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| Turdus Pilaris - Fieldfare @ |
I saw a flock of these fieldfares yesterday as I took Lucy for her walk. I keep seeing large what I thought of as thrushes in the church yard, but they are probably fieldfares and obviously feasting on the last of the berries and fallen apples around here. Though I would like to think that the solitary bird I keep seeing around the garden is the mistle thrush, because we did have one once. Well this weekend is to be the bird count for the country. What do we have in the garden, a resident pheasant, several wood pigeons, collared doves, lots of sparrows, than most of the different types of blue tits, the little wren (on the up) and of course blackbirds. Apparently some blackbirds come from France, migrating back and forth, you can tell by the colour of the beaks.......... Not forgetting the crows and jackdaws.
People moan about January, as if if should be stripped from the calendar, but there is an air of expectancy; it gets lighter, and though the weather is so changeable. Yesterday hard frozen ground with a smattering of snow, today the weather has warmed up and puddles grace the roads.
John Simpson said on the radio this morning, all you ever hear about is talk of Brexit and backstop, never anything about climate change and the cliff we will be dangling over in 12 years time. And of course in Davos they are still flying around mouthing hot air as usual....
No exciting birds here for the RSPB Birdwatch. I have the forms to fill in. Blackbirds come here in winter from lots of different countries especially from the north like Norway - you can tell because they tweet Norwegian!
ReplyDeleteGosh Sue, you are clever understanding blackbird talk! One of my blackbirds has a white patch, probably from being fed white bread, they get wholemeal here.
DeleteWe had a large group of robins in our yard last week. They must have their time clocks messed up since we don’t usually see them till March.
ReplyDeleteOur robins don't go round in groups, they are far too territorial, but there is normally a couple per garden. Mine greets me when I go to feed the bantams early morning.
ReplyDeleteIt is different here. They come in flocks. I haven’t seen any this week but it did get a lot colder. Meanwhile, I have many beautiful cardinals to brighten my yard.
DeleteWe complain here that all you hear on any channel is 24/7 about our President and nothing about climate change, health care issues or infrastructure issues. That is a very different bird than any of our here. I participate in a weekly bird count for one of our Universities.
ReplyDeleteOur bird populations are declining, especially the house sparrow and starlings, goodness knows everyone feeds them though. The thrush, there is the song thrush and mistle thrush, plus the visitors - fieldfare and redwing are all very similar.
ReplyDeleteTrump is of course kept at home I believe because of the shutdown he engineered to get his own way. There really is nothing to say about the man, except that he is the most extraodinary idiotic president ever. Also very dangerous!
Have you any redwings around you? Often by this time of the year they used to flock together with the fieldfares as the hawthorn berries and the crab apples and rose hips got a bit sparser. We used to have quite large flocks on the farm and I miss seeing them.
ReplyDeleteI expect you do Pat I occasionally see the fieldfares in large flocks in the fields. But it has been a good year for fruit and berries they shouldn't go short.
DeleteNice to see fieldfare. We get lots of goldfinches and recently quite often ring-necked parakeets. When ever we do the Big Garden Bird Watch we hardly get any birds even though the garden is full of all sorts most days.
ReplyDeleteThat is usual Jean, not getting the birds on the big day! So you live in or near London if you have the parakeets?
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