Seasonal Splash: Hen and Chicks

Perhaps not so *wild* but very *wonderful* ~ hen and chicks

Happy Easter!

Home Patch: Birds in the Snow

The snowy weather continues to fight for its grip on the landscape. Despite moments of sunshine, there is still a bitter chill in the air. The small birds have been busy at the feeders. You can see a Long-tailed tit above.  

We were at the Camden Roundhouse in London at the weekend, and came back to find a white world in Suffolk. 

I took this view of the trees over the weekend. There is still a little snow on the boughs and on the hillside beyond (yes, we do have hills in Suffolk!), but the scene is looking less like a winter wonderland.  

This is a close-up of the Long-tailed tit. I don't think I have ever had Long-tailed tits in my previous gardens, so they are a delightful bonus!  

Blue tits, Great tits and Long-tailed tits feed happily together most of the time. Great tits and Robins do not like to share the feeder, though Robins are prepared to eat alongside the smaller Blue tits, as you will see in the bottom photo.

I don't know who has been making tracks across the lawn, but this scene above was waiting for us this morning. You can see that the snow is past its best, and since I took the photo, there has been a further thaw.  

Time for a new coconut!

The Robin has been a frequent visitor. You can see him below, trying to fool me into thinking that it's Christmas and not Easter just around the corner!

Home Patch: Enter a Sparrowhawk!

I looked out at the snow yesterday morning ... and there before my eyes was this male Sparrowhawk.

The bird sensed it was being watched, and began to turn its head ...

... in my direction.

It was my best Sparrowhawk sighting to date ...

... despite the fact that I was looking (and taking photos) through double-glazing.

I have seen a Sparrowhawk in this garden before, but only on a couple of occasions.

We have had hungry Robins, Blue tits, Great tits and Goldfinches in the garden recently ...

... and with such a large predator about, I feared for their safety.

Here is one of the tiny Blue tits ...

... keeping a wary eye out for trouble.

Then today, David took this photo of a Long-tailed tit feeding from our coconut fatball.

The Blackbird was hopping about in the snow, and so far the small birds seem to be surviving.

I wonder whether you feel protective towards your small birds? I love the concept of 'wild', but find I have to brace myself when it comes to Tennyson's phrase, 'Nature red in tooth and claw'.

I looked up Tennyson's poem, In Memoriam A. H. H., 1850 (Canto 56) ... and only then remembered with a shudder that 'Nature' in this particular poem is not the personification of a wild creature in our landscape such as the Sparrowhawk: no, it actually refers to us as a race of human beings. 

So what set me thinking? Well, two things, triggered by the arrival of the Sparrowhawk in my home patch. The first was a post on fellow poet, Juliet Wilson's Crafty Green Poet blog, about her sighting of a fox and a drove of rabbits in the snow (I was willing the fox to feed, but not on the rabbits!). The second was a memory of my time in Philadelphia a year ago last January, when I discovered that there was a version of The Peaceable Kingdom by Edward Hicks (1780 - 1849) in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Hicks, apparently, painted 61 versions of the scene, so don't be surprised if this is not the version you know! 

• On the subject of foxes, you might be interested in this. 

Beautiful Birds: A Cold Afternoon at Needham Market

A tense moment: Canada Goose meets Mute Swan

A Black-headed Gull surveys the scene.

I'm guessing the huge drake (back right) is a Mallard hybrid

You can read my previous post about hybridisation here.

Time for a spot of ...

... spring-cleaning, aka preening.

The gulls thought so, too.

The one on the left is a juvenile, with paler head, legs and beak.

A final fluff-up ...

... before joining the Mute Swan and other gulls on the water.

The Moorhen preferred to scrabble for food on the bank.

We saw a few distant Fieldfare on the way home.

Seasonal First: Hare Sighting

I can testify to the fact that our Mad March Hares are out and about. We were driving home through the Suffolk countryside in the Sudbury area when we alighted on a couple of hares. By the time we had found somewhere safe to park, I was only able to take a quick couple of record snaps. This is the better of the two!

We have only seen hares once before since our arrival in East Anglia, and that was last year at WWT Welney in the Fens. However, I hope to see many more sightings of these iconic creatures, with their black-tipped ears and strong hind legs. Unlike rabbits, hares do not have burrows. They live above ground.

We saw some beautiful rabbits recently (like the one below), and, although you cannot tell from these photos, the rabbits seem very small in comparison with their larger Leporidae cousins.

Mammals seen in 2013, January - early March ...

1] Grey Squirrel - Minsmere
2] Rabbit - Minsmere
3] Hare - Sudbury area
4] Red Deer - Minsmere, Rendlesham Forest
5] Muntjac Deer - Minsmere

Seasonal Splash: Anglesey Abbey and Rendlesham Forest

We saw quite a few birds over the weekend, despite bitterly cold weather. The Blue tits continued to enjoy the coconut fat-ball in the garden, and were joined or pushed out by Robins and Great tits.

