Lazy Birding Winter 2025

 I have to admit that in the last couple of months I have not been out too often to do some birding. Okay the weather hasn't been great, but that doesn't usually deter me from going out for a walk and looking for some birds. 

I have instead been guilty of carrying out some 'lazy birding' by watching the birds that I can see out my back window, in the warmth and comfort of my home. How boring you might say, but not so I would argue, as well as the 'common and garden' birds I did spot some half decent birds, so I would like to share these with you:

Let's set the scene, here is our garden on a frosty Winter morning:

Our Garden in Winter

and here is our garden in the evening light:

Garden on a Winter's Evening

Let me share some of the birds I have seen over the last few weeks:

Long-tailed Tit in Tree

Blue Tit at Birdbath

Robin on Fence

House Sparrow in Bush

Male Blackbird in Bush

Nothing too exciting so far, but you can see that we have different habitats in and around the garden. There are also things in the garden that attract birds, like bird baths, bird feeders and a bird box:

Blue Tit checking Birdbox

Blue Tit in Birdbox

Great Tit in Birdbath

The feeders prove to be very popular, especially when I remember to top them up with seed and peanuts:

Mean-looking Greenfinch

Greenfinches at Feeder

Great Tit at Feeder

Colourful Goldfinches

Goldfinches at Feeder

Sometimes the birds happily share the feeder:

And sometimes they are a bit more tetchy:

It's usually the Greenfinch that are the most aggressive at the feeder, but there can be just as much tension below the feeder, where the ground feeding birds compete for any seed that is dropped:

In the last video I like how the cheeky Chaffinch and Blue Tits sneak in to grab a seed whilst the Greenfinch are busy fighting.

Sometimes we put some fruit out on the table above the feeders. It doesn't last long as the crows (mainly the Magpies) soon realise it's there and polish it off:

Difficult to grab three Blueberries in one beak-full.

Anything dropped is eagerly picked up by the ground-feeding birds, and we have a fair selection of those in the garden:

Dunnock (well camouflaged)

Dunnock on Fence (not so camouflaged)

Woodpigeon (not on the ground yet)

Collared Dove

Male Chaffinch (on the fence)

Probably the largest and showiest of our ground feeders is the small family of Pheasants that visit the garden:

Hen Pheasant

Cock Pheasant (trying to hide?)

Cock Pheasant below Feeder

We normally have a male, two females and a juvenile male visiting the garden. They usually get on okay together except when the large male decides to chase the juvenile away.

On the other side of our garden fence lies an area of scrubland, which has lain undisturbed for a good few years, and the wildlife loves it. It holds many bushes and trees that the wildlife just loves to perch in, here are some examples:

Blackbirds in Hawthorn Bush

Collared Dove in Tree

Long-tailed Tit in Hawthorn Bush

Long-tailed Tits

Rook Tree

Magpie Tree

Blackbird in Bush

Great-spotted Woodpecker on Tree

Great-spotted Woodpecker

I got a good video of this woodpecker preening as it clung onto the tree:

Also in the scrubland behind our house I saw this Song Thrush in a Hawthorn Bush:

As well as bushes, trees and rough grass in the scrubland area there are also a couple of electricity poles, which seem to be a popular perch for birds like Crows, Pigeons and Buzzards:

Buzzard on Electricity Pole 

Buzzard on Pole (facing the right way)

On one sunny day I actually ventured out into my garden and got a closer view of the Buzzard over  the fence. Not sure if it's the same Buzzard or not?

Buzzard on Pole (rear view)

Buzzard on Pole (watching me!)

Here is a video of the Buzzard on the pole:

Beyond the scrubland are some fields used for grazing sheep and occasionally highland coos. I can see some parts of this grazing land from my rear window and it can be visited by many different birds depending on the time of year and whether the tide is in or not. 

Most of the time the fields are full of Woodpigeons or Crows, but sometimes we get other visitors such as Black-headed Gulls, Common Gulls, Pink-footed Geese, Oystercatchers and Curlew. Here is a video of some Curlew flying in during high tide to land in the grazing field:

Now all is not lost when they land behind the trees, all I have to do is go upstairs to the spare bedroom and I can see the fields from there. The field with the ponded area (only wet in Winter) is where most of these birds land, it is a bit further away and I sometimes need to use my telescope, but I do get some photos and videos:

Ponded Area in Field

Crows and Curlew in Field

Crows, Gulls and Fieldfare in Field

The videos probably make the birds easier to identify. Here is one of some Crows, Curlews and a couple of Sheep:

Some Curlew on the march:

And some Fieldfare and Redwing foraging:

I think heading upstairs to see some different birds still counts as lazy birding.

Back downstairs the Great-spotted Woodpecker I spotted (greatly) earlier had moved from the scrubland onto the peanut feeder, so I will end with some images of this:

Great-spotted Woodpecker on Feeder

GSW Close-up

GSW on Peanut Feeder

Of course there is a video of the GSW as well:

Well that's the end of my Lazy Birding for now, hope you enjoyed it as much as I did, next time I promise I will go a little further afield and not be so lazy.

Cheers

Teddyedward

Autumn Round-up 2024

 As the title suggests this is a round-up of some of the local places I visited this Autumn; highlighting the wildlife and views I recorded. 

First up is a mid-September visit to Outh Muir, which is an upland area near to Knockhill just north of Dunfermline. The reason for my visit was to check for the presence of raptors in the area (in particular Short-eared Owls) as part of a local study.

