Wildlife in a Suburban Garden

Action from the Crossbill drinking pool.

Things are really starting to liven up now at the drinking pool. It was a really good session this morning with comparatively lots of birds. The most interesting was a very brief visit from a male crossbill that immediately left without drinking. Unfortunately, there was a loose dog that charged in towards me and right past the pool scattering the birds in all directions. There are deer here, including very young fawns as well as the birds and I wouldn't have thought it was acceptable for dogs to run free and uncontrolled?  The Crossbill, which was just about to drink and was perhaps the first of it's group to come down, then immediately flew back up into the high trees. I have seen Crossbills now an each of my last three visits,  not coming  confidently but definitely interested in the water. Probably in with the flock of Crossbills was the Siskin above, another small finch that feeds in the same way as the Crossbills and probably needs to drink just as frequently. A lovely little species. This is a female, the males are very brightly coloured with yellows and black. I also had a few tiny little Coal Tits visiting the feeder constantly and then also coming to drink.  It is really worth mentioning that every time I have had a Crossbill come to the pool, a Coal Tit has always come down first.  It's probable that the Crossbills watch to see the Coal Tits drinking and use them as a "marker" to check for safety. I wonder if this interspecies association has been recorded before?  But for me, this cant be just a coincidence.

A Coal Tit comes to the pool and below, drinks just before both the Siskin and then a male Crossbill that I was too slow to photograph.

I'm not a great fan of birds on feeders but it is a good opportunity to get close to them.

 

 

Crossbill success after 8 weeks of trying!

Juvenile Crossbill.

Way back in July I created a drinking pool in Haldon Forest to try to get the forest birds to come there to drink. There is a small population of Crossbills resident there but they are virtually impossible to photograph unless you make some plans and preparations. I have been trying for around 8 weeks to entice them to use the pool. Crossbills are entirely seedeaters and the only real opportunity to get close to them is when they come to the ground to drink. However, this late summer and early autumn has been really wet and we have hardly had it dry enough for any other standing water to dry out which would leave "my" pool as the only drinking source. After a few days without rain, today seemed to be a good one to go and "stake out" the pool. As soon as I arrived and after disturbing 4 Roe Deer just by the pool, I sat in the hide next to it and heard Crossbills very nearby noisily moving in the conifers all around me. I had a really good feeling about my chance of success but with quietness returning very quickly, my optimism started to fade. After an hour, suddenly a Coal Tit landed in the pool and I took a few photos. Then bingo, after 8 weeks and perhaps 50 hours of trying, there in the tiny pool was a small family group of drinking Crossbills including one adult male, more than one female and juveniles. They drank quickly and after 15 seconds or so, all of them lifted off from the pool and the encounter was over. I managed just one half decent photograph!

The pool seems to be successful after quite a wait.

 

 

Sexing juvenile Great - Spotted Woodpecker

These 2 photographs are of different juvenile Great - Spotted Woodpeckers. Juveniles can be told by red feathers on their forehead, interestingly this red is absent in adults. You can identify 4 different colour forms of Great - spotted Woodpecker because t's possible to separate juvenile males and juvenile females. The bird above is a female, it has comparatively few red feathers on the head and is a different individual than the one pictured below which is a male. You can clearly see much more red on the head on this bird. I have been interested in birds since a child and it's only this year that I have discovered this difference. Weirdly, I find this very interesting!! By next spring all this year's juveniles will have lost their red heads and young males will develop red on the nape but the females will remain plain black and white. I am interested to see for myself when this moulting process will start to occur.

Also, interestingly from a photographers point of view, both birds were photographed in the same place and the direction of the light has totally changed the background.  You can take the same photograph 1000 times and each one would be different. 

Bank Vole

Is this a Bank Vole or is it a Field Vole?  I think the give away is the length of the tail.  An alternative name for Field Vole is "Short-tailed Vole"  and although in this picture, not all the tail is visible, in my experience the tail is far too long to be anything other than a Bank Vole.  I may have expected it to have more reddish fur but they are variable apparently. Getting the photograph was interesting.  I am still trying to photograph Crossbills and I went to the area where I have set up the drinking pool. I have been leaving peanuts on the log stumps which attract the woodpeckers and also it seems, Bank Voles! The Roe Deer probably eat them as well as the Squirrels.  I suddenly saw some movement where I had put the nuts and as I concentarted, out shot this dark shape, grabbed a nut and retreated back like a streak, so quick you could hardly tell what it was. I waited again for just a short while and it was back to grab another. This time I was ready and I pressed the camera shutter release.

 

A lovely dark Roe doe.

Talking of Roe Deer, I had a few early starts this week trying to photograph drinking crossbills at the pool that I have set up.  Sadly the wet weather that we seem to be getting constantly is making this hard.  The only times that they have been down to it has coincided with consecutive days of dry weather and these are few and far between at the moment.  I am sure that as soon as it dries out for a week or so I will get the reward that my planning may deserve. It was very nice to watch this very pretty and dark Roe doe the other morning.  She was feeding not too far from the little shelter hide built from natural vegetation. She had no idea that I was watching her.  I squeaked the squeaker very quietly and immediately got a reaction.  She lifted her head and stayed motionless. I squeaked again and she moved forward with purpose towards me. Had I been a hunter that would have been all it took.  I was able to press the shutter of my camera repeatedly rather than a trigger on a rifle. I guess common sense dictates that if there are too many deer in an area they may need controlling but it is so sad to think of something as beautiful as this getting shot.

Now talking of another doe, here are a few doh-ray-me's.  I am a musician and spent yesterday playing the Tuba with the South West Comms Band at the Exmouth Festival of Brass.  The band is awesome and won most of the prizes.  You might be surprised to hear just how good they are.  Have a listen and wait to be amazed!