The LTT Gang

Generally at this time of year if you see one Long-tailed Tit you will most likely see a dozen moving through the trees eating insects etc as they go along. 

I was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time last week to see a group on the move.

As always they are a delight to watch and never keep still for more than a second or two.

Preparing the Land

Its that time of year again when land preparation takes place for the next crop.

The Sound of a Woodie

Once you have heard it, you will always remember it. 

The sound of a Wood Pigeon 'Crashing out' of a bush or tree.

Birch Invaders

It may be a little early, but I went searching for Redpoll and Siskin last week.
When they do arrive in the Parkland they can usually be found high up in some of their favourite Birch trees searching for food. There are some really tall Birches that I always check when searching for them.

Unfortunately I didn't find any target birds, but they had better hurry up arriving as the resident Goldfinch and Bullfinch were already in attendance eating the seeds from the little Birch cones.
It is quite a precarious activity for these birds as they are clinging on high in the trees and the wind was blowing fairly hard as well. Not an easy task getting small seeds from an equally small cone.

Goldfinch

Bullfinch

To See a Song Thrush

A rare event indeed to see a Song Thrush anymore. 

They use to be everywhere, but their population has decreased somewhat in recent years.

Below is a good example why (if you haven't readily noticed any bird activity in an area) you should search extensively with the binoculars. 

There is a large clump of hawthorn trees in the Parkland and I spent a little time today watching through my binoculars at the area and I eventually observed this lone Song Thrush.

He was feeding up on Haw Berries that were very plentiful.

The Tiny Beauty

 The Scarlet Pimpernel (Anagallis arvensis), although just a tiny delicate flower can be found all over the World. The flower only opens when the sun shines, at other times you would probably not even notice the green stems that grow laterally amongst grass.  The flower itself if very small, but the stems of the plant can grow up to 50cm in length. In the Mediterranean region the flowers are blue being a sub species of the plant (Anagallis foemina). It is an 'Annual' and therefore reseeds from the centre base of the plant.

A Delight to Observe

Recently I was delighted to be able to photograph a flock (albeit small) of Lapwings.

It was a only a few years ago it would be commonplace to observe several hundred in a flock flying over the open fenland of East Anglia, now one has to be content to observe a few like this.