View across Outh Muir

Upland Moorland at Outh Muir

Whilst raptors (birds of prey) were a bit thin on the ground (or in the air) during my visit there were still plenty of other birds to see:

Male Stonechat

Carrion Crows and Meadow Pipits

Swallows on the gate

Even got some videos of these birds:

The Swallows took to the air making it a bit more difficult to video, but I did my best:

Whilst I was enjoying the views down the Forth Valley I did manage to see a Buzzard flying away from Outh Muir, so there are raptors here after all:

View towards Stirling from Outh Bridge

Looking back towards the moorland, a small flock of Goldfinch flew in and started to feed on the thistle seeds:

Goldfinch Feeding on Thistle Seeds

Goldfinch on Thistles

.......... and there was also another Stonechat:

Juvenile Stonechat on Fence Post

In fact there were several Stonechats and Meadow Pipits perching on various parts of the fence:

That was about it for my short visit to Outh Muir, apart from the fact I saw a Kestrel hovering over the moor just as I was driving off. So not totally packed full of raptors but plenty of birds to enjoy.

Meanwhile back at the ranch.

Some of the garden birds are getting ready for the colder weather by visiting the feeders, scouring the leaf mould for invertebrates and some even seeking out potential roosting sites, like this Great Tit checking out our bird box:

Great Tit checking out Bird Box

The last Blue Tit (Nibbler) to use the box opened up the entrance hole so much with his nibbling that it is now suitable for the larger Great Tit to get in. Let's wait and see if gets occupied as a Winter roosting box.

At the end of September I took a local walk to the area known as Gallowridge Hill, less than 15 minutes from our house:

The Track to Gallowridge Hill

The Fields around Gallowridge

First significant bird I came across was this Kestrel perched at the top of a tree:

Kestrel on Tree Top

As I walked along the field margin the Kestrel flew from the tree top and landed on a shrubby hedge further along the field:

Kestrel landing on Hedge

I decided to leave the Kestrel in peace and headed back to the track to carry on walking up the hill. It's not a high hill but you get some decent views across the fields towards Crossford and Dunfermline:

Autumn Colours starting to appear

Looking back towards Crossford

In fact, with my binoculars, I could see the roof/back of our house from this vantage point:

Our house peeking through the trees

Which would make sense as I can see the hill from our house!

Once again back at the ranch, the garden action is hotting up, and the local Magpies have decided to attempt a raid on the bird feeder:

Magpie raids bird feeder

Preparing to shake it all up!

Basically one Magpie would dive up from the ground and knock the bird feeder, causing it to shake and drop seed, which the second Magpie (plus other birds) would gladly hoover up:

Yes that is a Hen Pheasant amongst the Woodpigeons, she is a regular visitor in the Autumn and Winter, usually joined by a Cock Pheasant and some juveniles.

Hen Pheasant

Pheasant below Feeder

Another 'raider' of the feeder is a Grey Squirrel, which seems to be using an old Magpie nest in a nearby tree as a Winter roost:

Grey Squirrel on Fence Post

Creeping towards the Bid Table

I am not a big fan of Grey Squirrels (prefer the Reds) but this one seems to be on its own (for now) so we tolerate it for a while before chasing it off the feeders so that the birds can get it.

In mid-October we had some beautiful sunrises and the Autumn colours were starting to appear on most of the trees and shrubs:

October Sunrise

Autumn Rowan Sapling (still to be planted in garden)

Tulip Tree starting to turn Yellow

Even more birds are visiting the feeders and the water bath:

Female Chaffinch

Male Greenfinch

Blue Tit in Tree

Blue Tit on Feeder

Robin on Fence

Always on High Alert

Yes the Robin is always on high alert and spends most of its time chasing other Robins and Dunnocks away from our garden. Seems to tolerate some birds though, including other ground-feeding birds like Blackbirds:

Female Blackbird on the ground

Female Blackbird in the tree

Male Blackbird searching food in the leaves

Come November we were moving into the frosty mornings:

Frosty November Morning

Sunrise over the frosty fields

This made the race to fatten up for winter a bit more intense, with all sorts of creatures visiting the garden in search of food:

Magpie searching for food beneath the bird table

Searching High and Low

Squirrel searching for food on the ground

Grey Squirrel trying to look as cute as a Red

The Grey Squirrel had a large wound on its nose, maybe been in a fight, doesn't look like Squirrel Pox (I hope). Another mammal that was visiting the garden looking for food was a Hedgehog:

We usually only see these at night or very early in the morning, but this one was out during daylight, searching every nook and cranny.

Our bird box was also attracting the interest of a Blue Tit:

Blue Tit checking out Bird Box

Wonder if it's Nibbler from last year?

Wonder what would happen if the Blue Tit meets up with the Great Tit that was also showing interest in the bird box?

At the end of November I had another trip up the hills to Outh Muir to see if any raptors were about. Unfortunately I saw even less than I did when I visited earlier in the Autumn, but I did get some good views:

View over Outh Muir towards Forth Bridges

Edinburgh in the distance

Tanker at Hound Point

The Forth Bridges

 Sorry some of the photos are a bit hazy, but there was an evening mist descending over the River Forth.

Still no Short-eared Owls though!

That's it for Autumn, we are now into Winter, in fact Christmas is just around the corner.

Hope you have a happy one and a guid New Year tae yin an aw.

cheers

Teddy Edward