In 2014 we had our record year for the number of bird species in our garden with 38 species putting a foot down (fly-overs don't count!). We hit exactly the same figure in 2015, although the mix was slightly different. Fieldfare, Redwing and Whitethroat from 2014 were replaced by Grey Heron, Mistle Thrush and Pied Wagtail in 2015. I was sad to have missed out on Fieldfare and Redwing for the whole year, but the Heron was a bit of a surprise as it must be four or five years since we've had a pond in the garden!
2016 has got off to a reasonable start, although the very mild winter has meant fewer birds visiting us in desperation - an altogether 'good thing' really!
You can find my 2015 garden list, and my 2016 list to-date, in the right hand column of this blog. I originally intended to do a post on my garden birds in winter. However, on 17th January we had a fall of snow, although not nearly as much as they had just 10 km away! This change in weather brought plenty of birds to our garden, so this post will totally focus on that day, although not all species seen were photographed. It was a dull day, so photography was not good, although it would have been far worse without the new camera! Some of the images, below, are shown 'just for the record'. With the exception of the last image, they were all taken through the glass of my study window, and in the morning. It seems that not too many people in this area get Redpoll to their garden feeders. We've been having them every winter for some years now, and if we get a day we don't see one, it's usually because we haven't been looking!
Lesser Redpoll (Carduelis flammea ssp. cabaret) (male) - our garden on 17th January
Chaffinch is a regular all-year-round visitor, although numbers build up in the winter. Sometimes they bring a Brambling or two in with them, but it hasn't happened so far this winter.
Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs) (male) - our garden on 17th January
At one time, many years ago, Greenfinch used to be the most common bird in our garden - then they all but disappeared. Now, I'm delighted to say, their numbers are building up again.
Greenfinch (Carduelis chloris) (male) - our garden on 17th January
Bullfinch is an occasional visitor, although we've been getting more sightings than usual over the past six months.
Bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula) (male) - our garden on 17th January
The real star sighting of the day was a Grey Wagtail that stayed around all morning. We used to get Grey Wagtail when we had a pond. For some reason, we've started seeing them again occasionally. It makes me wonder if there's some genetic imprint there that brings back subsequent generations?
Grey Wagtail (Motacilla cinerea) (male) - our garden on 17th January
Long-tailed Tit are an occasional visitor, and usually come in a small group. On this morning we had nine of them. Here's one:
Long-tailed Tit (Aegithalos caudatus) - our garden on 17th January
We see a Wren on most days in the winter, but relatively rarely in the summer. To me they're delightful little birds and always bring a smile to my face.
Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) - our garden on 17th January
The ever-present Goldfinches add a splash of colour to the garden. They are particularly feisty, and will aggressively discourage other considerably larger birds that try and compete with them for the sunflower hearts.
Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) - our garden on 17th January
As we'd been doing quite well for birds, I took my camera with me when we went into the conservatory for lunch. I'm glad that I did so as we had a rare visit from a Reed Bunting, at 13h10. It was, however, at a distance.
Reed Bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus) (male) - our garden on 17th January
We ended up with 21 species for the day (our best daily total so far this year) as follows (alphabetical list with maximum numbers in brackets):-
