24th -29th March Week One - I was Wrong And I Just Can't Live Without You

It has been seven months since I last posted on this blog, my travels taking me away from the village.  I am though amazed that the blog has still be visited in that time.  The situation the country and the world finds itself in at the moment means that my travels will be curtailed for the foreseeable future, so I am left with returning to the countryside around the village during my once a day exercise walks and whatever comes in and over the garden.  So here are some sightings and observations through week one of the lockdown.

With the bright sunny weather of the last few days activity in the garden has stepped up.  The Blue Tits are visiting the nest box out side my office window and the the Robins have paired up once again on the west side of the garden, with mealworms being passed to a begging female.  The two on the other side are yet to show any signs of breeding activity.  The male Blackcap has been seen on and off through the week, the last sighting being on the 28th.  There has not been any singing though

One of the Blue Tits.

Here is the male Robin from the east side, this one is getting very tame coming very close to me for meal worms.

Our Blackbird is still with us and comes with the female to feed from the dishes of mealworms close to the back door.  Blackbirds are singing but our tame one doesn't seem to be.  This will be the sixth year we have recognised him and I wonder if he will be up to another year of frantic breeding.  He recognisable by the twist in the bill, which does seem to have accentuated a bit over the winter.

He has a routine, come for mealworms and then to the bird bath for a drink, it must help them go down.

This a male from the other side of the garden, he gets chased off if he comes to close, but it does manage to sneak in an take a few mealworms.  It could be an offspring.

Over the garden we have been visited by up to four Red Kite at any one time, I can only believe that they are fed locally as they come over low scouring the ground.  A large female Sparrowhawk is also a visitor every so often, emptying the garden of the small birds and unfortunately for some, every so often leaving a pile of feathers to be cleared up.

In the morning a Green Woodpecker has been calling, and every so often we hear the calls of the Tawny Owls although we are still not certain where they are

The wild part of the garden is looking lovely in the spring sunshine, particularly nice are the daffodils and Snake's Head Fritillaries.

A Brimstone flew through and a Peacock was sunning on the patio on Friday afternoon, both firsts in the garden this year

One leaf has started to emerge on one of the ornamental Acers, beautiful new growth.

With the good weather it was really nice to walk out for an hour just before sunset.  At the start of the week some of the lanes around Four Marks were like the Ramblas in Barcelona, but I would say people would take action to move away, keeping to a safe distance.  The dry sunny weather has also dried out a lot of the footpaths through Old Down Wood.

Wood Anemones were still open in the sunshine along Brislands as I walked towards Old Down Wood.  This appear after the Lesser Celandines and have a very delicate appearance.

On the path into Old Down from Gradwell a Buzzard sat in a tree soaking up the late afternoon sun.

In Old Down I searched for the Tawny Owl and while I could not see it in the usual tree there were droppings at the base of the tree and on the branches.  Above a pair of Red Kite circled as if looking for a suitable nesting site.  There are old Crow's nest in the Larches here and it is possible they could use one of those.

Chiffchaffs were singing around the wood, I counted at least six individuals, while with them are the many different calls of Great Tit pairs as they search for suitable nest sites.  Finally a pair of Raven flew over on Tuesday signalling their arrival with the familiar "gronk" call.

Swellinghill Pond is very full at the moment.  On Tuesday I surprised a single Grey Wagtail, that just disappeared unfortunately.  On Wednesday there were three Mallard two drakes and a duck.  The willow trees that were growing around the pond have been cut down probably to clear the area for the fishermen casting.

The daffodils are still there though and if you get in the right position the sun will light them up against a black background.

There have been three Red-legged Partridges in the field by Kitwood.  They are difficult to get close to as the moment you look above the hedge they scamper away.  I just managed to catch this one just before it realised I was there.

A Blackbird and Song Thrush have been singing at the bottom of Alton Lane all week.  The Blackbird from the top of a tree while the Song Thrush is a little harder to find, but on Thursday it was showing quite well.

While there are good numbers of Starling that fly around the estate just before sunset, many seemed to have paired up and the males are singing to proclaim their territories, the feathers on the throat vibrating as they go through their repertoire of clicks, whistles and warbles.

So that was week one, the weather next week doesn't look to be so nice with overcast conditions, some rain showers but above all a cold north easterly wind.  Still I am sure I will have time to see and find something interesting.

One final thing to say.  Welcome to the world Freddie, albeit a very strange one at this moment x