EARLY ARRIVAL

Had a really early arrival at the farm, I first spotted this male Redstart on the 31st March but he wouldn't come down from where he was singing high up in the canopy. My second visit proved more fruitful with this record shot of the bird. This might be my earliest record of Redstart.

We have usually good numbers of Redstarts at the farm so hopefully this will be the first of many.

male redstart

 There's a few pair of Stonechats about with this male flying from post to post  going further away from me as I was trying to get closer to him.

male stonechat

Not very good news on the Tawny owls, although we've had breeding owls up here for the last few years this year seems to have drawn a blank. I've heard both adults calling over the last few weeks but both new boxes we've put up seem to have been rejected by the owls. The box they've bred in over the last few years is falling apart and has got twigs and leaves sticking out of the entrance hole which tells me the squirrels have moved in. I'll check all three boxes near the end of April to see if they have gone late this year but as Tawny's are very early breeders and should be at least on eggs by now I'm not that optimistic.

one of the boxes rejected by the tawny owls

This Nuthatch I think has chosen this box in which to build its nest this year. I watched as it was going in and out of this box and pecking at the entrance hole.

has this nuthatch chosen this box?

The regular breeding birds at the farm are starting to show, this handsome male Linnet came into the feeders a couple of days ago.

male Linnet

The Pied Wagtails have paired up and are coming in regularly.

pied wagtail

 And finally this Carrion Crows nest has been used by our resident covids for the last three years on the bounce, they must like it there. You can just make out the sitting female if you look at the top ridge of the nest. 

carrion crows nest

carrion crow

Spring and the new breeding season is a great time of year. I visited Llandegfedd Reservoir on Easter Sunday so I'll bring you my findings from there next time. Thanks for stopping by and I'll catch you soon.

SPRING HAS SPRUNG

 Looks like Spring has finally sprung with the arrival of some of our summer migrants, spring flowers and baby lambs which makes this a great time of year.

This female Wheatear (above) is the first I've seen at the farm for a few years, although I couldn't locate a male I do hope they stay a breed and are not just passing through. 

Meadow pipits are back on territory and are displaying everywhere.

The early breeders are already on eggs as shown with this Tawny Owl nest box and this Songthrush nest. Thanks to Stephen Carter for the pics.

tawny owl and song thrush nest

The Stonechat's are also early breeders and will also be either nest building or sitting on eggs.

male stonechat

Whilst on my stroll around the farm I picked up this Buzzard soaring above me.

It is nice to see Spring's arrival if nothing else it gives you that feel good factor. Anyway thanks for dropping by and I'll catch you soon.

 

FIRST NEST

My good mate and nest finding Guru Steve Carter has found his first nest of the season, although still not complete this Long Tailed Tits nest is a stunning construction of moss bound together with spiders webs and hair covered on the outside with lichen and lined with feathers. 

long tailed tit nest

Here's a photo taken a while ago of a Long Tailed Tit

I've been trying to get some less commoner species at my feeders so tried this bit of camouflage sheet draped over the window.

my attempt at concealment from the birds that come into my feeders

Although they're still great to see only the usual suspects are showing up thus far. 

Here's a small selection. 

To be fair the Pied Wagtails have only showed up over the last couple of days.

Here's hoping that Steve has a successful nesting season and I get to photograph something out of the ordinary.

Thanks for calling by and I'll catch you soon.

MARCH 1st

 Happy St. David's Day.

On the weekend I embarked on the annual nestbox cleaning and maintenance work. Emptying all the old nesting material out of the boxes and doing some repair work, also replaced a couple of boxes that were beyond saving.

All should be ready for the new nesting season, having said that some birds are already paired up and starting to build their nests even this early in the year.

With a big help from my step son Luke who can climb a tree like a monkey, we or should I say he managed to site our new owl box which I actually built last spring. Might be a bit late for this year but fingers crossed our regular breeding Tawney's will find it in time to breed this year.

our new owl box

The bird numbers are starting to pick up at the feeders with birds like this male Siskin making an appearance.

It's the first day of spring today and after the long dark days of winter combined with the never ending pandemic of  Covid 19 it'll be a welcome relief to have the lighter nights and some fine weather.

SOME LOCKDOWN BIRDS

This lockdown seems to be going on forever, or maybe even longer. Almost as long as this never ending miserable winter. Anyway here's some of my latest and a little video I put together hope you like it.

Catch you soon and thanks for calling in.

A KITE FLEW BY

Had this Red Kite fly by the house today, wish it would have come in a bit closer so I could have got a bit more detail in the shots but it is always a privilege to see these majestic birds. If this would have been 10 years ago this would have been a mega sighting. Goes to show how well the Kites have done over the years to come back from the brink.

                                                         RED KITE 

Nice to see these iconic birds doing so well in the South Wales Valleys 

......AND HERE'S HER MATE

Following on from my last post where a Female Brambling found it's way to my feeding station from it's breeding grounds of Northern Europe. I was very pleased to see a male turn up today, it was with a small number of Chaffinch's that were braving the heavy rain scuttling about amongst the twigs and leaf litter searching for food.

male brambling

 I had a great start to the day with regular visits from my usual suspects including a very photogenic Great Spotted Woodpecker,

male great spotted woodpecker

And a very obliging Wren.

wren

I thought I'd hit the jackpot when a Red Kite flew in close to my feeders, I managed to real off about 20 shots but then realised my settings were all wrong on my camera and by the time I got them right two crows started attacking the Kite and it flew off.

red kite

The shots were massively under exposed so non of them were keepers. The shot above was about the best of them, I tried to bring them back in photoshop but no good. Still it was great to see the Kite and hopefully maybe one day I'll get a photo of this bird that I'll be pleased with (as long as I get my bleeding settings right).