it usually ‘hides’ among a group or charm of other finches.

Goldfinches are regular visitors to neighbouring gardens, but despite putting out seed specifically for finches they seem very wary of hopping over the fence. Maybe they can sense the presence of our cat – not that he’s ever caught anything bigger than a fly.

A very distinctive bird, but quite restless, the coal tit is constantly on the move.

Slightly smaller and sleeker than a wood pigeon…

Population – UK

The table below lists a few of the birds observed in the garden, showing their UK population and an indication of the trend, i.e. increasing or decreasing.

Siskin	420,000 pairs	increasing
Goldfinch	1,200,000 territories	Increasing considerably
Chaffinch	6,200,000 pairs	Increasing slowly
Sparrow	5,300,000	Declined by 64% since 1969
Great tit	2,600,000	Moderate increase over 40 years
Blue tit	3,600,000	Modest increase recently
Coal tit	760,000	No overall trend
Long tailed tit	340,000	Modest increase in recent years
Goldcrest	610,000	Long term trend is slight increase
Chiffchaff	1,200,000	Increasing in recent years
Blackcap	1,200,000	Increasing since late 1970s
Blackbird	5,100,000	15% decline over 40 years
Wren	8,600,000 territories	Stable population
Dunnock	2,500,000	Numbers fell (1975-1995), now partially recovered
Bullfinch	220,000 pairs	40% decline in 25 years

Source: RSPB Handbook of British Birds (4th Edition) – 2014

Garden visitors – January 2019

Please, mister, please,
Take my picture, if you will,
I'll just stand here on this post,
And keep very still.

I have a busy day ahead,
Lots of food to find,
But maybe just one photograph,
if you'd be so kind

In January 2019 at least 20 different bird species visited our Dorset garden. Virtually all would be instantly recogniseable, and will have been visiting for sometime. But this year I have taken a closer look at the birds and their behaviour – camera in hand.

Blackbird territorial fight

“Billy” is an adolescent male blackbird. He is very possessive about his garden. One morning he attacked a trespasser. He was quite ferocious and didn’t care that “Miggi”, my cat, and I were within a few feet. The altercation lasted about 3 or 4 minutes, before both birds flew off.

The altercation

The trespasser has not returned. “Billy” permits other species, but only allows one other blackbird in the garden; a female who we’ve given the name “Rose”. Who knows? Later in the spring we may have the flutter of tiny wings!

“Rose” has a misplaced tail feather. It doesn’t seem to affect her flying ability or cause discomfort, but it does make her instantly recogniseable.

Long tailed tits – feeding and acrobatics

Long tailed tits have been referred to, by Bill Bailey in his Remarkable Guide to British Birds, as ‘flying teaspoons’ and ‘cute fluffballs’. They are constantly moving in groups and I found them tricky to photograph until I was able to anticipate their movement.

They arrive in the garden, normally in groups of 3 or 4 – sometimes more, sometimes less. They head straight for the tree in the corner that overhangs the feeding station. One by one they drop down to the meal worm feeder, where they stay only long enough to pick up a meal worm with their beak. Then they head back to the tree, or other bush, where they hang upside down, clutching a branch with one claw and holding the meal worm in the other until they have eaten. This position looks uncomfortable, but gives them the ability to survey the skies for predators whilst they eat.

Feeding and bathing

Robin’s prefer seed or meal worm; blue tits prefer peanuts and both are daily visitors. They also both enjoy an occasional bath.

They don’t seem to mind what the temperature, but they do prefer sunshine so they can preen themselves afterwards.

Some less common visitors

One of the exciting things about maintaining a more watchful eye over the comings and goings of ‘visitors’ to the garden is when a new behaviour or new species is spotted in the garden.

I was delighted on Friday, 11th January, when this Siskin showed up. Although they are not that uncommon, I can’t remember seeing one before and certainly not in the garden in the 13 or 14 years we’ve been in this house. It was a beautiful sunny day and he came and plonked himself right in front of my camera, giving me enough time to take a few shots.

On a cold 22nd January I was fiddling with my camera facing the feeding station when I became aware of something moving 90 degrees to my right. I turned and snapped and this is what I got: a goldcrest. I have only seen one of these once before at Longham Lakes a few years ago. I was going to take another, but he’d gone. It made my day.

There have been a couple of other newcomers: a female blackcap and chaffinch, but I haven’t been able to catch them yet on film. Work in progress.