Backyard Birding & Local Patches

It has been a pretty mild winter this year so far, with the extremes relating to the highest winter temperatures on record rather than the lowest. This has both a positive and negative effect on winter birding; positive in that it is less inclement when you go out birding, negative in that I have not seen as many winter migrants as I did last year. Redwing and Fieldfare numbers are well down and no sign here of Waxwing or Blackcap.

Despite the reasonable weather I haven't been out and about too much this winter. I had a trip down to Thornielea in the Scottish Borders to try and see Goshawk displaying........ which I managed to achieve........ but I didn't manage to get a video clip of it.............. sorry!
I did get some other birds on video at Thornielea, firstly a Crossbill which was part of a small flock:

Secondly a video of a Buzzard flying away from me, before it parachuted down through the trees:

I also had a trip to Tentsmuir with Fife Bird Club, unfortunately we chose one of the few very foggy days:

Tentsmuir Point on a Foggy February

Whaur's the Burds

It was so bad that you were lucky to see beyond 10 metres on some occasions. We could hear waders, ducks and geese on the shoreline, we just couldn't see them. The highlight of the trip was a misty view of a Green Woodpecker clinging to a tree:

Hope you managed to see it through the mist?
So apart from these trips my winter wildlife watching has been restricted to a few walks around my local patches and enjoying the birds that visit our back garden.
One such 'local patch' is Pepper Wood which is just North of Edinburgh Airport.

Pepper Wood

Mistletoe in Pepper Wood

Pepper Wood Pond in Winter Sunshine

There was nothing too exciting on the bird front happening at Pepper Wood but I did get a video of some Roe Deer bucks in a nearby field:

Another 'local patch' I visited was the disused railway line which runs from Dalmeny to Port Edgar and is now a cycle/walkway. This usually throws up a few birds worth seeing, however on this day I only managed to snap/video a very patient Robin:

Robin on Cycle/Walkway

It was a nice sunny day so I took the opportunity to snap a few scenic photos:

Jacob's Ladder - Steps down to Hawes Pier

Old Bridge over Old Railway Line

The Bridge from Old Railway Line

Forth Rail Bridge

Ferry Burn Cascades

That's just some of the 'local patches' I visit, but this Winter I probably spent more time watching the birds in my back garden.
Probably the most regular (and numerous) bird we get are the Goldfinch, which love coming to our feeder. They have an on-going battle with the Greenfinch for supremacy and the only bird that topples both of them off the perch is our resident Psycho Blue Tit. I say resident because he/she spends each Winter roosting in our birdbox.
This time-lapse video shows you some of the Goldfinch/Greenfinch battles that take place on a regular basis:

We do get other birds visiting the feeder, like this more dainty finch...... the Siskin:

Siskins at Feeder

There are two perches you know!

Unlikely to trouble the Greenfinch or Goldfinch, but will grab an opportunity to feed when it arises.
A common bird to most UK gardens is the Robin and our garden is no exception. Some people think Robins only visit in the Winter but they can be there all year round............ they are just more visible in the Winter and numbers can swell with Continental visitors. They certainly like to pose:

Robin on the planter

Robin on the security lights

Robin on the birdbath

I mentioned Psycho Blue Tit earlier, he is the opposite of the Robin and doesn't usually stay still for very long. Usually he is off to attack some other bird who dares to invade his garden. Anyway the following photos where not easy to get due to his erratic behavior:

Psycho Blue Tit in tree

Psycho Blue Tit on shed

Psycho Blue Tit on birdbath

Psycho Blue Tit on fence

One of the least exciting visitors we are the Wood Pigeons, pretty regular when there is food on the ground, and usually pretty boring:

Three Amigos

Heavy Breathing Wood Pigeons

I won't elaborate on what happened next with the Wood Pigeons on the fence, after all this is a family show!! (psst I do have photos for those of you who are interested in that sort of thing).
Another regular ground visitor is the Blackbird, which comes in two flavours:

