| Joined: | Thu Apr 19th, 2012 |
| Location: | United Kingdom |
| Posts: | 4424 |
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We don't even get as many as 30!
Wood pigeon, collared dove, crow, magpie, dunnock, sparrow, blue tit, great tit, chaffinch, wren, robin, blackbird, starling and a welcome return after many years absence of a song thrush.
House martins and wagtails have disappeared as have hedgehogs and bats - we live right on the edge of town with open fields on 2 sides, many trees and hedges plus country park within 1/4 mile.
We get overflown by gulls and buzzards but that doesn't count as "in the garden"!
The gulls (Lesser black back, Herring, Common and Blackheaded) all land to scavenge. We also have Rooks, Crows, Jackdaws, Magpies and Jays regularly.
The house martins disappeared some years back, as did the spotted fly catchers, willow tits .and the redpolls (although we did have a winter return of them last year)
Winter visitors like Fieldfares, Redwings and Brambling are more dependant on the 'white stuff'which hasn't been as common these last few years.
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Of course it's often down to luckbeing there when something pops in unannounced.
After the Beast from the East raged in a few years back, I noticed strange tracks across the snow. Not hedgehog, cat or larger beast I waited till dark and peered through the curtains..
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It was a Wood**** tracking through the snow listening for (and finding) worms under snow and earth!
The wife had a great idea to try a better photo..switch on the security lights.
So I forcused up in the almost dark (hence the red colour above) and she flicked on the lights as I fired. The bird actually didn't move so we didn't need the synchronised illumination.
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Still low light and a heavy crop ..but an unexpected visitor seeking sanctuary that we could have missed were it not for the tracks in the snow.
sorry guilty of thread drift.
Last edited on Tue Sep 14th, 2021 11:36 by Eric
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Eric