Had lots of good sightings in the park this morning the star attraction being a female Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. Coming a close second was a Nuthatch collecting mud and sealing up a nest site(could this be our garden bird rejecting our box and ready made mud!) .
Although it now feels that spring is definitely here there are still some winter thrushes around with 74 Fieldfare feeding in the park. We have decided to do a breeding bird survey(BBS) in the park this spring to compare results with a survey we did in 2000.
The winter aconites and snowdrops have now given way to the spring flowers with good displays of daffodils, chionodoxa luciliae, marsh marigolds and american skunk cabbage.
Decided to brave the cold and windy weather dodging the hailstone showers and have a look at the local lake. Initially it looked very quiet with most birds hidden away out of the strong northerly wind but then the sun came out and instantly a Swallow appeared hawking for insects low over the water. What a transformation, one minute it felt we were still in the depths of winter then the next we were in spring just by the appearance of this single bird, its amazing how it lifts one's spirit.
Despite the weather there was alot of activity in the garden with at least 4 Siskins visiting the niger seed feeder and 2 Long-tailed Tits and the regular Nuthatch were on the peanut feeders. A Blue Tit was tearing up the lawn collecting moss for its nest in one of the boxes and the Tree Sparrows were at two other boxes on the Birch Tree with a pair of Dunnocks up to no good next to their nest in the Ivy.
A glorious day today both weather wise and bird wise - highlights as follows;
Normanby Enterprise - 1 Green Sandpiper, 3 Jack Snipe, 2 Little Ringed Plover, 2 Oystercatchers
Barton Upon Humber - 1 Sand Martin, 1 Cettis Warbler, 1 Black-necked Grebe
Alkborough Flats - 7 Avocets, 1 Merlin, 21 Ruff, 3 Spotted Redshank, 1 Buzzard, 2 Roe Deer, 100+ Redshank, 1 Short-eared Owl, Nuthatch calling in village
Due to favourable weather conditions this week Whooper Swans have begun their mass movement from their wintering grounds further south such as Welney or Slimbridge to their breeding grounds in Iceland. So with this in mind we went to our local wetland just outside of Normanby to see if any had stopped off on their journey. As you can see from the photo 37 of these beautiful swans had in deed stopped off for a rest - note the wind turbine in the background!
As previously mentioned we have 7 nest boxes up in the garden which are fiercely fought over by the Blue Tits, Great Tits and Tree Sparrows. However this spring has seen a new competitor namely the Nuthatch so to try and ensure what we think is possibly the first time a Nuthatch has nested in a Scunthorpe area garden we are going all out to make sure it succeeds.
We have enlarged Box 3's hole to 34mm and placed a strategically placed pile of mud close by as Nuthatches plaster mud around the hole to deter preditors but as I sit here typing I can see a Tree Sparrow has just flown into the box and is currently sat looking out!
Box 1 has been busy this morning with a Tree Sparrow taking nest material in and a pair sat on its roof - Box 2 has a Tree Sparrow sat looking out - Box 4 is a Robin box and has no sign of activity at the moment - Box 5 has a Blue Tit visiting regularly -Box 6 will be a contest between Great Tits and Tree Sparrows and Box 7 is a Spotted Flycatcher box and as they are a summer migrant there will be no action until May/June
Marsh Marigolds
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A selection of the birds and mammals of Namibia - details available on request - more photos to follow.