The Lincolnshire Bird Club

The first winter snow has fallen and both Fieldfare and Redwing have dropped into our 'town' garden today to join the foraging Blackbirds.

The Sentinel Crabapple is covered with hundreds of brilliant red fruits which, unless eaten, will stay on the tree until late March/early April when the new leaves and blossom appear.......it really is a remarkable tree. Meanwhile the brilliant red fruits must act like a glistening beacon against the snow to attract any overflying Thrushes.......and, hopefully, more ??

Have other members now had Winter Thrushes visiting their 'town' gardens in the snow ? If so, what has been the food attraction ?

Freddy

No thrushes, but 16 blackbirds ( many 1st winter) after seed mix, dried mealworms and cotoneaster berries; 17 blackheaded gulls and a 2nd winter herring gull (a garden first), after home-baked bread (very discerning, these Louth gulls!).

Geoff

Fieldfares around but only two Song Thrushes in the garden which is lovely to see. Mainly picking up dropped sunflower hearts from the feeders although not as bold as the Blackbirds (at least 8 at a time). Also lots of Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Greenfinch and the odd Coal tit.

David

Plenty of blackbirds and a song thrush all foraging on the ground. The feeders have been on the whole surplus to requirements since before Christmas. Hopefully they will be used more now the cold weather has returned

Freddy,

We have had a maximum of 48 Fieldfares coming into our garden over the last 10 days or so, they have been clearing up the remains of our windfall bramley apples.
As you know, we live on the edge of a village so ours is not a 'town' garden.

Roy

Great excitement in the Johnson household earlier today.......just before midday a flock of c35 Fieldfares (the largest number so far this winter) flew off the nearby fields/hedgerows and landed in the row of tall Cherry trees in the Copse at the bottom of our garden. Unfortunately, something soon spooked them and they all flew off except for 6. However, all 35 know where we are and, more importantly, where the 'Sentinel' Crabapple tree is.

Some members have mentioned good numbers of Blackbirds visiting their gardens, some of the birds probably being visitors from the Continent, while some Lincs birds may well have moved West/Southwest in a chain migration.

Strangely enough, when I lived in (West) Germany (1968 - 1971) in a house on the edge of a small town in North-Rhine-Westphalia, the Blackbird (and Robin) were infrequently seen in gardens : they were skulking, breeding birds of the woods and forests rather than urbanised residents. Walking in the nearby fields or along the local canal bank, one was far more likely to see Red-backed Shrike (spring-autumn) or Great-grey Shrike (winter) and Buzzard rather than Blackbird or Robin. Song Thrushes did appear in my garden but only as winter visitors.

Freddy
Interestingly, my Crabapple tree shares its name with the Great-grey Shrike Latin tag....... excubitor = sentinel; Lanius excubitor = sentinel butcher.

This spell of frost, snow and ice is certainly encouraging the more unusual birds to visit 'town' and probably 'country' gardens, too.

Our Sycamore attracted a Great-spotted Woodpecker this afternoon (only the second seen in the garden in 10 years)......when the Magpies were absent collecting more twigs for their growing nest. A Mistle Thrush has now joined the Blackbirds and occasional Redwing, but no regular Song Thrush as yet, although one was around a week or so ago.

The wandering flock of c35 Fieldfares which was confined to the nearby fields until recently was again in view this morning visiting neighbouring garden trees .......... only a couple of hundred yards or so from Hugh M's garden. Any visit as yet to your part of BBH, Hugh ?

When we lived in Folkestone some years ago and we'd had a really cold spell with deep snow, a Woodcock and 2 Snipe arrived in our 'town' garden in the continuing snow to shelter under bushes for a couple of days, just viewable from the kitchen window.

Freddy

30+ Failfair (To the annoyance of the resident Blackbirds) in Hawthore in garden at 14.20 today. (Alma Park, Grantham) , but no Waxwings this year!

Also today first Chaffinch since last year and 3 Wrens.

"Ours" is not a town garden as we live on the edge of the village. However the cold weather this week has introduced both Fieldfare and Redwing in small numbers to the garden.
Chaffinch and Goldfinch numbers have increased on the garden feeders together with Blackbirds although they seem totally pre-occupied with "other matters".
The number one food at the moment seems to be dried mealworms!
Sunday after the snowfall produced a Redshank which stayed for about 2 minutes. The same happened last winter during the hard spell together with a Snipe, now keeping my fingers crossed for a repeat performance.

Kind regards


George

There was a raiding party of c20 Fieldfares in our garden at 8 o'clock this morning (Thu) but the local street based Fieldfare flock has now risen to c100, with no Redwings mixed in. Yesterday (8 Feb), I tracked down the main group -c80 strong - to a small close nearby, perched in just two 'launch' trees only a few yards from the target pair of generously fruiting yellow-berried Cotoneasters...............quite an impressive sight.

Today (Thu), there were still c50 loitering with intent near the same (largely depleted) Cotoneasters with another 50 or so scattered around in neighbouring strategically positioned trees near other fruiting berry-laden larders.

In last winter's hard weather, I only came across small scattered groups of Fieldfare in the streets in the vicinity of our house, totalling no more than 10/15 birds in all.

Freddy

More action this morning (Sat) in the garden and in the field below an upstairs window of our BBH house on the edge of Lincoln. The shooters arrived early in the crisp, frosty conditions but their only quarry was a couple of disoriented and confused Hares attempting (unsuccessfully) to cross the field in the face of massed guns......aided, but to no avail, by my wife banging on the window......both Hares were shot to pieces at distances a 10-year old couldn't have missed.

Once the all-triumphant shooters had cleared off, the following appeared in the garden/over the field by midday : (incl) :

2 Cormorants in flight (NW)
6 Golden Plover in flight (S)
Sparrowhawk (female) - perched in the Sycamore and later seen flying over the field
Fieldfare - c12 in and over the garden, with singletons being kept out of the Sentinel Crabapple tree by a determined and territorial female Blackbird
Corvids - a flock of c50 assorted birds on the field and perched on telegraph wires
Magpie and Wood Pigeon - both species continuing to build/renovate their nests in the Sycamore.....only about 12/15 feet apart = there'll be trouble ahead
Buzzard - no sign as yet today of the now 2 regular local birds, which settled on the snow-covered field for a time yesterday.

Freddy



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Having said 'no thrushes' (5 Feb), we had our first ever redwing feeding on pyracantha berries last Friday.

Geoff