Big Garden Birdwatch 2016: My First Brambling!

A new house in a new town means new birds. I've been particularly looking forward to doing the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch this year for this very reason. It's given me an opportunity to get a really good idea of what birds we have visiting our new garden as, up until now, I've only really managed fleeting glances through the windows, although this technique has yielded some great spots already! I've been adding to a new patch list as each species has revealed itself and recently bullfinch, goldcrest and nuthatch have all been included.

When I woke up yesterday, the muted grey light told me that it wasn't the sunniest of mornings. It was drizzly, cloudy and typically British. I was already lacking in hope for many feathered visitors as our feeders have hardly been descended upon since moving here and I've had to change the food on more than one occasion because untouched peanuts have gone mouldy in the persistent rain. I just think that the mild temperatures have meant that there are still plenty of natural food sources out there, so the birds haven't found the need to visit the feeders as often as I'm used to. With that in mind, I wasn't expecting to see much.

The first quarter of an hour lived up to my expectations. The only activity going on came from three feisty robins bullying a lone blue tit, while three woodpigeons watched from the branches of the oak tree. I found it fascinating to see the robins using the feeders with ease as this behaviour is relatively new for this usually ground-feeding species. 

Without a doubt, the highlight of the hour for me was a visit from a brambling! I watched Friday's episode of Winterwatch which mentioned the possibility of seeing bramblings hidden in flocks of chaffinches and I couldn't believe it when I spotted one during my watch. It was an extremely fleeting visit, but it perched on a bush long enough for me to get a positive I.D. before flitting off over the fence. Actually the same thing happened with a bullfinch later in the hour so I was able to add those both to my list.

Image: John Harding/BTO

I rode the brambling high for the rest of the hour and actually quite a few of my favourite species made appearances, including a nuthatch, long-tailed tit and a great-spotted woodpecker. Whether the latter was the same one I'd hear drumming earlier in the morning, I don't know. I was also serenaded by a particularly enthusiastic song thrush on the top of the fence. Both of these would suggest we have an early Spring heading our way!

There was quite a lot going on in the area of trees behind the garden (of course). There is one I call the "starling tree" because it's usually bustling with them. However, they were replaced yesterday by a flock of 30 or so bullfinches and goldfinches. I could just about make out the bold, black heads and flashed of red although I could really have done with a scope at that point! One day, one day... I saw the brambling again, this time hanging upside down at the top of bare tree, pecking at the tiny branches. There were also a number of carrion crows fighting above me and a mix of gulls lazily circling the trees.

My total tally for the hour was as follows:

3 Woodpigeon

1 Blackbird (m)

3 Robins

2 Blue tits

1 Magpie

1 Coal tit

1 Song thrush

1 Brambling

1 Bullfinch

1 Jay

1 Great-spotted woodpecker

1 Dunnock

1 Long-tailed tit

I've put together a little table comparing my results from the past three years. Obviously two of the three counts were in Southwater but it will be interesting to see how the results vary at this new house over the next few years.

Great British Beach Clean in Goring

There have got to be worse ways to spend a Saturday than strolling along a beach in the blazing sunshine while looking after the environment at the same time. For me, it doesn't get any better. Today was my beach clean up event for the MCS Great British Beach Clean weekend. I have held two other clean ups at this beach this year and I was fortunate enough to have fantastic teams of volunteers for both. Today's team was no exception!

In total, there were 25 of us scanning the length of the survey area, including five under-18s. I'm always extremely pleased to have young people taking part in these cleans, particularly when I see that they are enjoying themselves. Getting children and teenagers interested in their environment is absolutely vital and events like these are a brilliant way to make learning about nature into something fun and engaging. Of course, I love to have volunteers of all ages taking part! I spoke to several of the adults helping me today who all expressed amazement at what gets washed up on the shores and dropped by the public. It fills me with hope whenever I come across people who care as much as I do about looking after our planet.

As there were so many of us, it didn't take us long to cover the 100m survey area. Much like the clean I did back in June, there wasn't a massive amount of litter to be collected, not in terms of weight anyway. Generally, Goring-by-Sea is a pretty clean beach from first glance but once you really start looking closely at the pebbles and in between the groynes, all of the small pieces of twine, fishing line and plastic start appearing. One of the teams recorded a large piece of carpet, which we were all hoping had not been used for disposing of anything untoward! The same team also found a large, plastic receptacle that looks as if it was used as a marker buoy. I picked up my first shoe; it was a Croc, so no great loss there! (Please don't take offense if you're a Croc-wearer! Each to their own...)

The last time I was down at Worthing, I nearly got blown off my feet by the strength of the breeze so I came prepared today with my rain mac. I would have been better off dressed in a swimming costume I think, so I could have had a quick dip in the sea to cool off! It was absolutely roasting today and there was quite literally not a breath of wind. I'm certainly not complaining but it was most unexpected, especially after the lack of summer we've just had. 

