Travels overseas since January

Those who know me will be aware that already this year we have been on quite few overseas trips and so this blog has been somewhat in abeyance. This post will try and do a catch up and then further posts will follow shortly, relating once more to Combe St. Nicholas.

Costa Rica Our first trip this year was in February / March to Costa Rica, a very small country about the size of Wales, which is located between Nicaragua and Panama on the narrow strip of land between North and South America known as Central America.

We first visited Costa Rica in 2007 when we did a tour of the southern part of the country down as far as the Panama border. We enjoyed it so much, with its fantastic bird life, colourful scenery and friendly people that we vowed to return and when the opportunity to tour the northern part of the country arose we decided to go.

Bare throated tiger heron

In a two week trip, which saw us staying on both the Pacific coast and the Atlantic coast, as well as beside the Arenal volcano in between, we saw over 400 species of birds, many mammals including sloths and capuchin, howler and spider and monkeys, butterflies, reptiles and beautiful flowers. It was a really lovely holiday, though the high temperatures and humidity might not be to everyone's liking!
Here are just a few of the many hundreds of 
pictures we took whilst there.... 

Sleepy Porcupine

Even sleepier owl looking like he had had a hard night!

Resplendent quetzal

Three toed sloth

Arenal Volcano

Arizona Our second trip this year was to Arizona, another wildlife watching holiday which started off in Phoenix, headed south to the amazing Chiricahua National Park with its organ pipe rock formation, 

 Chiricahua National Park

 then north via Tombstone ( site of the Ok Corale and locals still looking the part!)

Welcome to Tombstone

 and the Saguara National Park ( with amazing cacti) 

to the red cliffs of Sedona,

finally  ending up at the Grand Canyon. 

The scenery was spectacular throughout and anyone who thinks Arizona is mostly desert would, like us, be very surprised at the variety of landscapes and the amount of forest there were as well as wonderful wildlife, like this road runner, straight out of the cartoons of our childhood!

We were also surprised by the changing temperatures, from thirty degrees centigrade, to below freezing and snow thrown in all in the space of a day!

The Algarve, Portugal
Our most recent trip was to the Algarve in May and is a place we have been to many times over the last fifteen or so years as we have had a small time-share studio apartment on the coast there. This was the end of an era though as we have now given up our apartment but we have many happy memories of the trips we have taken at different times of the year.
Some of our favourite birds seen there are the colourful bee eaters and hoopoes and they did not disappoint this year.

So hopefully this post will have given a flavour of the exciting trips we have had so far this year and there are more to come, so watch this space!

Chard Reservoir, worth a visit!

I enjoy a walk around the Chard Reservoir, which is attractive at any time of year and in the winter it often attracts different birds on the water and the woodland ones are easier to spot due to the lack of leaves on the trees.

View towards hide from far end

Dipper

Last week the water levels were, not surprisingly, high, but so no doubt were the nearby streams and as a result an unusual sighting of a Dipper. The bird flew in and perched on one of the platforms which usually attract cormorants.

Cormorants on the platform with gulls

It then spent some time peering into the water as if deciding whether it was worth plunging in for food.In the end it gave up and flew off the other end of the reservoir, disappearing out of view.

Shall I, shan't I?

I have never seen a Dipper on this site, though frequently see Kingfishers. The trouble is the waters are both deep and murky, making catching their food quite a challenge.

Gulls and ducks were quite numerous, with Black- headed and Herring gulls and Mallard and Teal but despite a sunny start, the squall blew up and soon the surface of the water looked more like the sea than a calm lake, so we headed home.

For more information about the reservoir, including recent sightings see here:http://www.chardres.totalserve.co.uk/

Posted with Blogsy

Birds beginning to sing?

The weather over the last few weeks has been very wet, indeed the stormiest December on record (since 1969), together with windiest for 20 years. No surprise then that few birds have been frequenting the bird tables, only making an appearance on the few calmer days.
Robins were singing in early January, especially one bright, but cold morning such as this one in Combe Wood Lane. 

They do this both to claim a territory and to attract a mate for the forthcoming breeding season.Other birds that have made an appearance recently, both singing from high perches and feeding on the ground, have been song thrushes. Again I have seen one in Combe Wood Lane and whilst walking around Chard Reservoir last week saw 3 at once!

Another observation whilst walking around the lanes recently is the sight of hazel catkins, many of which seem much larger and/or more numerous than usual.

Snow drops are also making an early appearance, no doubt due to the mild weather, and the patch near the CME entrance is particularly good.
The birds venturing onto the bird feeders are increasing and I have noticed that greenfinches are quite numerous for the first time in a number of seasons. Once they find a suitable feed station they tend to defend it against all comers and one morning last week I timed one individual who stayed on one perch feeding for over 20 minutes!

Next weekend is the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch so don't forget to make sure your feeders are cleaned and topped up so you get the best birds to your garden!

