Tag Archives: British birds

154/366 Reed bed magic

02 Tuesday Jun 2020

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I was listening to a Reed warbler singing its magical song yesterday when, surprisingly, it popped up to the top of a stem to bellow even louder. And then another bird appeared in the reeds nearby, and then two more flew in, followed quickly by yet another. As I stayed motionless, this delightful family of two adults and three fledglings flitted around in the reeds, feeding, being fed, and singing.

200602 reed warbler

After watching, spellbound, for about 5 minutes, I was just about to walk on when in flew a female Reed bunting, her beak stuffed full of moth, no doubt a snack for her offspring hidden in a nest somewhere amongst the reeds. What a magical slice of life that reed bed contains!

200602 reed bunting

144/366 Junior

23 Saturday May 2020

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This juvenile Robin was hopping along the path in front of me yesterday, busily searching for snacks, staying a few hops ahead but not too concerned about the much larger ‘wildlife’ behind it.

200523 juvenile robin (1)

Its mottled brown colouring helped to camouflage it while it was still in the nest and continues to protect it now that it’s out foraging on its own. It almost ‘disappeared’ completely when it eventually ducked into the bushes alongside the path, though I could still see its beady eye watching me.

200523 juvenile robin (2)

Juvenile Robins don’t get their distinctive red breast feathers until they’re a few months old and undergo their first moult. By that time, hopefully, they’ll be ready to fight off or rapidly flee from the territorial disputes their adult colouring might prompt.

200523 juvenile robin (3)

143/366 The des res

22 Friday May 2020

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Birds have some odd ideas about what constitutes their des res. Last year’s winner in the weirdest places to nest stakes was the Blue tit pair who’d chosen to raise their brood in a cigarette disposal unit on the wall of a public toilet block.

200522 blue tit nest

So far this year, the leading contenders are the Coal tits whose cheerily cheeping young are huddled cosily into an air ventilation duct underneath a local church.

200522 coal tit nest

136/366 Predation

15 Friday May 2020

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200515 blackbird egg

This is the one that didn’t make it. It’s a Blackbird’s egg, I think, and it looks like a hole’s been pecked in it, probably by another bird, like a Magpie or a Crow. It’s always a little sad to see things like this but it’s just the way the natural world works.

134/366 The Swannee river

13 Wednesday May 2020

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When I spotted a pair of Mute swans and their six cygnets on an inlet of the River Ely on yesterday’s exercise walk, the old song ‘Way down upon the Swannee River’ immediately came to mind. The song has nothing to do with swans, of course (it’s about an African slave longing for ‘de old plantation’), and most of you are probably too young to even remember the tune – I think it was just the combination of swans and river that made it pop into my brain. But enough of the strange workings of my mind during lockdown…. Isn’t this little family just gorgeous?!

200513 swan and cygnets (2)200513 swan and cygnets (3)200513 swan and cygnets (4)200513 swan and cygnets

132/366 A sanguine sight

11 Monday May 2020

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Warning: the photos in this post are a bit gory!
The highlight – if this can be called a highlight – of my early morning local walk was this Magpie, feeding on the grass in a local park.

200511 magpie (1)

Although Magpies mostly eat fruit, seeds and small insects, they are also opportunists who will quite happily scavenge household food waste, eat the eggs and chicks of other birds, and graze on road kill and other carrion. This bird had found a dead rat and was happily pulling it apart for a bloody, but presumably nourishing breakfast.

At least, I hope it was nourishing – the rat could, I suppose, have been poisoned, and I’m not sure whether that would have an adverse effect on the bird. I hope not.

200511 magpie (4)

129/366 Along the Ely

08 Friday May 2020

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Yesterday’s walk along the Ely river embankment was a mix of treats and unexpectedness. The first unexpected treat was the large number of both Sand and House martins flying low along the embankment: the air around me was alive with their close flypasts and their noisy chirruping. I’ve no photos of them – I was too intent on enjoying their proximity.

200508 grey wagtail (1)

Next up was the sight of a family of Grey wagtails, two adults and their three offspring, flitting about amongst the stones at the water’s edge.

200508 thick-lipped grey mullet (1)

200508 thick-lipped grey mullet (2)

The Grey wagtail fledgling helps to show the size of the fish

While watching the wagtails, I noticed the water churning at various points along the river’s edge. It was being caused by large fish, feeding on the weed that’s growing on the stones just under the water. Thanks to one of my Twitter pals, Tate, I later learned they were Thick-lipped grey mullet, which can grow ‘to huge sizes’ and which are ‘mostly a saltwater fish but can tolerate fresh water quite far up rivers’.

200508 duckling (2)

After unexpectedly bumping in to a birding friend and enjoying a chat to a real live person (a rare treat in these days of lockdown), my final wild treat was seeing these two Mallard ducklings, meandering along the river with their mother.

200508 duckling (1)

125/366 Bonding

04 Monday May 2020

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During the past couple of weeks, it’s been fascinating to watch two Lesser black-backed gulls – presumably, the same two who nested amongst a group of neighbouring chimney pots last year – renewing their pair bonds and practising their seduction techniques. The process goes a bit like this …

200504 lesser black-backed gulls (1)

They circle each other, beaks thrust towards the sky in unison, and there’s some low bird-speak (as opposed to gull shrieking) …

200504 lesser black-backed gulls (2)

One bird (the female, I think) begs the other for food, as if it is a chick, and the second bird regurgitates a niblet of food …

200504 lesser black-backed gulls (3)

There’s more circling and beak thrusting and chatter …

200504 lesser black-backed gulls (4)

Finally, the males jumps on the back of the female, though it takes them a couple of minutes to spread their wings, tails, feathers to reach the right angle to achieve copulation …

200504 lesser black-backed gulls (5)

And this happens more than once, the male remaining on the female’s back until they’ve copulated three times during this one session …

200504 lesser black-backed gulls (6)

Once finished, he jumps off, she puts her head down and waggles her rear end, and there is more low chatter, and a little beak bumping, before they both fly off.

200504 lesser black-backed gulls (7)

119/366 Sheltering

28 Tuesday Apr 2020

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My local Jackdaws are excellent weather indicators. If I haven’t already realised how wet it is outside, I have only to glance out my bedroom window to see where they are. If they’re sitting under the eaves on the old-fashioned gutter supports, then I know it must be teaming down.

200428 jackdaws (1)200428 jackdaws (2)

Sometimes they look really miserable sitting there, each on their own bracket. Other times, they snooze, or use the opportunity for a groom and feather spruce up.

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I have to be careful trying to get photos of them, as those alert blue eyes are always aware of what’s happening around them, even when I think they’re not.

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