Winter birds in the zone

I checked my phone thoroughly and could only find 2 photos not of cats for this week's blog.  That is late autumn and early winter for you - grey skies, mud, dead leaves and murk.  A possible light in all that gloom are the yellow leaves hanging on to the Belle de Boskoop apple tree in the garden, although even they find it hard to shine against a wet Sunday morning!

This does raise a question of how I am going to cope as we move further into winter and particularly that singularly most depressing month of the year, February!

To be fair, much of the current mongs are related to the fact that we are nearing the shortest day of the year.  I was pottering around this morning at 8:15am and it was still dark.  It's not too bright now at 3:40pm and will be dark by 5pm, and still "they" steal a few minutes of daylight each day and for another couple of weeks to come.  

Instead I turn my attention to the avian life at the place in the country, where each visit I try to do at least 2 10 minute recordings of bird song with identification on the Merlin App from Cornell Laboratories.  Sometimes I get 3 or 4 recordings.  I then record on a spreadsheet (because I LOVE spreadsheets) who is around on each day - in part I do this as an argument for keeping our area free of development (unlikely in any case, but ...), as the diversity is amazing.

So far this month, we have four bird varieties that have been heard every time.  The first is the Chaffinch - ubiquitous through most of the year round us and particularly strident at the moment.  My records show that they are resident all year round making a noise.  I should point out that none of the following bird photos are mine, they all come from iStock.

The second of my permanent residents is the much loved long-tailed tit.  There is a colony that hangs out on the land and perhaps I am lucky, but I normally get to watch a mob of them pass through most visits.  I think they are adorable.  They make a nice twittering noise when they are around, which is instantly recognisable.

The third is the great tit, and I am really pleased we are home to so many of these fellows, as they are one of two species that have adapted to become predators of the non-native, invasive, and dangerous, pine processionary caterpillar.  Actually I even encourage them into the area by hanging up fat balls and coir bells stuffed with lard and seeds to keep them interested in the area.

The final one of this year's big four hasn't been so frequently spotted in previous years, but again, as I encourage them with nesting boxes and fat balls, perhaps I am succeeding in getting them to think of the area as home.  The blue tit has a less appealing song than the other two tits, in fact it is very strident and harsh, but I guess they do that to make themselves out to be more dangerous than they are.  They are the other predator of the pine processionary.  I think this stock photo came from a different website.

Normally the robin would be a daily visitor, but I didn't spot any today.  To be fair we weren't there too long as it was raining and the hunters were out and way too close to the garden for comfort or safety.  

I am a great fan of the Merlin app, but I would be careful about taking it all too literally sometimes.  It is convinced we have a bittern living just down the hill and while that would be lovely, I am more inclined to believe the app is being fooled by a recalcitrant bit of agricultural machinery.

Let's hope next week is more exciting, or I will have to tell you about the next tier of most observed birds!

Have a good week!