02 Wednesday Jan 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, birds, nature, winter
Winter seems finally to have arrived and it was frosty when I arrived at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park early this morning, hoping for a nice long walk before the school holiday crowds arrived. Unfortunately, in my haste to leave home, I forgot to fill my seed container so had nothing to offer the hungry birds. This fluffed-up little Robin was not at all impressed.
25 Tuesday Dec 2018
Season’s Greetings to all my followers!
May your Yuletide be filled with much good cheer.
13 Thursday Dec 2018
‘Art thou the bird whom Man loves best,
The pious bird with the scarlet breast,
Our little English Robin …’
~ from William Wordsworth, ‘The Redbreast Chasing the Butterfly’, 1806
Blogger’s note: This particular little cutie, with whom I shared some quality moments – me chatting and it peeping – at Penarth Heads beach on Monday, is actually a Welsh (not English) Robin. And its breast is really more orange than red but I’ve just this week found out why it was formerly known as Redbreast and described as having a red or scarlet rather than orange breast – it’s because orange as a colour (which originated from the fruit of the same name) was unknown in Britain prior to the mid 16th century.
13 Tuesday Feb 2018
Tags
bird behaviour, birding, birdwatching, British birds, feathers, feathers as insulation, fluffing up feathers, how birds keep warm, robin
The biting wind seems to find the smallest crack in your several layers of clothing to nip at exposed flesh, your hands feel frost-bitten even though you’ve got your thickest gloves on, and the tip of your nose is so cold that you can no longer feel it. Yet there on a fence post directly in front of you, equally exposed to the wintery weather, is a chirpy wee Robin, singing its heart out, seemingly oblivious to the chill. How does it do it?
Well, the answer is in the fluffing up of its feathers. If you’ve ever slept under a down- or feather-filled duvet, you’ll know how incredibly warm feathers can be, and that’s especially true for our wee Robin. You see, feathers are a brilliant form of insulation material – feathers trap air close to the bird’s body so, in winter, they trap the warmth of the bird’s body heat. The more fluffed up the feathers are, the more warm air they trap, the more cosy is our little Robin.
01 Thursday Feb 2018
Tags
birding, birdwatching, blackbird, British birds, chaffinch, coal tit, Common Gull, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Gadwall, Great tit, long-tailed tit, Marsh tit, nuthatch, Pochard, Reed bunting, robin, shoveler
7 January Gale-force winds were blasting across the exposed areas around the lake today but, with blue skies overhead, the park was full of people out walking, despite the chill. The wee birds were hungry and I was greeted with much happy peeping wherever I scattered seed and virtually mobbed at the dragon tree in Cogan Woods, by Great, Blue, Coal and Long-tailed tits, Dunnocks and Robins, Chaffinches and Nuthatches, Blackbirds and a Reed bunting were all happy to accept any tasty little morsels.
On the lakes the birds were mostly hunkered down, as it was too windy for flying. Teal, Gadwall, Pochard and a Shoveler were some of the highlights.
17 January After much scrutinising of the huge numbers of gulls that you nearly always find at Cosmeston, I spotted my first Common gull of the year.
23 January A regular Cosmeston-going birding friend had reported an adult Yellow-legged gull the previous day and I fancied a good walk so I headed to Cossie for a look. These was no sign of the gull but I was delighted to see one of the Marsh tits that frequents a particular spot in Cogan Woods, and it became bird number 67 on this year’s list, before I strode quickly home in pouring rain (yep, drenched!).
I’ve been to Cosmeston a couple more times this month but those outings were more about braving the rain to satisfy my cravings for fresh air and exercise than nature-watching, particularly as it’s been too wet to have camera and binoculars out and about. Let’s hope February is a bit drier.
31 Sunday Dec 2017
Tags
Avocet, birding, birdwatching, British birds, Great tit, robin, Sand martin
Neither my age, nor my weight, nor my height (though that comes closest), one hundred and sixty-three is my birding total for 2017 – that is, the total number of species I managed to see in Britain.
