28th September 2019

Treecreeper- this is usually a solitary and elusive bird, so well camouflaged on the bark of trees and among the leaves that it is hard to get a good look at one. I was really lucky to have this one briefly come down to the edge of a friend’s pond last week. Though its body is no longer than that of a Wren, its long, down-curved, slim bill and its long, stiff tail, which helps it balance while climbing up tree trunks, make it look bigger. The bill has evolved to prise insects, grubs and spiders out of crevices in tree-trunks, where it feeds. This photo shows the very long toes and claws which help it grip as it busily travels, always upwards and often in a spiral, round a tree before flying off to feed elsewhere

Tree Creeper

Tree Creeper

. Conditions: Heavy showers and some bright spells. Temperature: Max 16 Min 12C.

13th September 2019

Chiffchaff- these birds are very similar in appearance to their close cousins, the Willow Warbler. Both migrate here from Africa and both are small, olive-green warblers with a yellow eye-stripe. In spring and early summer they are easy to tell apart by their calls- the Willow Warbler has a lovely long trill while the Chiffchaff is named after its two-note call. At this time of year, as they feed-up on insects, spiders and some berries, ready for their long migration back to Africa, you have to get a good view. It has taken me years to get a photo of Chiffchaffs but this pair were flitting up in a tree yesterday, and on a Cotoneaster bush, and you can see their distinguishing dark legs (The Willow Warbler has pale pink

Chiffchaff

Chiffchaff

Chiffchaff

Chiffchaff

ish legs). Conditions: Sun, cloud and a cool breeze. Temperature: Max 16 Min 7C.

9th September 2019

Juvenile Goldfinch- Like many juvenile birds, the young Goldfinch can be confusing and hard to identify. Male and female adult Goldfinch have very similar plumage- the male has a slightly longer bill but this is hard to distinguish, unless you spot one eating teal seeds- only male bills are long enough to extract them! Juvenile birds often have less bright colouring than the adults and the Goldfinch is no exception. This is probably an evolutionary factor to ensure the young birds are more camouflaged, being more vulnerable until they are self-sufficient in feeding and more able at flying. After their first

Juvenile Goldfinch

Juvenile Goldfinch

Adult and Juvenile Goldfinch

moult, they begin to get their adult bright feathers but even then the gold wing flashes and black and white wing ‘ladders’ show first, before the red and black caps develop. We have both feeding at present, so you can see the difference between juvenile and adult. Conditions: Cloud and rain. Temperature: Max 13 Min 9C.

15th May 2019

Passing an old Ash tree along Broomham Lane, Catsfield (Sussex) today I heard some nestling birds calling for food so I waited and watched this pair of Great Tits carrying insects at frequent intervals into the hole in the trunk (and poo sacs out!.) Both male and female feed the young on protein-rich caterpillars, beetles, aphids and spiders. Later, when they have grown more, they will be able to introduce seeds to their diet as well. Great Tits are the most studied birds in the world, and will use nest-boxes in your garden. May and June are their busiest months, having an

Pair of Great Tits, one leaving and one approaching their tree-hole nest full of noisy babies.

Great Tit calling its mate from the nest

Great Tit leaving nest with faecal sac

Great Tit leaving tree-hole nest

Great Tit male with insect-food for young

often large clutch of eggs to lay and hatchlings to feed up. The worry for this pair, and for other tree-nesting birds is that most of the mature Ash in these parts, including this one, are succumbing to Ash die-back. Though the tree will last a few years yet, where will future nest sites for Woodpeckers, Nuthatches and Tits come from when these valuable trees fall- unless we all put up more nest boxes, in gardens and woods. Conditions: Blue sky and gentle breeze. Temperature: Max 16 Min 5C.

11th May 2019

Waking up each morning to the beautiful song of the Willow Warbler again, and having heard both this and the Chiffchaff singing on nearby Parkwood Springs I thought it was time to revisit these beautiful, elusive and similar-looking spring migrants. Chiffchaff arrive mid-March and Willow Warbler, migrating further, arrive in April. This difference in migration journeys also explains one of the visual differences, with Chiffchaffs having shorter wings and Willow Warblers, flying further, having longer primary feathers/wing length. Chiffchaff have dark legs while Willow Warblers have pale pinkish legs and a brighter eye-stripe. Since they are hard to see, the easiest way to tell them apart is by song- Chiffchaff singing a two note eponymous song, and Willow Warblers have a lovely long song ending with a downward trill. The BTO have a great little on-line video on telling them apart. (The photo’s of the Willow Warbler are from our garden, the Chiffchaff from Spurn).

Chiffchaff

Chiffchaff

Willow Warbler

Willow Warbler

Conditions: Milder with sun and showers. Temperature: Max 13 Min 4C.

2nd May 2019

Male Greenfinches

Male Greenfinch

Greenfinch, Goldfinch, typically squabbling at the feeders

My male and female Greenfinch drawing

We are lucky to still have Greenfinches regularly visiting our feeders, because their populations have declined dramatically in the ’70’s, increased in the ’80’s and have declined again since, affected by the parasitic-linked Trichomonosis disease, which hampers their ability to feed and can be caught from feeders that aren’t cleaned well enough. Greenfinches, once woodland birds, have become more regular users of garden bird-feeders, especially favouring black sunflower seeds which they can easily crack with their stocky beaks. Sometimes confused with Goldfinches, because they have a yellow flash on their wings, Greenfinches are bulkier and the males are olive-green. I hope the photo’s which include a Goldfinch, and drawing will help you separate male and the paler-coloured female Greenfinch, and Goldfinch. Conditions: Sunny intervals and showers. Temperature: Max 14 Min 5 c

19th April 2019

Happy Primrose Day. Primroses are such wonderful harbingers of spring that they deserve their own day of recognition and, flowering so early, they benefit many insects. Only the long-tongued (proboscis) ones like Bee Fly, Brimstone Butterfly, Peacock, and Buff-tailed Bumblebee (see photo’s) can take advantage as the nectar is at the bottom of a long tube (corolla). Look closely and you can see that Primroses are either Pin-eyed (having a single pin-head female style visible at the top of the corolla/ tube,) or Thrum-eyed (having a ring of pollen-laden anthers at the top of the tube). If you carefully opened one up you would see that half-way down the tube sits the opposite reproductive part. This is called being  heterostylous, and avoids self-pollination and ensures cross-pollination. An insect picking pollen up from the Thrum-eyed would only pollinate a Pin-eyed and vice versa because of where the pollen is situated. Charles Darwin was fascinated by the primula family for this reason. He wrote in his autobiography “I do not think that anything has given me so much satisfaction as making out the meaning of the structure of

Primrose, pin-eye

Primrose, thrum-eyed

Primrose with Bee Fly feeding

Primrose, with Brimstone Butterfly feeding

Primrose, with Bufftailed Bumblebee feeding

heterostylous flowers”. You don’t need to know or care about this to enjoy the Primrose. As children, we would pick bunch after bunch for our relatives who had moved away from the country to town, posting them in damp paper in a shoe-box! It was interesting to hear the nature-writer Richard Maybe saying this morning that Primroses have recovered so well and are now so prolific in many areas that he thought children should once again be allowed the joy that we experienced, of picking small bunches. Conditions: Unseasonably warm with blue skies. Temperature: Max  21 Min 7 C.