Martin Sykes wrote:
"Miss Perspicacia Tick" wrote in message
...
Martin Sykes wrote:
We've just had our first ever blackcap in the garden, feeding on the
fat balls. My book says they're usually not seen until April and
even then usually in the south so it must be pretty unusual up here
in Cheshire.


We had one here (South Bucks) on Big Birdwatch weekend (29th Jan).
What I'd
really love to see is a house sparrow - they've been absent from my
garden for nearly eight years now. We do have plenty of thrushes
(both species) and
they're on the endangered list - and all three species of woodpecker
are also frequent visitors (ditto). Being as we are in the
Chilterns, we also get the occasional red kite flying overhead. All
in all, that weekend, I must have counted at least 16 species,
including four species of tit (blue,
great, long-tailed and coal), three species of woodpecker, three
species of
finch (green, chaff and gold), warbler (blackcap) three species of
dove/pigeon (collared, wood and rock), robin, wren, dunnock,
fieldfare (though that was in the field over the road) jay, jackdaw,
magpie, nuthatch
and a heron sweeping the pond for early frogs. OK, that's 23. Oh and
a pied
wagtail (that's 24). We used to get grey wagtails here in the
winter, but I've not seen any for many a year. My grandfather (in
Little Waltham) has them most years (but then he has 2 acres of
garden and it backs open country).
--
Facon - the artificial bacon bits you get in Pizza Hut for sprinkling
on salads.



I'm often amazed by the claim that sparrows are in decline. We have
dozens of them here - more than anything else. Apart from the usual
suspects, we've had long-tailed tits, blackcap, a goldcrest and a
merlin this year ( the latter contributing to the reported decline in
the sparrow population )


What - house sparrows? Whereabouts are you? They're sparse here in the SE, I
know that.
--
Facon - the artificial bacon bits you get in Pizza Hut for sprinkling
on salads.