Month: January 2025

RSPB Great Garden Birdwatch

pheasant
Pheasant: 2
Great tit: 2
Robin: 3
Goldfinch: 4
House sparrow: 6
Dunnock: 3
Wren: 1
chaffinch
Chaffinch: 2
Blue tit: 2
blackbird
Blackbird: 1
Starling: 1
Wood pigeon: 1

Robins outnumbered any other bird at the start of our garden birdwatch this morning. A pair of robins were working their way around the border by the hedge, just a couple of yards away from a single robin on the patio. Robins defend winter territories so I’m surprised that they were tolerating each other. One great tit was on the sunflower feeders with two female pheasants foraging below.

Later two great tits were coming to the sunflower seed feeders, one with a kipper tie of a black breast-streak – the male – the other with a modest pencil tie – the female.

The Average Bird Garden

Our total bird count of 28 was close to the national average (27) and our number one bird was the house sparrow with 6 individuals but that was probably an underestimate as they were constantly to and fro from feeders to hawthorn hedge.

sparrows on a wall

Two female sparrows were pecking at the mortar of next door’s conservatory wall. No structural damage evident so far.

storm damage

By the way, during yesterday’s amber alert for Storm Éowyn, our strongest storm for 10 years, one of our roof tiles was dislodged. We got off lightly compared with Ireland, parts of Wales and Scotland where red ‘danger to life’ warnings were issued.

Pebble Project

pebbles spread

As the latest warning of ice includes Yorkshire it’s been a good opportunity to stay warm here in the studio and make a bit of progress on my next article.

Fascinating Ferns

article

Back to work on my Thomas Gissing ‘Ferns of Wakefield’ article for a forthcoming ‘Dalesman’.

The ferns, horsetail and clubmoss on the right-hand page are by botanical illustrator John Edward Sowerby (1825-1870). With exception of the clubmosses and the rare parsley fern, all the illustrations in the book were drawn from specimens that Gissing had collected within 12 miles of Wakefield.

Overnight Snow

birds at the feeders

The teasel has collapsed under 2-3 inches of overnight snow.

pheasants

Three female pheasants join the goldfinches, house sparrows, blue tits, great tits, blackbirds, nuthatch and robin at the bird feeders.

pheasants

They appear to hear a noise and freeze in alert mode. They remain motionless for five minutes or more, gradually relaxing, as if it’s a pheasant meditation session – an ideal opportunity to draw them.

birds in the snow

At 3.30 pm the pheasants head off towards the wood as the light fades.

The Strands in Flood

At the Strands, the canal overflowed the towpath, leaving grassy debris along the lower wires of fences. Both canal-side pubs – the Bingley Arms and the Navigation – had their cellars flooded. Further downstream at Broad Cut Low Lock, one boat sank and two were dumped on the banking by the flood waters.

Pheasant on Ice

pheasant

The male couldn’t quite get past the female pheasant as they came down the garden path this morning.

He strikes out to treat her to his magnificent display as he struts across the frozen pond.

But as soon as he steps onto the ice he sinks into the icy water in a gap at the edge.

He recovers as best he can and careers onwards over the ice.

The femle seems inimpressed as she ambles across the frosted lawn towards the bird feeders.

Return of the Blackcap

bird sketches

Amongst the regular birds at the feeders late this afternoon, a female blackcap – with a reddish rather than a black cap like the male – which fended off the sparrows and blue tits from the sunflower hearts feeder but deferred to the robin.

It returned later and was the last bird at the feeders. By then the light had faded so much that we needed binoculars to pick out the colours.

Recent winds had resulted in the water level in the pond dropping. Yesterday’s rain topped it up to its fullest, overflowing level and last night’s frost froze it over.

Horseplay

brook in flood
New year, new sketchbook, an A5 Pink Pig.

Smithy Brook has spilt over onto the pastures a the lower end of Hostingley Lane by the Go Outdoors store. A dabchick divves amongst the beck-side trees.

pied blackbird

At the far end of Low Lane, a male blackbird with white head and a small patch of white on the shoulder.

Yesterday morning: a buzzard on a fence post.

ponies

A bit of rivalry amongst ponies in a muddy pasture on Sandy Lane.