Spring is stopped in its tracks!

After a few days of sunshine, spring seems to have been put on hold with fog, snow flurries and a biting wind, described by Monty Don the gardener, as being as sharp as a stiletto!
Redwing and Fieldfare have put in an appearance this week, demonstrating the fact that it really is still winter.

Fieldfare and Redwing

These birds were about earlier in the winter but have reduced in number till this week, when flocks of 100+ have been seen feeding in the local fields. I noticed they particularly like the fields which, until recently, have had grazing sheep. I suppose the insects from the dung are providing much needed sustenance.

Redwing

The birds appear more colourful than they did earlier in the season as they are gradually changing into their breeding plumage. They won't be breeding here though, moving back to their Scandinavian summer homes as the days lengthen.
Still they brighten up the cold grey days until the spring gets going again!

Signs of Spring?

As February rolls on, signs of Spring are certainly about, with Daffodils appearing in SSW in the first week of the month and more Snowdrops spreading along the banks.

Daffodils in SSW 4th February

Snowdrops along the churchyard banks

Cyclamen in the churchyard

Hazel catkins are also sprouting in the hedgerows and a few days of sunshine in the third week of the month even encouraged the spring cyclamen to flower in the churchyard by the South porch.

Hazel catkins  in lane near Woolhayes

On Monday 18th February the sun shone and I saw and heard my first Chiff Chaff of the year at the Combe sewage works. It is possible it was an over wintering bird but the warmer day must have encouraged it to start singing!

Another bird I saw enjoying the sunshine that day was a beautiful male Bullfinch near Clayhanger. I heard it first calling its rather boring single whistle but what it lacks in voice it makes up for in colour!
It was rather distant but even so the colours are very distinctive in the brown undergrowth.
Hopefully there will be more sunshine to come!

Big garden birdwatch

The weekend of 26/27th January was the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch, when everyone is encouraged to sit down for an hour and count the birds in their garden. Although the snow lingered, it was not quite as cold as the week before and there weren't so many birds about. I counted 14 species- including a small group of

Long-tailed tits and a pair of Robins, all of which came to the various feeders dotted around the garden. The information that the RSPB collects from this exercise is very helpful in providing trends on what is happening to various species.

Robin

Long-tailed tits

 

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Big freeze!

With temperatures dropping to at least -2.5C, the roads were very icy this morning and there was adefinite crunch underfoot.

Many of the bushes and trees are bowed under with the weight of the remaining snow and branches are in danger of snapping off, so beware if you walking underneath!

 

 

 

The views are all still mostly monochrome, except for a few places where unexpected colour, like this red fencing, adds some relief.

Remember to keep putting out food for the birds as they struggle in the cold temperatures. Things with high fat content like suet are welcome and birds like blackbirds and thrushes love fruit, bruised apples, sultanas etc will be gobbled up, if you can keep the wood pigeons, rooks and jackdaws off

 

Another important thing to provide is a supply of ice free water. You can get some ideas of how to do this on the RSPB website here . I use the first method with a tea light under the bowl. Remember to empty the bowl at night though or you will end up with solid ice in the bowl in the morning!

Next weekend, 26/27th January, is the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch, so keep topping up your feeders all week to ensure you get some good birds in the garden for the count.

 

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What a difference a week makes!

The contrast in the weather between last weekend and this one is really marked.

Last week the squirrel in the garden was happily feeding on the bird feeder.
Then the snow, which was correctly forecast, fell over Thursday night, so that by Friday morning the world had turned black and white and the squirrel was nowhere to be seen and the view looked very different indeed.

The views of the village from Stony Down (below) on Saturday were picturesque, but still black and white.

The birds were flocking to the garden feeders or, in the case of the song thrush, was taking advantage of any berries still left on the yew trees in the churchyard.

The churchyard in the snow.

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Sunny morning walk in Combe

Last Sunday we went for a walk around the village and the sun shone for change! We were not the only ones about though and as we walked along the gated part of the lane at Woolhayes we watched a fox as it crossed the boggy field of sedge and reeds.

It was clearly hunting as it regularly paused and listened to any movement in the undergrowth. It pounced a couple of times but didn't catch anything but it put up about a dozen snipe which were sheltering in the long grass.

 

Continuing on to the sewage works is always worth a scan for something unusual. (last spring there was a yellow-browed warbler from Siberia that attracted many birdwatchers).

We were rewarded by a lovely grey wagtail, a species that likes running water and often hangs around here, probably because of the insect life.

 

Along the lane we heard a bird singing what at first sounded like a song thrush, but without the repeat phrases. It was high up in a tree and the picture is not great but I am pretty sure it was a mistle thrush.

All in all a great walk, how lucky we are to have such a variety of wildlife in our parish.

 

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White headed blackbird

There is always something interesting to see when out walking in Combe and on Friday, whilst scanning the blackbirds feeding on the school playing field which had just been cut, I saw this bird with a white patch on its head. This is known as leucistic a is quite common, especially with blackbirds.

 

 

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