Blackcaps

The chiffchaffs have now been joined by blackcaps. I heard my first one singing this morning. It was situated in a tree which is often its singing post during the breeding season, which makes me suspect that it is the same individual returning to its old haunts.
Saw some fighting goldfinches which suggests that they are coming into breeding condition much earlier than would normally be the case.
Yesterday at Wedgewood and had singing siskins and redpolls calling.

Chiffchaffs

Wherever I go I am met with the cheerful song of the chiffchaff. To begin with, I thought they may have been individuals passing through on the migration route north and westwards, but they now appear to be settled and establishing territories. Also heard a cock yellowhammer singing away the other day.
Blackbirds are nesting and a robin's nest in the garden has eggs. However this cold spell will be making it difficult for early breeders and migrants to find insects. The thunderstorm today would not have helped much either though warmer weather is forecast for the weekend.

Symonds Yat wildlife sighting

The air was full of the sound of singing siskins. These birds are rarely seen in Kent but here they are regular visitors to the bird feeders. Within minutes of my refilling the mixed seed dispenser I had a siskin feeding. This was closely followed by great, blue and coal tits. Six pheasants (three of each gender) soon arrived to mop up any spillage.
Down by the river, the mallards were all paired up, and as evening set, the tawny owls began their chorus.
There was lots of evidence of the deer travelling down through the wood to the river, and badger s appear to use the same tracks.

First singing spring migrant

Yesterday heard a chiffchaff singing on the edge of my local wood.
Spent most of Thursday in the Black Mountains. Every few hundred yards, a new pair of skylarks appeared and the cock would rise singing into the air. Plentiful cock meadow pipits the cocks with their parachute flight displays. Saw no sign of merlin and wondered whether the profusion of birds was due to the fact that the merlins had not arrived back from their winter quarters.

Buzzard Antics

The usual area to see buzzards locally is along the slopes of the South Downs. However, today there was one in the middle of a field that holds several horses down by the local wood. It was particularly noticeable owing to its very white front, but as these birds can be seen in a number of colour guises, this was nothing out of the ordinary. What was rather more strange was the behaviour of this particular bird.
On a number of occasions I have had the good fortune to observe vultures in various parts of the world, and their tendency to fly in to a kill, and then run and skip along the ground is one of the well known characteristics of this species. I had not previously seen this sort of behaviour in our own buzzard.
From a standing position, the bird suddenly ran to one side and then, with its beak, snatched something from the ground. A few minutes later the bird carried out exactly the same procedure but in another direction. It was clearly catching some minuscule prey. Given that this was in February, it is unlikely that these were grasshoppers, or emerging may bugs. Neither did they appear to be worms, or I think I would have spotted them through my binoculars.
Another natural mystery to ponder upon.

It IS Spring!

The increasing signs of Spring leave me concerned that we may have a start to Winter and all this new growth and blossom will be killed off. Robins are nest building in my garden. I have observed bearded reedlings carrying nesting materials. Primroses abound, celandines and dandelions are in flower and the blackthorn trees are adorned with white sprays of blossom. The skylarks sing above the rape fields and the chaffinches are now in full voice. Yet with March yet to arrive, frosts and even snow are not impossibilities.

Grey Wagtail

This was a surprising bird to see this morning. It was not down by the stream as might be expected but was finding insects to feed upon on a piece of land that had been under flood water the day before. This is possibly the most inappropriately named European bird. My attention was first drawn to a flash of black and white, and although this was only a glance, something about the shape made me immediately aware that it was not simply another chaffinch. The bird had flown up into a blackthorn and as it returned to the ground to feed, I was able to observe it in its full splendour of vivid yellow underparts and soft grey upper parts.
Later in the day I heard the skylark singing once more over the rape fields below the North Downs, whilst wherever I go I seem hardly to be without the soft whistle of the bullfinch, a bird that seems to be more plentiful than has been the case for some years.