Sunday 10 February 2013

Winter weekend wildlife

Without the snow, winter can be a drab time along the river - it's dark, cold and usually wet,  so it is not inspiring to get out and explore and with the short days finding the time is also rather difficult.
But now the days are slowly getting longer, there are slightly more opportunities to get out in-between the ever frequent rain showers
What makes the river so drab is the lack of foliage:
.
.
But in-between the drabness, there are few flashes of colour, down by the river the distinct markings of the UK's smallest bird - a goldcrest:
.
.
It's hard to believe such a small bird migrates, but some of the UK's winter population are migrants and this small creature (only weighing 5 grams) may have travelled all the way from Poland to seek out insects along the Ock.
Also lurking in the undergrowth (and somewhat difficult to photograph in the fading light) is the unmistakable plumage of a bullfinch (actually a pair):
.
.
These splendid looking birds have had a difficult time recently, their preferred choice of food, - tree buds has bought them into conflict with fruit growers and the destruction and heavy cutting of many hedgerows has resulted in a 50% drop in their population since the early 1980's.
Maybe the unmanaged trees and hedges along the river and the nearby old canal can help provide suitable habitat and is an area where this charming bird can thrive.

5 comments:

  1. Wow....a goldcrest - I'm impressed! Glad to see the blog back - I must get out to the river with my camera too.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Martin,

    Now the weather seems to be improving and the days are getting longer there will hopefully be more opportunities to get out with the camera.
    And it should be the start of the water vole season soon - assuming they've survived the winter floods.

    ReplyDelete
  3. A goldcrest and a bullfinch, lucky you! Did you see them on the same day? I saw my first ever yellowhammer last week and I didn't have my camera -typical!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Rachel,
    Not only did I see them on the same day, but within 5 minutes of each other on the same stretch of river.
    I have seen several goldcrests this year - I haven't seen one before - near work, along the river and even in our back garden. Maybe I'm now better at spotting them or maybe there's been an influx this year.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Richard,
    We are lucky enough to get goldcrests in our garden. I usually hear them long before I can spot them.They seem to prefer our evergreens, especially the yew trees.
    Let's hope you see a lot more of them in the future>

    ReplyDelete