Sunflower reaches new heights

• Where do you start when you haven't posted anything on your blog for the best part of six months and the simple answer for me was when I noticed a sunflower growing out of a neighbours chimney stack (14/10/2020). It was just one of those moments where I thought I need to photograph this and share it at some point.
• I had been walking home from Orrell Water Park, where I had been looking for returning ringed Black-headed Gulls, when I noticed the sunflower. My attention had not only been drawn by its cheerful, bright yellow colour but also by a Woodpigeon that was strutting about on the chimney before settling down to take in a few rays.

• It wasn't just its cheerful appearance that interested me but it also begged the question of how did it get there. The answer for me was quite simple with the most likely culprit being a Coal Tit. Coal Tits cache huge numbers of seeds and they seek out all manner of nook and cranny with my hanging baskets being testimony to that. However, most seeds are placed in locations that don't give them the opportunity to germinate and grow but this chimney pot location takes the ones that do to a new height.

Late breeding

The breeding season is well and truly over for most birds in this part of the world but for at least one species it is not over yet. I was on the phone to my broadband provider at lunchtime today when I noticed a juvenile Woodpigeon on the privet hedge in the front garden and it appeared to be a young juvenile at that. The phone call quickly became the least of my concerns and I grabbed my camera and hastily took a few record shots through the window.

The original Boaty McBoatface.
Juvenile Woodpigeons have a wide almost boat shaped bill which helps them take pigeon milk, a crop secretion they are fed on, from their parents. 

You can see it had already replaced a few feathers on the head and the shoulder of its wings but that could have started immediately on fledging or even before it left the nest. Juveniles of some species start moulting before they leave the nest and this can be accelerated later in the season.

It quivered its wings from time to time which immediately suggested it was trying to solicit food from a parent and then I noticed an adult Woodpigeon a couple of metres away on the bird bath. The adult Woodpigeon then joined the juvenile and started to feed it. There is nothing subtle about an adult Woodpigeon feeding a juvenile and it often looks like a tussle and a trial of strength.

Get in there.

Woodpigeons have quite a long breeding season which can start as early as February and can extend into November and even December, although there can be some variation between years, regions and habitats. While this record of late breeding isn't without precedent for Woodpigeons it is certainly the latest I have recorded locally and for my garden in particular. Woodpigeons are one of the few species that are on the up and have benefitted from both garden feeding and some changes in agricultural practices.

Sparrowhawk double

It had to be a shorter session than usual at Billinge this morning because I had an appointment to go to but it turned out to be interesting nevertheless. There weren't many thrushes moving but over 2,000 Woodpigeons were counted going south by 9:00am (per CAD). A single Brambling was the first of the autumn and another or the same was heard again later. There were no warblers, not even a Chiffchaff, but Goldcrests found their way into the nets at regular intervals and a total of 13 were ringed. A couple of Sparrowhawks livened things up with a 1cy male being caught first and a 2cy female being caught in the same net an hour later. Catching 2 Sparrowhawks in the same session doesn't happen very often but the 3 previous occasion it has happened have all been in mid October like today's double act. The lively theme continued when a rather feisty Jay was caught and it did its best to take lumps out of me, as they usually do. The last net round produced a group of 5 Lesser Redpolls and, interestingly, 4 of the 5 were adult males which continues the predominance of adults in the Redpolls caught so far this month.

1cy male Sparrowhawk

1cy male Sparrowhawk

2cy female Sparrowhawk

The female Sparrowhawk had an unusual and very hard accretion on the tip of one of its claws. I have never seen anything like this before and have no idea what could have caused it..

Ringing totals (retraps in brackets) for 15.09.18 were: Sparrowhawk 2; Jay 1; Coal Tit 2, Blue Tit 1; Great Tit 1; Goldcrest 13; Blackbird 1; Song Thrush 3 (1); Bullfinch (2); Lesser Redpoll 5. Total 29 new birds and 3 retraps.

8th March 2018 and it's snow joke.

A real dump of snow greeted me first thing this morning and it continued to snow for a good few hours. Some snow had been forecast but I had expected it to be wet sleety stuff and soon turn to rain but this was the real deal and covered everything in a good 3 to 4 inches of the white stuff before it finally stopped.

The view from the front door.

The view towards Orrell Water Park.

The snow clearly had an impact on the birds and the garden feeders were busier than they had been during the recent severe cold spell. We didn't get much snow then and many species, especially seed eaters, still had access to natural food sources and didn't seem pushed for food despite the very cold temperatures. This morning was a different story with the thick covering of snow limiting their feeding options and causing more birds to come to the feeders. 

Birds were queuing up to use the feeders and I have quite a few dotted around the garden.

The birds gather in the trees across the road from the garden before dropping down to feed.

Another group on its way in.

You could imagine this Goldfinch thinking 'Where did this lot come from'.

and this one was really shaking its head.

