Saturday 1 February 2020

A Coal Tit near the bridge pulled lichen off a tree, looking for insect larvae underneath.


Usually Coal Tits flit around from twig to twig, but it was having to hang on in a brisk wind. It's easy to be blown away when you only weigh a quarter of an ounce.


A pair of Great Tits climbed on the dead tree just along the path, looking for insects in the bark ...


... and exploring a possible nest hole.


Blue Tits have nested in this tree in previous years, building under flakes of loose bark.

A Long-Tailed Tit examined a twig.


There were plenty of Redwings on the Parade Ground. One pulled up a worm.


There were also three Mistle Thrushes ...


... a couple of Pied Wagtails ...


... and four Great Spotted Woodpeckers, though these stayed at a distance and I couldn't get a picture. However, there was a Green Woodpecker on an oak tree near the leaf yard.


The Grey Herons' nest on the south side of the island has been built up a bit, but the sitting bird still seemed uncomfortable and kept standing up and turning round.


All the other herons, five of them, were on the ground keeping out of the wind.


A Lesser Black-Backed Gull washed and preened on the Long Water. Several people on YouTube have said that the Lesser Black-Backs in my videos are actually Herring Gulls. But the subspecies of this bird found in Britain (Larus fuscus graelsii) is a lighter grey than the others. There is also a possibility of hybrids and this gull, although certainly too dark to be a Herring Gull, had pink feet like one.


A Moorhen climbed on a net, just for the fun of it.


A Mute Swan washed, making a tremendous splash.

6 comments:

  1. Well, he certainly looks as if he is enjoying the splash just because he can.

    Gull enthusiasts are really one step above us mere bird enthusiasts. I have seen bitter fights about what shade of brown or pink a bird part is.

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    1. Gull enthusiasm can become alarmingly specialised. Birdwatchers can hardly talk about obsession, but regard the really hardline gull people as a shade weird.

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  2. Small birds seem to have astonishing strength relative to their size and weight; quite impressive.

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    1. The feet of passerine birds are self-clamping: perching bends the tarsus and so pulls tendons that close the toes. The feet of tits are particularly strong, as anyone who feeds tits on their hand will experience.

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    2. makes sense: I have felt that clamping.

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    3. Like a tiny Mole wrench when you close the handles, and the mechanism is similar.

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