Bullfinches and blackbirds on a garden bird table, with a flying visit from a blackcap.
Videos
Garden Birds 2014 12 29
Cast in order of appearance: great tit, blackcap, bluetit, blackbirds, bullfinch, robin and jay
Garden Birds 28 December 2014
Visitors to a bird table in a Wolverhampton garden, December 2014.
Dunnock, great tit, jay, coal tit and blackbird.
Old spots, mud
My last visit to Northycote Farm was on a cold, damp and thoroughly miserable day.
I spent most of my time watching wild birds coming to the feeders – see the video in yesterday’s post. But I also had a quick look at my favourites among the farm stock, the Gloucester Old Spot pigs: currently one boar and two sows.
Feeding time at Northycote Farm
Birds taking advantage of the seed and peanut feeders at Northycote Farm. Great tits and blue tits, and a visit from a coal tit.
Some Wolverhampton birds
Video, mainly of birds at a garden bird table and feeder over the winter months.
Birds of the Exe estuary
Some of the birds which could be seen by the lower reaches of the river Exe during the cold spell a month ago.
Video includes some sequences which have already been included in previous posts.
Exe 6: hungry swan
This swan was on the Exeter canal, not far from its seaward end at the Turf public house.
I was as hungry as the swan. The Turf is a welcoming pub when it is open. Sadly, it stays closed early in the year until the school half term.
Exe 5: two members of the heron family
A little egret feeding in the river Clyst just before it joins the Exe at Topsham, and the brief snatch of video I got of a grey heron on yacht moorings right near the centre of the village before it was disturbed and flew off.
Exe 2: green plover feeding
This green plover was prospecting the ground not far from the hide on the RSPB reserve at Bowling Green marsh, Topsham.
Exe 1: avocets feeding
Because of the cold weather, I haven’t been getting out for recent pictures of Wolverhampton wildlife.
To carry on the daily posts, the next few days will have photos and videos I took on a long weekend by the Exe estuary in south Devon earlier this month.
Today’s video features the bird whose name has been borrowed by the marketing department of the rail line to the east of the Exe between Exeter and Exmouth – the avocet.
Avocets are wading birds. Here they are seen feeding by searching muddy water and soft mud with their delicate-looking upcurving beaks. The last bird might be finding its prey by sight in the clearer water of a tributary of the Exe.
The Exe estuary is the winter home to thousands of avocets.
Robins and more
Another go at filming a video of the customers at the bird table. The two robins which share the table early on must be a pair. They are probably also the birds which show themselves again towards the end.