Some Goldfinches were clearly in pairs.

and another pair.

This male Chaffinch is in one of those 'what are you looking at' poses.

Looking at its tail shape this female Chaffinch is almost certainly an adult.

Female Chaffinch. I only included this photo because of the lump of snow on her head. The snow really did come down thick and fast.

It was nice to see a few more Greenfinches at the feeders but they are nowhere near as numerous as they used to be in the 'good old days', when Greenfinches were ten a penny.

Male Siskin

I was able to read part of the ring number on this female Siskin and it is not one that I have ringed. It will be really frustrating if I don't manage to catch her and establish where she has come from.

Three Pied Wagtails fed on the lawn below the feeders including this fine male. This bird has been a regular in the garden for much of this winter.

It won't be long before my Starling RAS starts. This adult male (A57) was originally ringed as a juvenile in June 2012.

Female Starling

Male Blackbird

Female Blackbird

Judging by the size of of its bib this Coal Tit is a male.

Woodpigeons haven't visited the garden much recently as they have been spending a lot of time feeding in a nearby field of oil seed rape.

The fat cakes have certainly helped this Goldcrest survive this winter.

Winter may not have released its grip just yet but give it another week and I should be writing posts about returning Chiffchaffs and other spring migrants. 

Curly claws, pigeon porn and other garden goings on.

I was photographing birds in the garden yesterday afternoon when I noticed a Goldfinch that was sat belly down on a branch. It had its back to me but its abnormal posture clearly indicated that something was wrong. At first I thought it was a sickly individual, perhaps suffering from trichomonosis, but then I realised it had abnormally long claws and couldn't grip the branch normally.

I eventually managed to get some photos of it face on and apart from its feet it appears to be in good condition.

I have occasionally come across birds with overgrown bills but it is more unusual to see birds with hugely overgrown claws. It obviously had some form of skin condition affecting its feet, possibly knemidocoptic mange, and this has presumably led to the overgrowth of the claws. It was able to use the feeders that have perches but the state of its feet must impede it when more acrobatic feeding methods are required. Diseases that affect birds feet are becoming an increasing health issue for birds that are attracted to garden and other feeding stations with Chaffinches being the most affected species.

As for the pigeon porn, it was, as you may have guessed, just a pair of Woodpigeons mating. It is quite early for them to be breeding but then a pair of Woodpigeons usually manages to rear an early brood near the garden. I have seen recently fledged young in early to mid April in previous years and allowing for a nestling period of about 33 days and and incubation period of 17 days that gives a first egg date in mid to late February, so this pair is continuing that early breeding trend.

Mating Woodpigeons. Spring was certainly in the air for this pair.

The last week has seen a increase in the number of Siskins visiting the garden feeders, not a big increase but a noticeable one nevertheless. I still haven't seen more than 10 at the feeders at any one time but the varying proportions of males and females along with ringed and unringed birds shows there is quite a bit of turnover during the course of a day. In addition, recent ringing activity has produced 16 new birds and photography has shown that some of the savvy returning ringed birds are still present and avoiding recapture. However, the most obvious sign of the higher numbers has been the increase in the volume of chatter coming from the birds when they sit in the tops of the trees between bouts of feeding.

Almost two thirds of the Siskins caught this winter have been adults which suggests they didn't have a particularly good breeding season last year.

Although I wasn't able to get the full ring number this bird is almost certainly one that was ringed in the garden last winter or early spring.

Long-tailed Tits are still regular visitors but the flocks have largely split into pairs now. With some very cold temperatures forecast for the next week it will be interesting to see if any of the flocks reform temporarily or if they remain in pairs.

I managed to read just enough of this bird's ring number to be able to say that this one was ringed during the winter of 2014/15.

Robins don't feature in the blog very often but an unringed bird appeared to be a newcomer to the garden and was doing its best to assert its place in the pecking order. There was a lot more in the way of chasing than I have seen of late and it seemed to have claimed top slot by the end of yesterday. Its reign may only be temporary though as there is likely to be a lot more competition and far more aggression between the local Robins as we move into the spring.

Cock Robin 22/02/17.

Goldcrests have been regulars at the feeders this winter and, even though there is usually only one bird in attendance, ringing has shown that four birds have acquired the habit of feeding on the fat cakes and fragments of sunflower hearts.

Lastly, a Wren has also taken to feeding on the fat cakes and is a frequent visitor to the fat cake in the bird table trap. It is free to come and go as often as it likes as the trap has a manually operated door that is left open and is only used very selectively.

For the record all of the photos were taken through double glazing which does have an effect on image quality, well that is my excuse. I have come to the conclusion that it is better to make that compromise on image quality rather than risk missing out on photo opportunities and adding to global warming by leaving the windows wide open for hours at a time. That's all for now and I hope you found something of interest.