Tag: browning-BTC-7A

Colin and Clarissa

For the avoidance of doubt, all cock pheasants are called Colin, and all female pheasants are called Clarissa. It’s just the way things are.

Lost more birdsong, and the appearance of a mirror that is destined for a Tip Run. In the meantime, Colin has issues. I won’t deny it, I feel a bit bad about that. But it’s outweighed by the amusement factor.

And there’s a new cat. An unknown unknown. There’s our three, then a few locals we recognise … and a new floof.

There’s a hoolit loose, aboot this hoose

We often hear them, but rarely see them. Apart from this footage from the trailcam from the recent snowy weather. I find it slightly alarming to look at, but knowing the owl is where the water is, (or an unfortunate rodent looking for same water), I’m assuming everything is ok.

Redwings in the snow

It was in March 2018 when I saw my first redwing. The Beast from the East brought a blast of snow to Durham and suddenly there were strange birds in the garden. We had fieldfares too, and peering at the photos I realise I struggle to distinguish a fieldfare from a redwing from a song thrush. But I’m pretty sure they were all at the party.

  • Redwing
  • Song Thrush
  • Fieldfare
I wonder if I’ve got those right.

And now three years on I have a trailcam and I’m browsing through the video clips. It’s snowing again, and the redwings are back again. And blackbirds. Lots and lots and lots of blackbirds. And a hoolit. Out of nowhere, in the middle of the night. Everyone needs a drink of water it seems.

Business as usual on the trailcam

19 Nov 2020 to 01 Dec 2020

A new spot for the trailcam. I decided to see how much it would see on the bird feeders. It took a few attempts as it’s quite hard to find a decent mount point, that’s stable and doesn’t blow around in the wind. It’s been an interesting diversion but on the whole not as interesting as I thought. Focus is problematic as the camera often wants to focus on the distance as the birds are two small. Squirrels seem ok!

Another complication was noticeable if the camera was tilted up a little. I think condensation or water is more likely to cover the lens when it’s angled upwards and this messes up the picture quality.

That aside, not a lot of surprises. Nice if you like squirrels. Grey ones. The occasional magpie, woodpecker and sometimes a nice flurry of tree sparrows. But on the whole no drama.

A week on the trailcam

12 to 21 Aug 2020

This new spot for the trailcam is proving to be quite interesting. Despite being just a few metres from the house and close to the feeders it’s just out of view, and it’s surprising how much wanders by that I normally miss.

Quite a lot of scraggily looking birds. I’m not sure if they’re in moult, or juvinile birds, or both. There’s also quite a lot of the greater spotted woodpecker drinking, both adult and juvenile. I think it’s the same juvenile each time. It has quite a distinctive red dot on the right-hand-side of the nape of its neck, but it’s not always easy to see, and I suspect there may be more than one juvenile around.

Hedgehogs and mice appear in the dead of night.

The water is a huge hit. Birds that I don’t often associate with drinking from the ground level seem quite content to spend a bit of time there. Chaffinches, robins, blue tits, lots of long-tailed tits, and I’m pretty sure there’s a treecreeper that makes a brief appearance. The water depth may be a little too uncertain for them but a few of the bigger birds certainly have a dip. The greater-spotted woodpecker having a good bath at 13:10 is, I’m fairly certain, not the same juvenile that appears earlier.

There’s often a bit of background action too on the feeders, mostly Jackdaws and woodpeckers.