The first week in the new year has been very stormy. One of the birdtables was damaged, but still usable. Temperatures have fluctuated between mild and cold, with snow showers today, but no lying snow. Birds include: great tit, coal tit, blue tit, collared dove, carrion crow, song thrush, chaffinch, greenfinch, house sparrow, dunnock, goldfinch, starling, blackbird. Great tits have been exploring the nest boxes I put up last month. It would be nice if something nested this year. Still some berries in the front garden, but none in the back. The apples I put out have been untouched. They were popular last winter, but not as much this winter. The great tits, starlings and song thrush have been enjoying the fat balls. There have been 3 collared doves in the garden most days. Today 1 of the doves tried to chase off the 3rd. I wonder if it is 1 of last year’s young?

I’ve done a few hours of birding over the last few days. The weather has been very stormy, so there wasn’t much about – magpie, carrion crow, rook, jackdaws, starling, blackbird, chaffinch, hooded crow, tufted duck, fieldfare, greenfinch, blackheaded gull, house sparrow, mute swan, blue tit, redwing, mistle thrush, song thrush, pheasant, whooper swan, robin, sparrowhawk, kestrel.

A belated happy new year to everyone. My last bird for 2004 was lapwing. My first bird of 2005 was magpie. Not very exciting compared to the other blogs, but still lovely birds.

28/12/04
Very cold, overcast.
Greylag geese, mallard, mute swan, whooper swan, moorhen, tufted ducks, pochard, pintail, coot, blue tit, coal tit, great tit, treecreeper, chaffinch, grey heron, goldeneye, gadwell, shag, magpie, woodpigeon, eider ducks, black headed gull, collared dove, blackbird, jackdaw, goldcrest, song thrush, shoveller, shelduck, brent geese, oystercatcher, dunlin, lapwing, robin, fieldfare

Weather – mild and overcast.
Black guillemot, common gull, herring gull and black-headed gull on road to hide.

Black-headed godwit, teal, heron, reed bunting, linnet, moorhen, wigeon, sparrowhawk (female), ruff (juvenile), magpie, shelduck, black-headed gull, herring gull, golden plover, great black backed gull, shoveller, mallard, curlew, redshank, wren, rabbits and a fox. The fox stayed around for some time in the far right hand corner of the reserve. Left the birds alone, chased a few rabbits, but didn’t catch anything when I was there.

Today was just as cold, but with sunny spells.
Quoile Pondage – magpie, coot, teal, tufted duck, mallard, mute swan, lapwing, cormorant, pheasant, pochard, wigeon, whooper swan, heron, herring gull, black headed gull, jackdaw.
Golden plover at the causeway.
Long-tailed tits at the Quoile Countryside Centre.
Castle Espie – mallard, moorhen, goldeneye (3 drakes), greylag, brent geese, shelduck (I stopped counting at 300!), oystercatcher, redshank, dunlin, tufted duck, pintail, pochard, bewick swan (my first of the winter), heron, mute swan, black headed gull, whooper swan.
I was able to take photos of the pintail and pochard. I still haven’t worked out how to upload photos, but will try again tomorrow.

Weather wasn’t good, nor was visibility.
Portmore Lough – bluetit, collared dove, robin, greenfinch, chaffich, magpie, pheasant, mistle thrush, blackbird, coal-tit, dunnock, tree sparrow, gt tit, wren, sparrowhawk, bullfinch (male feeding on rosehips), redwing (feeding on haws), greylag, fieldfare, woodpigeon
Oxford Island – whooper swans, mute swans, little grebe, coot, moorhen, mallard, tufted duck, gt crestd grebe, scaup, pochard

Cold day, overcast but good light, no wind.
Curlew, oystercatcher, reed bunting, linnet, greenfich, magpie, black-tailed godwits, teal, moorhen, lapwing, grey heron, water rail (very good views), golden plover, black-headed gulls, wigeon, robin, blackbird, mallard, herring gull, shoveler, buzzard, lessr black-backed gull

14/11/04
Cold day, low winter sun came out later in the day.
1coot, 18 whooper swans (4 family groups), greylag geese, shoveller, mallard, teal, dunlin, lapwing, cormorant, mute swans, long-tailed tits on road outside road, black-tailed godwits at causeway. Highlight was a buzzard on the ground eating a rabbit, surrounded by magpies and hooded crows trying to intimidate it. The buzzard just kept on eating.

I’ve discovered that I cannot get an adapter for my camera and telescope so I am experimenting on trying to take photos without one. I’ll see how it goes.

I returned from Scotland on Saturday night. Talking to my aunt on Sunday she had watched 5 whooper swans eating potatoes in the field behind her house. The main crop of potatoes had already been harvested, and these were potatoes that were lying on the ground. I must admit that I have never heard of this before. What other strange things do swans eat?