Male Blackbird on grass

Female Blackbird on Fence

Sometimes we get a visit from a cousin of the Blackbird........... the Song Thrush, which pops in to the garden occasionally in the Winter months:

Song Thrush

Another irregular (but always welcome) visitor to the garden is the sweet little Pied Wagtail, which bobs around looking for scraps in the Winter:

Pied Wagtail

A winter visitor which we can see in much larger numbers is one of my favourite birds............. the Starling. Sometimes you only see one or two and sometimes they come in flocks of twenty or thirty or more:

Starling in the frost

Here is a small flock of Starlings near Vannie, recorded from our rear window:

I love them because they are such characters, as you can see in this video of bath time:

Talking about characters, let me introduce you to the most charismatic visitor we get in our garden, he is a Carrion Crow we call Duncan:

Duncan on the fence

The reason we call him Duncan will become apparent once you watch this video of what he does with bread left out by us (or any of our neighbours):

Yes he 'dunks' it in our bird bath like it is a bowl of soup.......... then he comes back later to retrieve it before flying off to eat it.
Of course once you have got you beak covered in sappy bread there is only one way to clean it properly on a cold and frosty morning:

What a brilliant character, I could watch him for hours.
I will leave you with a less regular, but always welcome visitor.......... a colourful Bullfinch picking some seeds off a dried up flower-head:

It's amazing what you can see from your kitchen window!

Hope you enjoyed this extensive blog.

Take Care

Teddyedward

I Do Like To Be Beside The Deeside

Back in November we took our last trip out in the motorhome before the winter set in. We headed up over Glenshee, through Braemar and Ballater to the village of Tarland where there is a great little campsite (one of a few still open in November).
We were given a great pitch for Vannie which was right next to the bird and squirrel feeders that the wardens put out. As we settled in for the night we had high hopes of seeing some wildlife at the feeders over the next few days
The next morning we got up bright and early and headed out on one of the many local walks in the area. We chose the woodland walk around Alastrean House and our first stop was at the impressive St Moulag's Church on the East side of the village of Tarland:

St Moulag's Church, Tarland

View from St Moulag's Church

It was a cold morning, but dry.......... so fair walking conditions as we headed into the woodland:

Path Through Alastrean Woods

The woods were not extensive and had reasonable paths, good for a short morning walk. There were some parts of the walking route that cut over open fields, and in some cases a new avenue of Beech trees had been planted to enhance the walk:

Avenue of Beech Trees

On the Alastrean Woodland Walk

We stopped here for a little while to enjoy the views and check for signs of wildlife:

View from Alastrean looking East

View from Alastrean looking West

Moira Scanning for Raptors

In truth there was very little wildlife about this morning, but I did manage to catch a glimpse of a Long-tailed Tit flitting about in a nearby tree:

It was pretty hard to capture it on video as it kept moving about.
We carried on along the path round the woodland until we reached Coull Road where we headed alongside the golf course and back towards the village. Here we saw some nice mushrooms (not the edible type) but we didn't dwell as the weather was starting to close in with clouds forming on the horizon:

Sulphur Tuft Mushrooms

Weather closes in over the hills

On our way back to the campsite we popped into a nice little cafe (Angie's) in The Square for a bite of lunch. We also paid a visit to the original Tarland Church, which had obviously seen better days:

Remains of Old Tarland Church

Oh! and we also saw this lovely gypsy caravan parked in someone's garden in Tarland:

Gypsy Caravn in Tarland

Made Vannie look very modern!
We had a relaxing afternoon back at the campsite and the rain didn't really appear, but it was very cold, so we had the heating on in the motorhome. In the evening we decided to go out for something to eat and enjoyed a delicious meal at The Commercial Hotel in the village (highly recommended).
We put the heating on when we got back to the motorhome after our meal and a few drinks, however the gas started to run out after a little while so we had to switch it off and head to bed before it got too cold. I didn't have a spare gas cylinder with me and it turned out to be the coldest night of the winter so far as the temperature dropped below zero.
When we got up in the morning it was absolutely baltic, so we got dressed very quickly. We had to go in to the village to get a new gas cylinder as the campsite shop didn't stock the one we needed, so we fired up Vannie and headed out. After we exchanged the cylinder it was back into Angie's Cafe for a hearty, cooked breakfast with lashings of hot tea to warm us up.
Once we were fed, watered and defrosted we decided to take a trip to nearby Ballater in Vannie:

