Blue Tits On Our Trail

Sometimes on our monthly bird surveys, we seem to be followed around the park by one particular species: Robins, for example or Chaffinches or Crows. On 31 August, it was the turn of the Blue Tits. All along our route, we heard their churring call and occasionally saw one flitting between the branches. Some may have been young birds born in the spring; the others were back in action after the huge effort of feeding their young and after the moulting period when they're extra vulnerable to predators like the Sparrowhawk. In this clip, the churring can be heard coming from a Blue Tit off camera and the bird you can see is responding to it.

We saw Great Tits too which are slightly bigger than Blue Tits with a black head and a thick black stripe down their breasts in the male (see photo below), a thinner stripe in  the female. Robins were singing more after their moulting period and the occasional Wren burst into its brief song as we passed. These are likely to be the only two birds we'll hear singing between now and the New Year. On upper Eastern Road, we had a brief glimpse of a juvenile Blackcap nibbling at the haws. The ripening of fruit on the trees and bushes is likely to bring more birds out into the open.

Male Great Tit on Hilly Fields (31/8/16)

On the whole, it was a little livelier than the previous month and we recorded a total of 15 species. As well as those already mentioned, we saw 8 Woodpigeons, 7 Goldfinch, 6 Sparrows, 2 each of Blackbird, Crow, Long-tailed Tit and Magpie and singles of Chaffinch, Feral Pigeon and Ring-necked Parakeet. The Sparrows were in the Cliffview hedge and difficult to see clearly in the foliage, but one emerged long enough for a photo opportunity. It lacks the dark brown head and black bib of the adult male, but could be a juvenile male rather than a female. This is the time of year when the new kids on the block can cause confusion!

And finally, more Blue Tits. The clip below is over an hour in length, but just try watching the first few minutes for some great close-up footage of this hopelessly cute little bird.

Feeding Frenzy

Cow parsley at chest height greeted us by the Lower Vicar's Hill entrance on 25 May when Sue and I carried out the monthly bird survey. We were also greeted by the song of the Chaffinch, the Wren and the Great Tit - the latter for once actually sounding like 'teacher, teacher' as Bill Oddie has described it. It is unusual to hear a Chaffinch in that location, but in fact we heard it singing almost everywhere we  went in the park. Either it followed us around or the bird has multiplied. Usually we see only one or two - if that.

Female Chaffinch in the Shade Garden

What became evident as our survey progressed is that the breeding season has become the feeding season. Great Tits, Blue Tits and House Sparrows in particular have chicks to feed and there was much frantic foraging activity by the parent birds. Every year, we have seen how bedraggled Tits become by the end of June, exhausted by the constant to and fro-ing from nest to food source and back again. In fact, there is evidence that Tits time their breeding to coincide with the maximum availability of caterpillars as these are the best and most popular foodstuff for the young. I watched a Blue Tit nest elsewhere last week and estimated that the parents were bringing food 40 times per hour over a 16 hour day. (See here for a charming children's story which describes the cycle). Normally they have only brood per year which is not surprising.

Blue Tit with caterpillar (Credit:Steve Larkins)

Of course, one big risk at this time of year is that the chicks may become food themselves. We saw a graphic example of this in the upper part of Eastern Road when Sue observed a Jay with a fledgling Great Tit in its beak. Before it could get very far, a Magpie descended and, as the bigger bird, snatched the fledgling from the Jay and began to peck at it in the road before flying off with it. In the background, the parent birds were making an almighty noise though rather helplessly. Alas, most Corvids will eat eggs and snatch birds at the nestling or fledging stage, as will Great Spotted Woodpeckers. Sometimes, it's a bird eat bird world.

In the shade garden next to the bowling green, a pair of House Sparrows were repeatedly diving into the cow parsley, then flying off presumably with seeds for their young. And a fledgling Great Tit perched on the branch of a tree was shaking its wings in a begging display while the parents brought it morsels of food. Fledglings will often leave the nest a day or two before they're ready to fly.

