Magpie Building nest

Paxton Pits Nature Reserve 07-Mar-2013 Diddington

Spring is Springing.

The first week of March is now out of the way, and what a wonderful week for me personally, walking around my favourite place. Of course, that has to be Paxton Pits Nature Reserve.

Snowdrops

They have been in bloom for a couple of weeks now, but they do look stunning and certainly do brighten up the area. Daffodil shoots can be seen, so it will not belong before they appear into bloom too. I have always associated the Daffodil with Mothers day. Maybe it is something I have been told at a younger age, or just something I read somewhere.

Sailing Lake

Now here is where I have managed to film some beautiful birds, that to be honest, I have either never seen, or they are always difficult to get into focus before they move around or fly off into the distance. The work party have cut the grass down on the islands and already, we are seeing the benefits of that. Many gulls, and not just black headed gulls, are already checking it out. The noise is awesome.

Brent Geese on sailing lake

Here is a beauty that I have never seen before on the reserve in all my years walking around there. They are the Brent Geese. I know of at least three types, the Pale bellied, the black and these, which are the dark bellied Brent Goose. Smaller than other black geese and shorter, thicker neck, with that little white collar made identification easier and of course the big screen I use when looking at my videos and photos.

Lapwings

They used to be known as Pee-wits from the call they make, but always a delight to see these beauties. They are in massive decline, and I am just glad that they are at the reserve and hopefully will nest again here this year. Look at the size of them, They grow up to 30cm which is small when you look at the size of the Rook on the right of them, which grows to around 45cm. Beautiful little things you have to agree.

Oystercatcher

From the distance, when they are laid down, I sometimes mix them up with the Lapwing, but once you see that large orange bill, there is no mistaking the Oystercatcher. It uses that bill to dig deep into the ground in search of food. It is also larger than the lapwing, it grows to around 43cm

I was lucky enough to see three of them on the sailing lake this week.

Lesser Redpolls

These are usually very difficult for me to film as they are fast little movers and usually found high up in the Alder trees. This year, they have descended onto the Nyger seed feeders in the Visitor Centre garden. There were at least 14 of them yesterday knocking each other off the feeders. not one looked the same to me as they flew in and out and on and off the feeders. These have no pink on them, so they are either females, or young adults.

Male and Female together on the nyger seed feeder. Not for long though as like I said, they keep knocking each other off. You can clearly see the Pink breast of the male. Stunning little birds.

Paxton Pits Nature Reserve Feb 2013

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog. This is the first post obviously. From time to time, I will be telling you what I saw and where, either at Paxton Pits Nature Reserve, my garden, or other places I visit.

Today, I submitted the results of my garden bird watch to the RSPB. I am eager to see the results of all the data they compile. With the weather being as cold as it has been, and Snow covered land and frozen lakes, I think it has probably helped to drive the birds to local gardens in search of much needed food and water.

Firstly, my garden, is very small with just one tree and bricks and mortar all around me. In the tree, I have several feeders which have, Nyger seed, Suet Balls, Sunflower hearts, seed mix and of course peanuts. Also I place chunks of fresh Apple and Sultanas together with mixed seed at ground level. I do this simply because, not all birds like to sit perched on feeders and prefer the ground to do their feeding.


I really love the Goldfinch. When you look at most of the resdidental birds we have in this area, they are kind of drab in colour, compared to these little beauties. To me it is almost an exotic bird, and one that I am so happy to see visit my garden. I have had over 20 at one time and the noise and sights are incredible. I get lost watching them ;)




For a week now, I have had the pleasure of watching this awesome Fieldfare. He really loves Apple. Hard to believe, but he sits in the tree patiently until I put out the Apple and within minutes, he is down from the tree and getting tucked in. What a glorious bird he is. Slightly smaller than a Mistle thrush but very distinctive markings in plumage.





Now here is a New visitor to my Garden. One I never thought I would see here, it is of course a Reed Bunting. They do visit gardens in winter, but myself, I have never seen one in my own garden, so again, I was over the moon to see not just one, but three of them. Sadly, they were not around when I did the garden watch.







Now here is a little beauty, this is the first time I have ever managed to get a picture of one, and what place to get it ? my garden of course. He was here for around 15 minutes during my garden watch. The small eligent little Goldcrest. Awesome bird he is too.


The usual garden birds turned up, Blackbirds, Starlings, House Sparrows, Chaffinch , Long tailed tit, Blue Tits, Great tits, Dunnock, Robins and even a single Greenfinch. So as I end this first post, I just have to wait until the RSPB publish the results from the Garden Watch survey. What species will have disappeared ?