View down Bridge Street, Ballater

Ballater Railway Station

One of the top places to visit in Ballater is the Railway Station, and strangely enough you won't find any trains there!
Like many other small branch-line stations Ballater closed in the 1960's as part of the Beeching cuts; however the good people of Ballater recognised it's historic significance as the nearest station to the royal residence at Balmoral. Having welcomed many royal visitors from Queen Victoria onwards it was a station with lots of history (and occasional scandal), and was turned in to a visitor centre with a restaurant and shops inside.
The original building stood for many years until 2015 when it was almost completely burnt down in a major fire. The challenge was to save and restore as many historic artefacts as possible so that the station could be rebuilt and re-opened as a visitor centre again; which it has been recently:

Moira outside the recently rebuilt Ballater Station

The Royal Coach at Ballater Station

Old Railway Bench

Old Railway Poster

More Old Railway Posters

The restaurant has been replaced by a small cafe where the seats replicate an old railway carraige:

Old Railway Carraige-style Seating in Cafe

And there is a very posh, Victorian tea-room which you can hire for special occasions, as well as an even posher dining room:

Victorian Tea Room

Victorian Dining Room

The station also had a very interesting visitors centre a shop; all in all the rebuilt station is a place worth visiting.
After a nice cup of coffee and cake at the station cafe (not the posh tea room!) we headed out to explore more of Ballater:

Glenmuick Church in the Centre of Ballater

Salisbury Road, near Ballater Golf Course

Salisbury Road was a lovely little residential street which ran alongside the golf course and down to the caravan park (which was closed for the winter). The River Dee runs past the caravan park, so we had a wander along the nearby riverside path:

River Dee at Ballater

Bridge over the Dee at Ballater

View down Bridge Street from Dee Bridge

It was nice walking around Ballater, but it was getting cold, so we jumped back in Vannie and headed back to the campsite at Tarland.
Back at the campsite I was able to have a look at the footage from my trail camera I had put out the first night we arrived, in the hope of capturing footage of the Red Squirrel which had been visiting the feeder near our pitch. I wasn't disappointed, and here is some of the footage stitched together to make a short video:

You may have noticed that the clips start of in black & white, that is because my trail camera films in infra-red when in low light, such as at night and early morning. I was determined to get even better video clips of the Red Squirrel, so I moved my trail camera on to a tree closer to the feeder. You can see how I got on later in the blog.
The bird feeder beside our pitch was also very popular with the local birds and I managed to capture some video of these visitors from Vannie's front window. Firstly the supposedly elusive Long-tailed Tits:

The Long-tailed Tits were not the only birds visiting the feeder; at one point we had three different types of Tit when a Blue Tit and a Coal Tit joined the Long-tails:

The Red Squirrel also put in an appearance, but the video taken through Vannie's window appears a bit fuzzy:

This was our last day at Tarland, so I was pleased we got some good views of the local wildlife. It was also good to have some heating in the motorhome that night!
The next morning we got up bright and early and packed everything up ready for the trip back home. I had decided to take a different route back home, heading up over the hills to Fettercairn using the Old Military Road that passes over Cairn O' Mount. It seemed like a more straightforward road that going over Glenshee, but it was pretty steep and windy in parts. A bit hair-raising in the motorhome (if I had hair to raise that is) but Vannie coped admirably:

Old Military Road to Fettercairn

Old Military Road at Cairn O' Mount

Vannie at Cairn O' Mount

We got home safely but I think I should have stuck to the Glenshee route.
I was able to check my trail camera footage to see if I had caught the Red Squirrel early in the morning before we left the campsite:

Not too shabby footage of Red Squirrel I thought.
Hope you enjoyed the blog, take care

Teddyedward