Great Tit wing-shake begging display (Credit|: Rémi Bigonneau)

In all, we saw or heard a respectable 18 species during this survey (see below). It  will be interesting to see if the Starlings are still there in June as they and their young tend to disappear in the summer months. The number of Wrens is an estimate as they are difficult to see, particularly when foliage is in full bloom. But they were singing loudly and as they stay in their territories, a reasonably accurate count can be made. Surprisingly, we neither saw nor heard our two resident warblers - the Blackcap and Chiffchaff - but I suspect they're still lurking.

The Case of the Leucistic Crows

18 December: three days before the winter solstice. After a mild start, the south west wind got stronger and the morning colder as we walked around on our monthly survey.  The birds however seem to sense that the year is on the turn and the small birds in particular were more active and vocal. The day before on Ladywell Fields, we had heard both Song and Mistle Thrush singing. On Hilly Fields, more prosaically, we heard for the first time since summer the two note 'song' of the Great Tit - always a sign that bird brains are instinctively starting to think about procreation.

Great Tit

By the orchard we saw two leucistic Crows which Symon had told us about. Leucism is a condition affecting animal cells which drains colour from part or all of their coats or plumage, turning it white. Albinism is a similar complaint except that only the melanin cells are affected and the white of the albino can sometimes have a yellowish tinge. Also, in leucistic animals, the eyes retain their normal colour whilst in albino animals, the eye is red or pink. The two affected Crows are usually in the tall trees by the Veda Road border and Symon has spent several weeks luring them down to the stone circle with tidbits of food and taking photographs. As you can see, only small parts of their plumage are affected although the condition is more noticeable when they spread their wings.

On Upper Eastern Road, we saw a flock of Greenfinches sitting quietly in the trees - at least 8, an unusual number for Hilly Fields. A large flock of 30 or more Starlings were whistling noisily on the south slopes while in the north field around the cricket pitch, we counted at least 60 Black-headed Gulls with a couple of Common Gulls amongst them. These high numbers are another sign that winter is on the way. Not only do birds like these move inland for greater warmth, but flocks can be swollen by migrants as well. Just after the bothy, we caught a brief glimpse of Britain's smallest bird, the Goldcrest - the first for some time on HF - and in the Cliffview hedge were no less than 14 House Sparrows. 2014 seems to have been a baby boom year for them.

Female House Sparrow

The rest of the roll-call: 10 Feral Pigeons, 7 Robins, 7 Woodpigeons, 4 Crows, 4 Ring-necked Parakeets, 3 Blue Tits, 2 Blackbirds, 2 Magpies and one each of Goldfinch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Jay, Mistle Thrush and Wren making a thoroughly decent total of 20 species in all. And finally this seems like a good moment to announce the forthcoming Big Birdwatch event on Sunday 25 January from 10.30-12.30. This is the weekend of the RSPB's nationwide Big Garden Birdwatch and we treat Hilly Fields as our Big Garden. Our stall will be outside the Cafe as usual and we will offer activities for children as well as a guided bird spotting walk at 11.00 am. More details will be circulated via the Hilly Fields Facebook page and the Friends of Hilly Fields website. Hope to see you there!

Bedraggled Birds of June

It was an overcast but warm day on 26 June when Sue and I carried out our monthly survey. The tree foliage is now quite dense which makes it harder to spot the small birds but what we couldn't see, we heard - at least 8 Blackbirds and 8 Great Tits, at least 5 Blue Tits and 5 Wrens and at least 4 Robins. Sue also heard a quick burst of Chiffchaff song and, earlier in the month (18 June), actually watched it singing for some time in the Eastern Rd area, so it does seem as if the bird has stuck around this year. It was noticeable how bedraggled and frazzled some of the birds looked which is hardly surprising given the demands of the breeding season - the constant daily search for food, the need to defend the nest and distract predators (and bird watchers). An exception was the Great Tit below which left its tree trunk nest at a speed greater than my camera could cope with (I won't try the old 'artistic blurring' excuse)...

