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| Reed Bunting (c) Early Birder |
It was a
very grey, dull and damp weekend. The most irritating fine rain fell off and
on, not heavy but enough to that mist optics, cameras and glasses. It was a
quiet and unexciting weekend birdwise, we still lack the amount of open water
out on the fields that will attract the normal spectacular numbers of wildfowl,
Golden Plovers and Lapwings.
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| Soggy Kestrel (c) Bark |
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| Coal Tit and Marsh Tit in carpark (c) Bark |
It was a
weekend to find interest in the everyday birds that we often overlook and take
for granted. There is, for instance, a corner of the car park where a small
amount of food is regularly scattered. It attracts not only Robins, Blue and
Great Tits but also a couple of Marsh Tits and a Coal Tit. A patient wait can
be rewarded by superb close views of these slightly more unusual tits.
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| Blue Tit (c) Bark |
There is
another rather more disturbing result of spending time carefully going through
the small passerines at the feeders or beside the hide. You notice very quickly
that there are a number of Chaffinches suffering from a disease that causes
their feet to become deformed and grossly swollen. Some are so badly infected
that they find it difficult to perch. I believe that the disease is called chaffinch viral papilloma. I read that
it is not very contagious and is found in clusters. Advice from the RSPB
suggests that these birds will not readily infect others and that in order to
contract the disease a bird would need to have a nick or cut on its foot.
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| Infected Chaffinch (c) Bark |
On a lighter
note there is another Chaffinch that by the hide that attracted our attention.
It is probably the same bird that was seen last year and was nicknamed the
“Father Christmas” Chaffinch. It has a leuchistic patch below its bill and onto
its breast that makes it look just a little bit as if it has a seasonal beard!
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| Father Christmas Chaffinch (c) Old Caley |
The numbers
of finches taking advantage of the seed feeding beside the Hide is going up
steadily. These numbers can fluctuate however, and it is not difficult to work
out why when one takes a stroll up the footpath towards Beckley. There are a
significant number of game strips in the fields on both sides of the path. There
are broad weedy strips on three sides of one field alone and also we also have
our own strip sown for wild birds, on the southern edge of the Closes. It means
that there is a choice of places to feed and to take refuge when one of the
Sparrowhawks is about.
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| Linnet and Yellowhammer from the hide (c) Bark |
It is
interesting to see the variety of birds taking advantage of the free handout.
Wood Pigeons and Pheasants are not much of a surprise but there are regular
visits from Moorhens, Mallard, Great Spotted Woodpeckers and on Sunday a Green
Woodpecker. Corvids, notably three or four Magpies, also take the food. Three
Yellowhammers and a Brambling were there on Sunday amongst the Linnets and the
Reed Buntings.
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| Green woodpecker (c) Bark |
At the
screen there was little new to report apart from the first drake Pochard that I
have seen on the moor for a while. The Kingfisher made several passes but the
water was very turbid and brown and we wondered if it could see its prey
through the water. I understand that some of the water from the reedbeds will
be allowed to flow out onto Greenaways and then Big Otmoor in order to wet them
up a bit more and make them more attractive to wintering wildfowl. This will
also help to improve the water quality and help to counter the negative effects
of having a very large number of Starlings roosting in and consequently
defecating into the reedbed every night.
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| Grumpy Cormorant at first screen (c) Bark |
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