This was the first year I’ve kept a count, and it was just out of interest really but, as my more dedicated birding friends post their totals on our Facebook group page (one has 223, another a whopping 252) , I’ve decided to try for a 200-bird year in 2018. That doesn’t mean I’m going to become a mad twitcher or go haring off all over the country to see rare birds. I’m just going to make more of an effort to see as many as I can because I love them so!
And my favourite birding moments in 2017? There were too many to recount, from marvelling at an encounter between a Bittern and a Marsh harrier at RSPB Ham Wall to my frequent local conversations with Robins and chuckles at Tufted ducks, from the joy of watching Avocets with their chicks at Rye Harbour on my birthday to the thrill of seeing feeding Gannets crashing headfirst into the ocean off Dawlish beach, from the lovely little Turnstones than bumble along the embankment in Penarth Marina to the Sand martin that sat and chattered away to me on a railing at Cardiff Bay.
Why just yesterday I had a Great tit land on my hand to grab itself a piece of the flapjack I was sharing with the hungry birds at Cosmeston! Every moment like that, every second spent watching and hearing my feathered friends is joyous!
25 Monday Dec 2017
Tags
He rocks in the tree tops all day long
Hoppin’ and a-boppin’ and singing his song
All the little birdies on Jaybird Street
Love to hear the robin go tweet tweet tweet
Rockin’ robin, rock rock
Rockin’ robin
Blow rockin’ robin
‘Cause we’re really gonna rock tonight
~ Leon René (under the pseudonym Jimmie Thomas)
07 Thursday Dec 2017
Tags
birding, birdwatching, British birds, bullfinch, dunnock, Forest Farm, Forest Farm Nature Reserve, Great spotted woodpecker, Great tit, Kingfisher, long-tailed tit, Moorhen, robin, treecreeper
I had a meeting at Forest Farm last Friday so, of course, I took the opportunity while I was there to have a wander around the trails and along the Glamorganshire Canal. And it was wonderful, though I did come away feeling a little guilty. We’d had a week of low temperatures, with overnight frosts, and there was a bitterly cold wind blowing. It was obvious the wee birds were cold and hungry but I hadn’t taken any seed with me. Here are a Long-tailed tit, a male Bullfinch, a Dunnock, a Robin and a Great tit.
The water of the canal was sheltered from the breeze and very still, making for some stunning reflections (thank you little Moorhen). And I was treated to excellent views of a female Kingfisher, who sat for at least 15 minutes on her branch. From the way her feathers were fluffed up and she was hunched over her ‘toes’, I figure she was feeling the cold as well.
The Great spotted woodpecker was a treat, as were the Treecreepers – at least four of them, perhaps a family group, were actively scuttling up the branches in one small area by the canal. It was a grand day – my meeting went well and the birding was even better than expected!
10 Sunday Sep 2017
Tags
birding, birdwatching, British birds, dunnock, Forest Farm, Forest Farm Nature Reserve, Greenfinch, Grey heron, juvenile birds, robin
I hadn’t been to Forest Farm for a while but, when I heard some rather nice fungi had been found, I was there like a shot (more on that tomorrow). And, of course, whilst there I had to spend some quality time with the lovely birds that can be seen in this beautiful nature reserve at any time of the year. Now, in early autumn, there are a lot of young birds, and they’re always fun, and hungry, and often quite confiding.
19 Monday Jun 2017
Let me introduce you to Mr and Mrs Robin and their two children. They live at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park. Mr (or Mrs – I can’t actually tell male and female robins apart) came to greet me when I was standing by one the lakes yesterday, watching the ducks. He (or she) hopped over to within inches of where my hand was resting on a railing and looked at me with something akin to desperation. “Do you happen to have any food, lady?” Then, Mrs (or Mr) Robin popped up on to the closest fence post and also gave me a pleading look, “Please!”.
Luckily, I did have some seed in my bag so spread a little on top of another fence post. They were there immediately, picking up two or three seeds and flitting into a nearby tree. And then I saw the reason for their desperation – two ravenous fledglings were nagging them for food. Truth be told, the fledglings were probably old enough to feed themselves and did, in fact, pop down and peck around a bit. But Mum and Dad obviously still felt obliged to feed their youngsters if they could. I was very pleased to help out.
