Busy Garden

A personal milestone for the garden today with 30 species recorded in the day. Not sure whether there are any official, or indeed unofficial, rules regarding garden listing? Today's total includes birds flying over the garden (flying over birds wouldn't be accepted in the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch). The following list, using BTO species codes, shows the order the species were recorded and respective final totals with flying over totals in brackets:-

CT 1, RE 1(+34), B. 14, GR 6, BT 3, CH 13, MG 2, HG (6), HS 5, ST 2, SG 6, C. (8), WR 1, BC 2, R. 3, WP (5), JD 5(+75), BH (5), CD 5, D. 1, GC 1, LT 4, RN (2), SK 2, GO 4, GT 2, FF (2), NH 1, RO (3), GL (1)

I have only recently started using the species code but find it very useful. It is particularly useful when recording for the BTO surveys and also great for entering records on MapMate. For anyone who isn't familiar with the codes they can be found here http://www.bto.org/bbs/take_part/species-codes.htm

Early Butterflies

A Glorious day today with lots of sunshine and quite warm in sheltered spots. I was completing my second round of TTV's for a tetrad of mine. This tetrad is situated between Cimla and Cwmavon. Lots of birds were singing and Spring was in the air, but I was surprised to see a Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta flying past and settling on some Ivy Hedera helix to warm up. A little later a Brimstone Gonepteryx rhamni was seen in flight not far from the Red Admiral.

Pair of Crossbill, 80 Redwing and 15 Fieldfare were the best of the birds. Also rather unusually 6 adult Ross's Goose circling around Hawdref-fawr. This behavior and the fact that this species is often kept in captivity suggests to me they must be a feral flock. If I'd seen them yesterday on the Neath river I'd be a lot more excited! Probably saved my blushes!!

Brambling and masses of Siskin

A male Brambling was seen in the garden today. Only the 3rd record of the winter with others, both males, seen on 21st Nov 2009 (stayed to the 23rd) and 16th Jan 2010. In previous years Brambling numbers have picked up in February and later recorded off and on into April. In 2009 the last record was a female 14 Apr 2009 and the year before again a female 13 Apr 2008. Our garden backs onto the Gnoll Grounds and over the last few years we have been able to attract good numbers of finches who seem to like the sunflower seeds that are on offer very much! Today's Brambling was too quick for my camera skills so hopefully I will get more opportunities over the coming months.

Also today the Siskin numbers in the garden and surrounding trees easily numbered over 100 birds and probably nearer 140! These are remarkable numbers for our garden and smash the previous record of 63 on 16th Jan 2010. "Budgie" was amongst the masses of Siskin today. He has obviously been spreading the word.

An old friend returns to Cimla

Let me introduce you to "Budgie." We have named him this because of his bright yellow forehead and cap, which is normally black in adult male Siskins. This plumage mutation sets him apart from all the other Siskins that visit our garden and is the only colour mutation that I have noticed in Siskins. His distinctive appearance has allowed me to get to know him quite well.

He first turned up in the garden in October 2008 and was seen almost daily with other Siskins up until 19th April 2009. He didn't spend a great deal of time in the garden, often coming an hour before dusk to have a quick feed. Although we get small numbers of Siskins, including juvenile birds, throughout the summer months we never saw him among them at that time. Presumably he spent last summer somewhere else.

Budgie returned to the garden this winter on 17th November 2009 and has been seen on an almost daily basis since then, but he has been particularly prominent during the recent snowy days. Siskin numbers in the garden this winter have peaked at 34 so far (compared to 35 last winter) but it is likely that many more visit over the course of a day.

Budgie is distinctive in appearance and we are always extra pleased to see him in the garden and hope he will return for more winters to come. He's not as quarrelsome as some of the other siskins in the garden, but he is fit enough to hold is own and he is in not subordinate to the other normal-plumaged males.

Garden Treat

This female Blackcap, now 1 of 3 including 1 male, has been feeding in our garden for the last few days. She is particularly fond of suet block and also apples. She has become very territorial in the last couple of days chasing off all birds of a similar size and smaller. Blackcaps visit our garden most winters and I have noticed that in recent days a few other garden records around Glamorgan. It is thought most of these wintering Blackcaps have come from Europe , particularly alpine regions. It always seems strange to me to see them behaving so boldly in the garden during the winter when they are the opposite during the summer months.

On that note I would like to thank Barry Stewart for all the help he has provided since my return into the birding world earlier this year and wish all readers a Happy New Year.

Cheers!

Goldfinches

For many years now, Goldfinches have nested in our front and rear gardens and visited my peanut feeders during the summer, only to disappear in the autumn. This spring, I invested in a couple of Niger seed feeders and have lately added a sunflower heart dispenser. The result has been dramatic. Instead of just a handful, I now have up to 30 Goldfinches at any one time and I believe that the numbers are still increasing. They do irrupt and leave periodically, but are rarely away from the garden for more than a few minutes. Many are juveniles, but there are about equal numbers of adults as well. All are finishing off their body moult, with the adults, instead of sporting red faces, now having a delicate shade of orange behind the bill. I am confident they will stay for the winter, but really should put up my mist nets to find out just how many birds are involved……