Passionate about wildlife
When is a sparrow not a sparrow? When its a Dunnock. Sometimes referred to as a hedge sparrow, there are over 2.5 million territories in the UK. Its a common visitor to gardens.
Male Dunnocks sing in the winter rivalling the Robin. Gardeners are encouraged to plant dense shrubs for nesting and set up feeding stations to help its long-term survival.
The temperature is rising in the garden and there is plenty going on. Life is busy with family commitments, taking photos, editing photos, refurbishments among other things.
A bit of landscaping was needed. The bluebells and primroses have gone. Other flowers are appearing, but a helping hand was required to fill in a bit of a lull in colour. An old tree trunk was removed to make way for this beautiful, vividly red Azalea.
When removing the trunk we found two stag beetle larvae, which have been re-housed and have become family pets. These larvae remain in this state for up to 7 years and survive on a diet of rotting wood and leaves. They are yet to be named.
Colour continues to be a feature: some homegrown and some acquired along with the Azalea.
This juvenile robin is a regular visitor, attracted by the mealworm on the bird table. Other species of juveniles and fledglings are also visiting daily.
These starlings are quite raucous. They are gregarious and chatter away to each other, hoovering up any available food, both competitively and cooperatively.
We are yet to see any sparrow chicks, but if you look carefully at these two photos, you’ll see that its only a matter of time. These two are doing there bit to continue the recent recovery in the sparrow population following the more longer term decline from the 1960/70’s levels.
Blue tits are a constant presence in the garden, performing their acrobatics effortlessly.
We have a couple of great tits visiting daily at the present time. The coal tit is a shy visitor, but the long tailed tits appear to have moved on for the moment.
Sparrows and dunnocks chirp and sing respectively and are never far away.
Hoverflys are enjoying the increased temperatures and move jerkily around the garden in an attempt to make it difficult for predators (and photographers!).
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.
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.
In the garden two themes are apparent: nesting activity and birdsong.
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.
Whilst I have yet to see any evidence of birds actually nesting in the garden, there have been plenty of birds collecting nesting material.
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.
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.
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…
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
"The North wind doth blow and we shall have snow,
And what will poor robin do then, poor thing?
He'll sit in a barn and keep himself warm
and hide his head under his wing, poor thing"
traditional nursery rhyme
In this month’s blog I want to continue looking more closely at the bird visitors to my Dorset garden. February brought snow, many daily visitors including ‘Billy’ and ‘Rose’ and the Long tailed tits (see January’s blog). This month we’ll take a look at the Dunnock, a female Blackcap and a male Bullfinch. Also we’ll catch up on the bathing antics of the Robin and Blue tit.
The end of January brought yellow and amber weather warnings. The snow arrived on Friday, 1st February. News feeds were full of stories of disruption and shut down of services.
The garden was more active, it seemed to me, than usual and was transformed for a day or two into a beautiful white, winter backdrop.
Then the snow disappeared as quickly as it arrived and signs of a new season began to appear.
As a child I would visit my grandparents home, Hill Cottage, just north of Hereford. We would explore the woods behind the cottage and I remember being captivated by clumps of primroses and seas of bluebells. It’s too early for bluebells, but the snowdrops and primroses have arrived. The ground still has the signs of death, the brown, dead leaves from the deciduous trees, But the new season and new life is there too, and is beginning to push through.
The Dunnock is also known as the hedge sparrow, but it is not actually a sparrow. It’s part of the same family as the european Robin and Wren. It is the quintessential LBJ (little brown job).
The Dunnock blends into the background and is easily overlooked, e.g. they didn’t make it into Bill Bailey’s Remarkable Guide to British Birds. However in my quest to look more closely at the birds that visit my garden, I cannot ignore this regular.
My RSPB Handbook of British Birds tells me that a Dunnock ‘is an unusual visitor to a raised bird table, and more likely to feed underneath.’
My Dunnocks can’t read and tend to prefer the more ‘unusual’ habit of taking food from the raised bird table and seed feeder.
This close up of the Dunnock reveals some of the intricate, detailed beauty of this common, unremarkable bird. There are some 2.5 million in the UK and its song particularly at this time of the year rivals that of its cousin, the european Robin.
At last! This month, the Female Blackcap turned up for a photo shoot. She’s been a regular visitor, but up to now has been quite shy. This time she was in no hurry to move on. There has been no sign of a male, which does actually have a blackcap, but I’ll keep looking.
I’ve noticed that Ms Blackcap is actually a regular visitor to the bird table, but she tends to be very discreet about it. Her colouring means that she falls into the LBJ category. I may have seen her without realising what I was actually looking at.
This finch most definitely is not an LBJ! His colour is striking for a British bird and cannot be confused with any other bird.
Strictly speaking he didn’t visit my garden, rather he sat in my neighbour’s tree long enough for me to get a couple of pictures, which I’ve then cropped. There are only 220,000 pairs in the UK and the population is declining. The Bullfinch is not a regular visitor – I have only seen him once or twice. He definitely falls into the “Ooh, look!” category for me.
The bird bath continues to attract visitors. The day after the snow, the water was totally frozen, so I took out a jug of warm water and poured it in. Later that day I was gratified to see it in use. These two are regulars, but I have also caught ‘Billy’ the blackbird using it surreptitiously.
Stephen's Wildlife 