We ventured out through light snow to Anglesey Abbey, where we saw a Redwing among the snowdrops, but it was too well covered in the undergrowth for my camera to 'catch' it. We also noticed this Fieldfare, seen initially through binoculars, as it was a good distance away. 

The birch wood was magical, with snowflakes falling and the occasional clump of snowdrops underground, set off by the silver shimmer of bark.

This is the mill. Folk were hard at work, packaging wholewheat flour ... and on a cold afternoon, the smell of was most compelling!

While I was looking for Fieldfare, we suddenly saw a green and yellow bird shoot past at speed. It landed on the grass, quite a long way from us, but near enough to see that it was indeed a Green Woodpecker, our first of the season. 

The thrush was also a good distance away, but here's a photo for the record.

It is always a joy to see the first wildflowers of a new year, and this small Violet was peeping out from the undergrowth.

I was astonished to see such an early periwinkle, but it may have been a 'garden escape'.

Then yesterday we took a chilly afternoon walk in the opposite direction, at Rendlesham Forest, near Orford. The light was very poor and once again samll flakes of snow were falling. We came across a single clump of Snowdrops. I wonder whether someone or some creature had (trans)planted them.

Rendlesham Forest in administered by the Forestry Commission, and I always like their signs. We were glad that there were coloured trails to follow as the forest is extensive.

There were small circles of ice on the water, but it was the reflected trees that caught my eye.

We drove home 'via' Orford, where I caught my first glimpse of the wildlife haven, Havergate Island, in the River Ore. We saw a Barn Owl (our second in about as many weeks) swooping low over the field and in front of our car. The light was fading and my photo didn't come out, but we enjoyed the sighting. I'm always amazed at just how pale, almost luminescent, these birds are.


2013 Bird list to date ...

1] Blue tit (HP = home patch)
2] Chaffinch (HP)
3] Wood Pigeon (HP)
4] Magpie (HP)
5] Mute Swans (Mistley and Flatford)
6] Blackbird (HP)
7] Goldfinch (HP)
8] Great tit (HP)
9] Greenfinch (HP)
10] Robin (HP)
11] Marsh harrier (Minsmere)
12] Black-headed gull (Minsmere)
13] Bullfinch (Minsmere)
14] Song Thrush (HP)
15] Wren (HP)
16] Canada Goose (Needham Market)
17] Great Crested Grebe (Needham Market)
18] Mallard (Needham Market and Flatford)
19] White ?'garden escape' Pekin duck (Needham Market)
20] Moorhen (Needham Market)
21] Jay (HP)
22] Long-tailed tit (Minsmere)
23] Cormorant (Needham Market)
24] Turnstone (Southwold, Shotley)
25] Herring Gull (Southwold and Felixstowe)
26] Shelduck (Minsmere)
27] Pheasant (Minsmere and Flatford)
28] Barn Owl (Flatford and Rendlesham)
29] Carrion Crow (HP)
30] Starling (HP)
31] Pied Wagtail (Ipswich) 
32] Redwing (Anglesey Abbey)
33] Fieldfare (Anglesey Abbey)
34] Green Woodpecker (Anglesey Abbey)
35] Egyptian Goose (Ickworth)
36] Grey Heron (flying overhead)
37] Coot 
38] Dunnock (HP)

Wildflowers, 2013
1] Violet
2] Aconite
3] Snowdrop (not sure how 'wild'!)
4] Periwinkle (ditto)
5] Daisy (March, HP)
6] Dog's Mercury (March, Kentwell)

Beautiful Birds: Egyptian Goose at Ickworth

We noticed an unusual goose in a Suffolk field adjoining the Ickworth Estate. It was a good distance away and the light was poor, but from these record shots I have been able to identify it as an Egyptian Goose (Alopochen aegyptiacus).

Ickworth (taken March 2012)

This species was brought in to Britain to grace the ponds and parks of our estates. A number of these 'ornamental' geese escaped and bred successfully in the wild, particularly in Norfolk.

Egyptian Geese are now considered a feral species, and in this respect I am reminded of the white farmyard-escape ducks that I saw last month at Needham Market. The white (?Pekin) ducks were interacting with Mallards, and I have just read that Egyptian Geese also interbreed - or hybridise - with Mallards.

I am surprised to find that in certain circumstances (or so it seems) ducks and geese pair with one another. Do take a look at the Hybrid Duck page on the Go Birding site for a photo of an Egyptian Goose x Mallard. You might care to look here for as more detailed page on these hybrids.

I am reminded of Nobel Prize-winner, Konrad Lorenz, and his discoveries of imprinting (also a short YouTube here), the way in which a creature - and the duck and goose apparently are particularly good examples - follows the actions of the first other creature it sees after its birth. You may remember the recent TV footage of the Greylag geese flying after their human surrogate ('imprinted') father.

The Egyptian Goose is apparently related to the Shelduck.

Shelduck (taken in 2010 at WWT Llanelli)

• Theories of Attachment