Marsh Tit visits garden feeder

This friendly Marsh Tit stopped by this lunchtime to briefly visit our sunflower feeder.

The Marsh Tit is an RSPB 'Red Listed' bird and are not particularly common. We saw one yesterday in Bowdown Woods off Bury's Bank Road, so there are definitely a few in the Greenham area and this year looks like it has been a good one for them, with quite a few local sightings over the summer period. We think this particular bird may live in West Wood adjacent to our house.

Redstart at Dinton Pastures

A great bird sighting yesterday at Dinton Pastures, near Woodley, Berkshire - Three Redstart were seen at the far side of the car park field.

This is a first for me and after a great deal of patience sitting around, we managed to get the birds fairly used to us and approached a little closer to get a few decent pictures.

Apparently according to FOLL bird expert Fraser Cottington Redstarts start their migration in late August and through September and are regularly seen in this area each year.

Interview on Radio Berkshire

I took a trip up to Lardon Chase, Berkshire on Wednesday to take some pictures of the blue butterflies which favour the wild flowers of the Chalk Downland. I was lucky enough to spot a very rare UK butterfly - the Clouded Yellow which visits the UK from southern Europe in very small numbers some years.

This year, butterfly numbers seem to have recovered after last year's awful summer, and it has been a similarly good year in Europe where the Clouded Yellow has been seen in good numbers. The Clouded Yellow sighting was very exciting!

Sophie Larkins on Radio Berkshire

I contacted Radio Berkshire and was interviewed live on their popular 'Smartphone Safari' feature on Saturday morning. You can listen to the full interview (8MB MP3) or a cut-down version of the interview (5MB MP3) from this page (Media Player required).

Kingfisher Sighting - Rye Meads RSPB Reserve

We had an amazing day at Rye Meads RSPB reserve in Hertfordshire yesterday. Bit of a trek from West Berkshire, but worth it.

The Kingfisher Hide at the reserve produced some memorable views of Kingfishers fishing, perching and returning to the nest hole to feed their young. It was all quite magical.

The bird pictured left is a male as it has a black beak. Kingfishers are uncommon birds with only about 5000 - 8000 breeding pairs in the UK, due largely to the shortage of suitable habitat and their fiercely territorial nature.

We were surprised that they are only a little larger than a house sparrow. The Kingfisher's incredible iridescent blue colour is due to the reflection and refraction of blue light from its feathers, rather than from pigments.

Kingfishers eat mainly small fish (typically sticklebacks and minnows) but they can also take small aquatic animals and insects to supplement their diet.

2 to 3 broods are raised each year, and the Kingfishers at Rye Meads are currently raising their second brood. Multiple broods are very important as Kingfishers frequently only live a year or two. They are very susceptible to sever weather and to make matters worse the survival rate of young Kingfishers is only 25%. The adults tend to chase the young birds out of the territory soon after fledging, often before they have learnt how to fish!

Green Woodpecker Searching for Ants

We spotted this Green Woodpecker a few days ago - outside our house in Greenham on some communal land.

It was seen very early in the morning before the noise disturbance from passing cars became too much, and it reappeared briefly in the afternoon.

An ant-infested lawn is all you need to keep Green Woodpeckers coming back time and time again!

Blue Tit Fledgling

It's been a long time coming this year given the delayed nesting season, but our Blue Tits have all successfully fledged and have been seen back in the garden today being fed by the attentive adults.

The chick appears bigger than the adults, who both look rather bedraggled following the heavy showers earlier.

Here we see one of the adults feeding the chick sunflower hearts, whilst the other waits patiently to answer the chick's insatiable need for sustenance.

Blue Tits Gathering Food

The unseasonable weather has finally picked up and our Blue Tits now have young in the Greenham Birding nest box on the side of the house. This adult is very busy gathering caterpillars for the growing chicks. Feeding starts at dawn and extends to dusk, which must be exhausting work for such small birds!

Interestingly, the adults take in a mixture of food which includes various winged insects and caterpillars as well as small pieces of the fat balls and sunflower hearts from our selection of feeders.

Sophie made the nest box herself at RSPB Arne and  just a month after it was put up last year, it was occupied by Blue Tits who successfully raised young. This year the nesting season is much later due to the very cold spring (the coldest for 50 years). At least food appears to be readily available now that the trees are in full summer foliage. Fingers crossed that the chicks successfully fledge in a few weeks time!