124/365 A Throstle or two

04 Saturday May 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, birds, nature

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#365DaysWild, bird names, birding, birdwatching, British birds, Song thrush, Throstle

Did you know the Song thrush was once known as the Throstle?

190504 song thrush (1)

It appeared as such in Thomas Berwick’s landmark birding guide book Land Birds back in 1797, the name was later standardised to Song thrush – makes sense when you listen to the great tunes it belts out – but, as recently as 1951, when he published his Collins New Naturalist volume Birds and Men, Max Nicholson was still arguing for the name to change back to Throstle. Song thrush or Throstle – which do you prefer?

Regurgitating interesting titbits from Stephen Moss’s delectable Mrs Moreau’s Warbler: How birds got their names, Guardian Faber, London, 2018.

Feathers and fungi at Forest Farm

19 Monday Mar 2018

Posted by sconzani in birds, fungi, nature, parks, walks

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

biodiversity, Blue tit, Blushing bracket, Brittle cinder, coal tit, Elfcups, Forest Farm, Forest Farm Nature Reserve, Great tit, Grey heron, Hairy curtain crust, Moorhen, nuthatch, Song thrush, wren

I’ve blogged about the charms of the Forest Farm Nature Reserve many times before but I thought I’d share some of the highlights from last week’s wander …

180319 Forest Farm

Oh, and I will just add that the combination of feathers – me mostly looking upwards – and fungi – eyes down – can be quite difficult. By the end of the day, I felt like one of those nodding dog ornaments you used to see in the rear windows of cars. Still, ’twas a lovely long meandering walk!

Fieldfares and Redwings

08 Thursday Mar 2018

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature, weather, winter

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

#StormEmma, #TheBeastfromtheEast, birding, birdwatching, British birds, cold weather effect on birds, Fieldfare, Green woodpecker, Redwing, Song thrush, thrushes

Nature’s cold weather events may be lovely to look at – and I freely admit that, as a Kiwi unused to snow, I absolutely loved the heavy snow we had last week as a result of ‘The Beast from the East’ and Storm Emma – but such events come at a high cost, particularly to wildlife. The extreme cold and gale-force easterlies blew across from Europe thousands of Fieldfares and Redwings, and displaced a myriad of other birds: Golden plovers and Lapwing, Woodcocks and Snipe were all reported in parklands and farmers’ fields, all desperately looking for food.

180308 Fieldfare & Redwing

I’d not seen many Fieldfares before this storm hit but a walk around local parks and Cardiff Bay on Sunday and Monday gave me the opportunity to see large numbers of them and Redwings.

180308 Fieldfare Redwing Green woodpecker

In Penarth Marina Park, I spotted five of Britain’s six thrush species grazing (Song thrush, Mistle thrush, Blackbird, Redwing and Fieldfare) (accompanied by a Green woodpecker), and in trees alongside the River Taff, I got my closest views yet of Fieldfare – such beautiful markings.

180308 Fieldfare Redwing Song thrush

Let’s hope they now have the strength to head back to where they came from and that the cold blast won’t have any long-term effects on their populations.

A walk in Nant Fawr

12 Tuesday Dec 2017

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature, walks, winter

≈ 6 Comments

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birding, birdwatching, blackbird, Brambling, British birds, Carrion crow, dunnock, Great spotted woodpecker, house sparrow, Nant Fawr, Nant Fawr Woodlands, Song thrush, walk in the woods

There was snow on the hills north of Cardiff on Saturday morning so I thought I’d try to get closer to take some photos but also combine that with a good walk. So, I jumped on a train and went a’stomping. Unfortunately, by the time I got closer, the snow had mostly melted away, which wasn’t helped by the fact that the footpath I had intended to follow, along the eastern side of the Llanishen and Lisvane reservoirs, was closed. So, I contented myself with a wander through the Nant Fawr woodlands and, afterwards, a circuit of Roath Park Lake.

171212 Nant Fawr (1)

I was rewarded with the sight, albeit distant, of my very first Brambling – my shots are heavily cropped so you’ll just have to take my word for it!

A small group of House sparrows was dotting about in bushes at the woodland edge.

I always thought Carrion crows were mostly solitary birds but this flock of about 20 proved me wrong.

171212 Nant Fawr (8) Crow 171212 Nant Fawr (9) Crow

The wood-tapping of this Great spotted woodpecker helped direct my lens in its direction, as did the singing of this little Dunnock.

171212 Nant Fawr (10) Great spotted woodpecker

And Song thrushes and Blackbirds were enjoying a hearty lunch of berries along the hedgerows.

Berries and birds

25 Saturday Nov 2017

Posted by sconzani in autumn, birds, nature, plants

≈ 1 Comment

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autumn berries, berries, berries and birds, berry eating birds, birding, birdwatching, Song thrush, thrush

In recent days, on my regular walks, whether in suburban streets or in the local parks and nature reserves, wherever I see berries there are birds, usually thrushes, gobbling down as many berries as they can find.

171125 Thrush and berries (1)

A Song thrush found its golden treasure trove in a tiny, but well-planted-for-wildlife garden amongst the apartments of Penarth Marina, and, below, this thrush, at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, looked to have chosen a berry far too big for its beak but it persevered and, eventually, by applying a little pressure to squash the berry a fraction, down the hatch it went.

171125 Thrush and berries (2)

’Tis the time of the thrushes

09 Thursday Nov 2017

Posted by sconzani in autumn, birds, nature

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

berries and birds, berry eating birds, birding, birdwatching, Mistle thrush, Redwing, Song thrush, thrush, Turdus iliacus, Turdus philomelos, Turdus viscivorus

Officially, in Britain, the resident true thrushes are the Ring ouzel, Fieldfare, Blackbird, Song thrush, Mistle thrush and Redwing, while other thrush species are occasional, sometimes rare visitors.

171109 Redwing (2)

The thrushes I’ve been noticing most in recent weeks have been the Song thrush, Mistle thrush and Redwing, partly due to their seasonal migration southwards to our ever so slightly milder south Wales climate and partly due to this being prime berry-eating time.

Song thrushes (Turdus philomelos) are resident here all year round, though there is some movement through Britain from Scandinavian birds heading south for the winter.

171109 Mistle thrush (1)

It can sometimes be difficult to distinguish Song from Mistle thrushes (Turdus viscivorus), though the Mistles have a tendency to perch high in the tree tops (or, I discovered, on TV aerials, in urban areas!) and to stand with heads held high when foraging on the ground, and their football-rattle song is unmistakeable. I saw my first Mistle thrushes of the season on 9 October and there are now quite large numbers in local parks and reserves.

171109 Redwing (1)

Redwings (Turdus iliacus) were reported locally in early October but it was the 30th before I caught up with a small flock at Cathays Cemetery in Cardiff, and I’ve since spent several hours following them around the berry trees at Cosmeston, trying to get close enough for photos. They’re easily spooked though so my shots so far have not been that great – I’ll keep trying, and I’ll need to try to find Ring ouzels and Fieldfare as well.