Chiffchaff

The Chiffchaff is one one of the earliest migrants to return to our shores in Britain. They start to appear in March and start to sing their onomatopoeic song immediately. There are approximately 800,000 breeding territories of this bird in the U.K.

A bird that is smaller than a Blue Tit, with dull green upperparts, off-white underparts, dark legs and a rather indistinct pale supercilium. This bird is superficially very similar to its cousin, the Willow Warbler, but can be told apart, not least when they start to sing!

Nightingale

A bird that is surrounded by folklore and was made famous by a 1940`s song, the Nightingale is perhaps one of Britains most well known birds. Known to be a bird with a tremendous song, but this bird is notoriously difficult to see well as it tends to sit deep inside a bramble bush and belt out its tune. The bird is quite plain in the plumage department, being a warm brown with a reddish-brown rump and tail, grey-brown underparts and a paler throat.

We are lucky in the Peterborough area in the fact that we have a number of breeding sites of these summer visitors, one of which I visited at the weekend, where I encountered the above bird, perched inside a bramble bush, but easy to see. Contrary to common belief, they do sing in the day, as the above digiscoped shots show.

Sunshine on a cloudy day

Sunshine is at a premium at the moment, so this Yellowhammer is the only brightness I have encountered lately.

Negative birds

The Coot and Little Egret are almost negatives of each other, one is black with a white bill, the other being white with a black bill (okay, it`s not strictly black, it`s grey!). One is a very common breeder with approximately 46,000 birds present in the whole of the U.K. except the extreme north-west, the other is a fairly new arrival to our shores with less than a dozen birds being reported before 1950, but now there is thought to be about 450 breeding pairs in 11 counties in England and Wales.

Complete polar opposites.

Reed Buntings

Waffle-less Wednesday.

The long and the short of it

A tiny round bird with a long narrow tail, rather short rounded wings and a stubby bill. The Long-tailed Tit is pinkish brown above and pinkish white below, ` a ball of fluff ` and quite possibly one of the U.K.`s most adorable birds. We are lucky in that we have had up to four of these little birds visiting our garden in Peterborough for the past few months and they show no signs of stopping with Spring arriving .

They start to make their nests in late March which are made from moss, lichen and are bound together with cobwebs. They are lined with lots of feathers. The nest is almost ` elastic ` in construction and expands when the young inside grow. Some adults that have failed to rear their young to fledging can help feed a neighbouring family, this is most common amongst the male birds.

A lovely little bird that my wife calls ` Badger birds `.

Common or Garden

The Chaffinch is one of the most widespread and abundant birds in Great Britain, I am sure that most people are familiar with the bird. It was recorded in 93% of the 10 km squares during both recent Birding Atlases and is only scarce in Shetland and the Outer Hebrides. It is, by far the most common bird to visit our garden in Peterborough.

The male ( photos 1+3 ) has a blue/grey head, pink breast and cheeks and a chestnut back, a stunning bird and if scarcer would be one to get any birder `drooling`. The female ( photo 2 ) is a paler, drabber yellowish brown, but both sexes have the same white pattern on the wings.

The above photos were `digiscoped` in our back garden, with the photos of the male showing two different birds.

A jangle of Corn Buntings

What is the group name for Corn Buntings? There is an `Exultation` of Larks, a `Murder` of Crows, a `Charm` of Finches, but I have no idea what the term is for Buntings! I think it should be a `Jangle` of Buntings because of their song.

A `Jangle` of these lovely birds were seen the other day numbering 110, which, given the state of the birds current situation is quite a feat. I have seen these birds before in an area called Newborough Fen near Peterborough, but never in such large numbers, they must have had a good breeding season last year and thrived due to the mild winter we experienced here.

A `Jangle` of Corn Buntings, do you think it will catch on?

In the Pink

Returning to Eye Green LNR when the sun was out seemed to be a good idea. The Pink-footed Goose was still present amongst the Greylags and the sun coupled with the proximity of the bird lent itself to getting these `better` shots.

Although I leave the judgement to you, dear reader.

Greater Scaup

Last year I missed the only Scaup that had been noted in our area in 2011, a female that was present for 1 day. A week and a half ago Josh Jones found a first-winter drake at a local reservoir whilst waiting for the gull roost to materialize, but I was unable to get to the site that evening. When I was able to get there the bird had disappeared! I thought that my chance had gone, but on Sunday this bird was found on a local nature reserve at Eye Green, just outside Peterborough, but inside the PBC recording area. I was there like a shot and managed my first views of a Scaup in our area for two years.

Number 114 for the year.

The Scaup (as it is more commonly known in the U.K.) is a winter visitor to our shores, with at least 7,500 individuals around our coastline, although each year a few pairs attempt to breed in northern Scotland, which have, as yet, been unsuccessful.

It tends to be a coastal species in Britain, being seen either on the sea, or on lakes near the sea. It does occur on reservoirs and freshwater lakes inland, although they are a much scarcer bird here.

A bird that is very similar to the more common Tufted Duck, indeed the Scaup does interbreed with this species and produces hybrids, which can cause identification confusion. The drake has a black head with a greenish sheen and no tuft, with a grey back and white sides and a black tail. The duck is dark brown with a variable pale patch at the base of the bill.

Whooper and Bewick`s

Whooper

Whooper

Bewick`s

Some close digiscoped shots of some beautiful wild swans at Deeping High Bank. Note the differing colouration on the bill(s).

Goosanders galore

The cold weather we are experiencing in the U.K. is causing a build up of water birds on the stretch of the River Welland known as Deeping High Bank. Clear water is at a premium and this means that the birds tend to be grouped together in fairly large flocks. Yesterday, there was a flock of 33 Goosander ( I believe our American friends call this bird the Common Merganser, forgive me if I am incorrect in this ), today this flock had grown to 41.

With the cold snap forecast to continue for a while more birds may appear, one can hope.