We saw three Long-tailed Tits, heard both a Blackcap and a Dunnock singing in the Eastern Rd/wood area, saw a single Swift overheard and also saw or heard Goldfinches, Magpies, Crows, Feral and Wood Pigeons, Ring-necked Parakeets, Starlings, House Sparrows and a single but very vocal Chaffinch - 19 species in all. We haven't paid that much attention to the Chaffinch on this blog partly because, although it's a 'regular', it's not very numerous on Hilly Fields. It's an attractive bird and, nationally, one of our commonest - the RSPB estimates nearly 6 million breeding pairs in the UK. One can usually be found singing around the front of the school building in the trees next to the playground and tennis courts (anyone who came on this year's Dawn Chorus walk will remember the fine view we had of a female Chaffinch singing outside the school) and, like the Chiffchaff, has a song that's very easy to remember - a series of fast descending notes ending in a short trill. This clip gives a fine view of the male Chaffinch (the female is drabber and greener) and a recording of its song:

Meanwhile, in other nature news, the May blossom on the hawthorns has gone along with the white cow parsley and creamy horse chestnut flowers. It's now the turn of the Elder trees and bushes to put on their white floral display along with briar roses in the borders and Pyracantha. All three could be found last week behind the school with the magnificent Pyracantha attracting bees by the busload. Go and see it while it's there!

Happy Solstice!

In view of the Xmas festivities, Sue and I brought our survey of Hilly Fields bird life forward this month and walked around the park on 19th December - a grey, chilly Monday morning which ended in rain. Despite these conditions, it was worthwhile in terms of the range of species seen.

Winter has brought more gulls inland and Hilly Fields had both Black-headed and Common Gulls in small mixed flocks. The simplest way of telling these two apart (given that the Black-headed gull has a white head at this time of year!) is by the colour of legs and bill: red = Black-headed Gull, yellow = Common Gull. If you can't make out the colours, then the Common Gull has a darker back, is slightly larger and  seems to hold itself more erect when walking on the ground. It also lacks the black mark behind the eye which is an easy winter identifier of the Black-headed Gull.

Common gull and black-headed gull together

The Starlings have grown in number since last month - there were at least fifty moving around the park today. We also saw a dozen Crows descend on a tree on the border of the Stones field - not quite enough for a "Parliament" (one of the collective names for Crows), more like a Select Committee. We also caught sight of that colourful corvid, the Jay - one at first in the wood and then two in the trees around the tennis courts and briefly on the ground hopping forward in slow deliberate fashion.

Jay

The upper part of Eastern Road was so alive with birds that it was difficult to keep track. The family of Blackbirds was there again (see 1 November post), along with Great Tits, Blue Tits, Goldfinches, Greenfinches and Chaffinches. From time to time, the finches swooped down to drink from the gutter which is, in effect, their watering trough. Most rewarding of all was a pair of Nuthatches, heard and then seen in the trees and even perched on a lamppost. It was unusual to find them close to the centre of the park as previous sightings have been on the eastern edge and in the adjoining Cliffview back gardens (see 15 July post).

Also recorded were a Great Spotted Woodpecker (seen flying overhead by Sue), several singing Robins, Magpies, one or two Ring-necked Parakeets, four House Sparrows in the Cliffview hedge (as usual), a resurgence of Woodpigeons (19 in total) and a few Feral Pigeons. Oh - and not forgetting the Mistle Thrush perched high in a tree on the Stones field border and driven off at one point by a smaller bird - probably a Great Tit. It flew to another tree further along and was heard to emit a few feeble phrases of song, almost as if it was too much trouble.

By contrast, a Wren burst briefly into full-blooded melody near Eastern Road - "a cascade of notes...ending with a loud and distinctive trill" as my RSPB Handbook puts it. And a Great Tit gave

Great tit

a warming-up performance of it's famous two note song. It never sounds to me like "teacher teacher", but that's how the bird books describe it. And it will drive us all mad in the weeks and months to come.

But for now - Happy Solstice, Happy Xmas, Happy New Year!