REDPOLLS

I was given a bit of a treat yesterday when these Redpoll came onto the feeders, this is the first Redpoll I've had come to the feeders so I was well pleased.
There are a couple of British sub species like Lesser and Mealy Redpoll but for me and this blog we're just going to call them Redpoll. The Arctic Redpoll is a different species that is found in Britain but is quite different in appearance to the Redpoll anyway enough of this technical stuff here's the pic's:-

Bet your Redpoll'd out by now so here's the best of the rest, well I haven't edited them for nowt!

Here's some recent Nuthatch photo's:-

I get more of  a success rate  photographing Nuthatch's them most of the other birds that visit the feeders.


Some nice male Siskins they seem a lot more bright yellow now its spring.

Goldfinch's are a stunning little bird, (wonder if the one with the broken wing has recovered)



A nice Greenfinch



To end the finch fest here's a chaffinch.



Hope the Redpoll keep returning to feed they're cracking little birds.

TREE OR MEADOW?

Found a Pipit nest yesterday the thing is we got Tree and Meadow Pipits about the farm they are almost identical to look at and must overlap each other. The nest is on a tump with tree's very nearby where the Tree pipits are singing and displaying constantly. This is the best way to separate these two species as their calls and display flights are very different. In both Tree and meadow the colour of the eggs are very variable so I couldn't really tell from that. I took a quick photo with my iphone but its not very clear. I'd love it to be a Tree pipit as their nests are more difficult to find and as they are a summer visitor it would be very pleasing.

this shot taken with my phone isn't very clear

just because this Pipit is in a tree doesn't mean that its automatically a tree pipit listen to the call.

this is a sound recording I made yesterday near the nest site you can hear tree pipit's calling as well as yellowhammer, willow warbler, song thrush, blackbird, chaffinch and cuckoo and I think there may be a wren and nuthatch in there as well

Hopefully I'll get a better pic of the nest one day next week, as  I don't want to disturb the adult birds to much. I'll leave it for Steve's next visit. 

WHAT A MAY DAY!

Sunniest day of the year so far so we had a bit of a family BBQ.

Tina cooking the burgers whilst Ma Taylor looks on

We all get stuck in

everyone has eaten his or hers fill and the beer and bullshit start to flow

Jack looking alert for another burger

Aneurin burning down the track

I took this male and female siskin with my compact camera they were that close.

I ventured off and took these flowers:-

primroses

and one of the only daffodils we got left

The day ended with this beautiful sunset:-

that is stunning

this is the sky just after the sun dipped under the mountain

Lets hope the rest of the spring / summer gives many more days like this one (even if them burgers were full of horse they tasted yummy!).

11 out of 24

Steve Carter was over yesterday morning to check our small nest box colony, he also found my pooping Pied wagtails nest which had 5 eggs but a quick check this morning revealed there are now 6.

coming out of the gorse Steve Carter

pied wagtail nest which now has 6 eggs

here she is the layer of the eggs female Pied wagtail

Out of 24 nest boxes 11 had activity (building a nest) with a Redstart with 1 egg and either a Great or Blue with 2 eggs. That's not bad at all and the season is still young yet. 

I LOVE A NICE CHAT.

Went up to the gorse bush area above the house hoping to get some good shot's of  Stonechat.
There were a male and female when I got there but  couldn't get close enough for a detailed photo these pic's are heavily cropped and are the best out of about 100 pic's that I took

female stonechat

male stonechat

another female

another male although these pic's are heavily cropped you can still see how beautiful these birds are

meadow pipit

swallow

I hope the Stonechats are successful this year, to get closer to them I'll have to use my hide the wife bought me for christmas, but I struggle to put a deckchair up. The hide pops up but doesn't pop back god help it. No taking the pee Leon! I got to look after my hips ha ha!

NESTS

Been walking around our place getting the old hip stronger and have chanced upon a couple of nest sights. The breeding season is now in full swing with birds singing and displaying everywhere, I'm delighted that my summer visitors have come back with all species that were here last year returning. Wheatears have been a bit thin on the ground but Redstart, Willow warbler, Tree pipit, and Swallows are in good numbers and our first Cuckoo calling a couple of days ago was a great relief. No Chiffchaff think it must be a bit to high up for them and no Blackcap down in the woods but they're in good numbers elsewhere. Here's a few of the nest sights and boxes that around about the place.

carrion crows nest

green woodpecker hole the wood on the rim of the hole is still fresh and there were chippings at the base of the trunk

house sparrow colony box

this is a redstart box that a nuthatch is using notice how the birds have packed mud around the entrance to make it smaller and rounder

redstart normal box

nest is nearly built inside this box think it could be blue or great tit

this is an owl box that was erected by Steve Carter naff all in it though!

we think this was a tawny owls nest hole but again like my head empty

these are old woodpecker holes that could be used by other hole nesting species

Now for some birds

nuthatch

male house sparrow this was the first one I've had up here hope he finds the boxes

this male pied wagtail is breeding up here also, it finds my car wing mirrors fascinating and enjoys pooping on them

female siskin

male siskin

still plenty of jay's about

the main nestbox user the great tit

and the blue tit

There will be a few more nests found around the place in the next couple of months so I hope to bring you more news and pictures soon.