Cat on the prowl

Whilst out walking along Combe Wood Lane this week I hear a commotion from a small flock of house sparrows. These birds are usually about along the hedgerows in this area and no doubt roost in the eaves of a number of older cottages along the lane. The noise alerted me to them as they were obviously making alarm calls so I thought there might be a sparrow hawk about. 

Male house sparrow

However, walking closer to the hedge soon identified the reason for the sparrows' concern. It was a black cat sitting in the middle of the field.

I noticed however that it wasn'tactually showing any interest in the sparrows in the hedge and then, only when it saw me and stood up did a pied wagtail fly up into the air in front of it. The sparrows had been a useful lookout for the pied wagtail and the cat gave up its hunt and stalked off.

Autumn colour lingers into winter

Colour in SSW is really beautiful this year as the following two pictures show.

The leaves on the trees everywhere seem to be hanging on longer this year and the oak trees in particular, after having shed their wonderful acorn crop, are still almost in full leaf, some are even still green! This is quite unusual, especially now we have had a few frosty mornings. The delay is probably due to the hot summer and fairly mild autumn which means that the chlorophyll, which makes the leaves green, is still being produced. No doubt they will all fall quickly once they start and there will be more clearing up to do on the paths and patio in the garden.

If you can though, try to use the leaves for compost rather than burning them or adding to the garden recycling bins. To see how to turn them into free compost see here http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/basics/techniques/soil_makeleafmould1.shtml

Not only are the trees retaining their leaves , there are also some unseasonal blooms about, like these rhododendrons below, seen at Chilworthy last weekend, which would normally be out in May /June. Another odd feature of the weather or possibly climate change?

The birds are still not flocking to the garden feeders but there have been increasing numbers of starlings in the village this year which are chattering away to themselves high up in the lime trees which overhang our garden. After spending time "talking" amongst themselves they suddenly all take to the air, their wings making a sound like papers being riffled together, before coming back to rest on the topmost branches again.

There are also increasing numbers of field fare and redwing locally, the former announcing their presence with their football rattle like chuckle, the latter being almost silent.

As winter gets a hold, try to keep feeding the birds and remember, a source of clean water for them to both drink and bathe in are really helpful to our feathered friends

First frost of winter

Whilst October went out with a big blow and November came in with quite a bit of rain temperatures remained quite mild until last night when we finally had (I believe) the first frost of the season.

Yesterday though we had a morning at the Greylake RSPB reserve over on the Levels. The weather was kind with wonderful mackerel skies

 and we were surprised to see dragonflies and some rather tatty looking red admirals still on the wing as they made the most of the sunshine. Unfortunately the former will shortly die, usually only lasting 2-4 weeks as adults and the latter is unlikely to survive the winter either, even though some do manage to hibernate in sheltered spots, most of the ones  we will be seeing again in the spring actually migrate here from Europe.

Other birds we were lucky enough to see included a peregrine and some close up snipe. The peregrine, after spending some time preening whilst sitting on top of a fence post, suddenly took off in hot pursuit of three unwary pigeons which flew high over it. It flew at them, separating them and then targeted one, easily catching it up as it flew on in a panic. I did not see the outcome as they dived behind some trees but as a peregrine emerged soon after and flew back to a nearby pylon, often used by them as a look out point, I suspect the pigeon made its escape successfully.

The snipe, in contrast, remained in the reeds, brilliantly camouflaged, so even though it was close to the hide for most of our stay, occasionally preening, it was easy to miss unless pointed out.

This is always a good reserve to watch winter wildfowl from the comfort of a hide and the peregrine is often joined by merlin and other birds of prey in the winter months as it a useful "feeding" station for them when the weather really turns cold.
There is also a newly built hide( see below), which is slightly raised and  which, whilst not totally weather proof, gives even better views of the pools and reeds in front of it.

Autumn bounty

Everywhere you go people are trying to give away their apple harvest and the " hedgerow foragers" have been having a field day picking the bumper crop of wild blackberries this year. Usually I  would worry that the wildlife might suffer as their food source was being depleted but this year I think there is plenty for everyone.
Twice I have filled my bird feeders recently and both times I have had to remove them and clean them out as the birds have largely ignored what I have provided in favour, presumably, for the wild food and continued insect life that they been able to gather naturally instead.

Apart from the blackberries there have been a very good harvest of rose hips and haws, holly (above) and hawthorn berries. All if these are valuable source of food to birds and other wildlife as well as brightening up our hedges, especially now the rain is setting in!
Other pretty berries in the hedgerows at the moment are those of Black bryony (below). Be careful not to pick these when foraging as they are highly poisonous!

Another valuable food source in flower at the moment is Ivy (below). This attracts the insects, which in turn attracts the birds, so if you can leave some in your garden you will be doing the wildlife a favour.

 If you want to identify other berries in the countryside at the moment, have a look here for some clues. http://www.bto.org/sites/default/files/shared_documents/winter-thrushes-survey/associated_files/berry-identification-sheet.pdf