OK, I did it, one hour late morning, one great tit, one dunnock, one starling and I could hear, but not see a robin…
How depressing for you. I wonder where they have gone. I had a reasonable hour although a number of regulars decided not to make an appearance until the next day.
I had an incredible turn out - too many for this dim wit to accurately count. The one species missing was the dunnock which has been a regular visitor up until a week or two ago. No idea why they have stopped visits!
Peter
I might go for frustrating. The depressing thing is the local school and many neighbours cutting down the ancient hedgerow the forms our boundary.
This morning I refilled the feeders just after 9am. Within 15 minutes the garden was full of starlings too many to count. By 10:30, they had gone, in the time it took me to get a hot drink there was a wren, a dunnock, two pied wagtails and a tree creeper. The wagtails seem to venture out of the local shopping centre every couple of months, there are two lakes and a brook less than a mile away. The last time I saw a tree creeper was possibly six months ago. Speaking to a neighbour, they pointed out that in the last couple of months the jackdaws that live on their side of the road have disappeared.
Strange times.
Me too had a depressing ‘Birdwatch’, but not surprised as the local garden bird population has really gone down over the last months ( I posted about this a while back ) I had doubts about submitting the Birdwatch stats as it’s not representative of my garden.
To add to the plight of the birds, last friday I had tree fellas in to remove a 4m section of very old longtime dead Ivy covered Hawthorn.
The Ivy was 5 star luxury high rise nesting for them all ….. and the Ivy seeds kept the entire neighbourhood pigeons fed.
Like I said .. depressing
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A reasonable BGBW last weekend, but not outstanding - just most of the “usual suspects”.
The “house sparrow air force” has been back in numbers for the last month - a good dozen turn up regularly in late mornings, but we had only five during the survey.
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I’ve managed to get a picture of the “mystery” bird. In fact, yesterday there were three. All the same, no clear markings. Despite that, I am now reasonably sure they are goldcrests. If so, it’s a first, in the past I might have seen one a year!
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Chiff chaff ?
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Definitely not a goldcrest.
Looks like a chiff-chaff. Often overwintering and habituate woodlands and gardens.
Winter plumage tends to loose the summertime olive and eye stripe markings and turn more rust/grey.
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Thanks, yes, chiff chaff fits. Didn’t come up in any of the bird finders, been here 48 years and never seen one.
My house is part surrounded by rough open shrub-land and great chiff-chaff country. During the spring/summer I frequently hear two or three or sometimes more calling from different points, hearing is one thing, spotting is something else.
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Any ideas what this is? Its taken up residence in the village. Suspect it belongs to a local falconer. Very distinctive yellow face.
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Suspect it’s a juvenile peregrine falcon.
Key ID pointers …. vertically streaked underparts, contrasting with the horizontal barring of adults, a dark brown back, pale cream-buff breast and dark eyes.
Thanks Mike. It was the striking yellow face that made me think it was something even more exotic but Peregrine is exotic enough 
.
Apparently it doesn’t belong to our local falconer after all. But I think he is coming out to capture it.
The local falconer coming to attempt a rescue is great news, they will confirm what it is.
Keep us updated please.
I suspect it’s a captive bred bird whatever, it’s a juvenile for sure but it’s way outside any wild bird breeding season. Wild birds only start egg laying in March and early April.
Will definitely update when we know more. I am sure you are right that it is captive bred as it is very tame and not wary of humans at all.
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No pictures ( I didn’t have the phone with me) but 30 minutes ago while walking Harvey, the first harbingers of spring flew over making their usual racket. About 2-300 gru gru ( common crane). Many more to come but it’s a good sign that the weather is warming.
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I think it’s a Kestrel with its face feathers missing! The colouring is right for a female Kestrel though. Peregrines are considerably darker.
Cheers,
Ian
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My first thoughts also were Kestrel, so I ran the picture through Goggle Images, and it came up with…..
…… female common Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus).
Beautiful plumage!. Odd about the face though. I hope that it’s OK.
And @PW42, please do let us know if you get any more info.
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