Under Rydon Hill: Better wet than never!

Friday, December 21, 2012

Better wet than never!

As everyone is aware - it's been wet ... and wet ... and wet! Last year was much drier and we only had 660 mm of precipitation here at Fairmead. This year, we have had 1131 mm so far, with 1025 mm of that since the end of April! The ability to go bird-ringing has been severely diminished, mainly because of the direct influence of the weather but also the indirect affect the rainfall has had on the breeding success of so many of our target species.

I suspect that if the forecast drought, that ended the moment it was mentioned, had continued as promised, it would have had even more dire consequences on our birdlife and the farmers' crops than we are seeing now.

Goldfinches have been the order of the week, in and out of the apple trees. The Dunnocks are still chasing each other from bush to bird-table to next doors'. We still have plenty of Cotoeaster berries left, enough to keep the Redwings happy for a while yet. They are the highest ones (18-20 foot up) so a slim chance of a catch. Every time the sun comes out, the local tits are crawling all over the tree branches, apple, alder, ash, hawthorn, willow, you name it.

I've not had the luck of another local ringer, Denise, who today caught a Moscow ringed Brambling, only the 3rd from that area. Dang!!! Read here

When out for a walk with the dog this morning to get the 'local rag', I came across one of the village House Sparrow colonies. Several birds (4-6) were drinking and bathing in the puddles along the unmade (private) road behind the bowling green. Four others were chirping in the thick hedge of the immediate cottage plus a couple more that I didn't spot until later. Then I saw what I first thought was a thrush heading straight for 'us'. The sparrows panicked back into the hedge/garden and I could only then make out that it was actually an adult male Sparrowhawk coming 'our' way. It kept low to the ground, sweeping up at the last minute in the hopes of nabbing a fleeing 'sprog' and wheeling sharply down the narrow alley/ginnel that leads to the recreation ground empty handed/clawed. The 'sparras's' bird id on gizz is evidently better than mine. Brill!

It's been an 'A' coding, 'tit-finch' 7 days, with birds attracted to the feeders everytime the rain eased off, and with just 27 new and 7 re-traps to my name this week.