February
The month started with
a slight frost leading to a sunny day. It was the first day I saw a
GSW male take nibbles from the bird table or a robin feed from the
seed feeder.
The female GSW is not
as regular a visitor as she was but still makes an appearance on the
peanuts. The two males have been seen arriving at the same time and
chasing each other off.
A pair of starlings
have started visiting the feeders but don't stay for long. This is
also the case with a male yellow hammer which sat by the water bath
on the 28th for about ten seconds and then flew off. We
also had our first visit of two long tailed tits on the 19th. Unfortunately i didn't get any photographs but here are some other tits.
.jpg) |
| Blue tit |
.jpg) |
| Coal tit |
On the 23rd
I counted ten goldfinches feeding at the same time; the norm was
usually about five or six.
A house sparrow was
seen guarding the garage nest box and once away a starling entered
the box and left again.
The bird count for this
month showed that the finches were the most numerous with the
goldfinch and chaffinch taking the top two spots.
There was a big decline
in the number of sparrows.
The seed feeders were
the most popular.
Mammals
The only sightings this
month were three deer on a local walk and the long haired Siamese
(LHS) cat. He was sighted in the garden for the first time at 08:00
on the 6th.
.jpg) |
| A very distant deer |
Other sightings
I uncovered two frogs
that were living under a dense mat of damp dead Geranium leaves when
I was raking about. I put the leaves back on them and hoped I hadn't
disturbed them too much.
Average temperature 6°C
Total rainfall 66mm