Several of my volunteers expressed interest in the results of our collection and what the data gets used for, as well as when I will be holding future events. Beach-cleaning is such a great way to not only do some good for the environment but also to get some fresh air and exercise. Living on a small island as we do, none of use are ever too far away from some form of coastline and if we could all pick up litter each time we visited a beach, it would make the world of difference. 

The results from today's clean were as follows: 

-32 metal items

-32 sanitary items

-38 paper items

-20 wood items

-539 plastic items

-21 rubber items

-32 cloth items

That's Nature

I'm afraid today's nest update is in strong contrast to the positive post I published yesterday. In fact, today has not been a good day for nests in general. This is the "other side" of nature as it were, and must be accepted, together with all of the exciting, happy elements.

After discovering that the blackbird eggs had hatched only a couple of days ago at most, I have since been keeping an even closer eye on the nest, hoping to see the parents busy feeding their young. I was puzzled that I hadn't seen either one of them for a day or so. I hadn't expected them to be on the nest anywhere near as often as when they were incubating, but a total absence didn't sit right with me.

Camera in hand, I ventured out with a very uneasy feeling in my stomach. I think I already knew what I was going to find, or not going to find more accurately. Sure enough, I snapped a blurred photo that confirmed all three of the chicks were no longer in the nest. This is such a devastating discovery as I've become rather invested in the blackbirds' lives, being able to watch them so closely from the house. Saying that, it was only yesterday when I typed the words "the success rate is only around 30-40%" so this turn of events really shouldn't come as much surprise to me.

I searched the surrounding bushes and ground thoroughly, hoping there might be a clue as to what had happened to the chicks. There were no branches out of place or any evidence of disturbance and the chicks' bodies were nowhere to be seen. We have at least two great-spotted woodpeckers that frequent our feeders on the other side of the garden, and magpies are also occasional visitors, so I have had to draw the conclusion that the chicks were predated by one of these. I am extremely disappointed, for the parents who have worked so hard and for myself as I was so hoping to see them fledge. I can only keep my fingers crossed that the female chooses to lay her next clutch in the same nest, although this is unlikely as whatever predator took these chicks now knows the location of the nest.

Unfortunately, this isn't the end of the bad news. I have also been monitoring a nest that was being built by long-tailed tits in the outer top corner of another garden hedge. I had seen a pair of long-tails flying back and forth across the garden with nesting material, but over the past week or two, they haven't made an appearance. My research told me that once the nest is built, it isn't uncommon for it to be left for a few days before any laying takes place. The timing works out about right for this and having frequently checked for activity close-up, I had determined that it was yet to be occupied and no eggs had been laid.

If this was definitely the case, it was just as well. After my disappointing discovery at the blackbird site, I noticed a large clump of feathers on the outside of the long-tail site. Upon closer inspection, there were feathers everywhere, clinging to the branches and gently rolling across the driveway like tiny tumbleweeds. I couldn't see much on the inside of the bush, more feathers and lichen, but enough to confirm this nest had been destroyed. With the location of the nest being so surrounded by branches, it is likely that this too could have been caused by magpies or crows. Again, I checked for any evidence of eggs but I couldn't see any, nor bodies, so my conclusion is that nothing was inside. I could well be wrong but it's impossible to know without having a camera on the nest.

Not a great day for nesting, it has to be said. I feel deeply saddened but have to keep telling myself that this is nature, this is what happens. Predation is part of the cycle. It seemed in rather harsh contrast that, as I was stood in the garden feeling pretty gloomy after my discoveries, the distinctive call of a cuckoo drifted through the trees: my first of the season.

Blackbird Nest Update #3: We have chicks!

Over the past week, I have been noticing the male blackbird taking a more active role in looking after the nest. He has brought food in for the female several times and sat on the nest briefly while she was away. A couple of days ago, I observed the female fly in with a caterpillar in her beak and through binoculars, I watched her peer in to the nest. I didn't see what she did with the caterpillar and assumed she ate it herself. Since seeing that, I noticed she was off the nest far more frequently which suggested to me that the eggs may have hatched.

Yesterday, I took the opportunity while the female was away from the nest area to check on the status of the eggs. As always, I made extra sure that I was in no way disturbing the nest. I was able to confirm by snapping a very quick photo that the eggs had indeed hatched! Judging by the chicks' appearance and lack of downy feathers, I'm estimating that they are only a day or two old.

When the female returned, she again brought food in and this time around I was able to see the chicks poke their heads out of the nest, their mouths open in wide gapes. Although it would be brilliant if all three chicks fledged successfully, I learned recently that the success rate is only around 30-40%. Chances are this female will lay one or two more broods at this site, so I may get to witness the cycle more than once.

Blackbird Nest Update #2

Since my last update on the blackbird nest, I have seen exciting developments. By Friday 3rd April, two more eggs had been laid and I managed to again sneak a peek at them while the female was away from the nest. She has now gone into full incubation mode, only disappearing briefly two or three times a day to feed, as the male doesn't seem to be feeding her or getting involved at all.

**I would like to stress a second time that although I have taken photos of the eggs, in no way am I disturbing the nest, eggs or nesting site when I do so. I make sure this is the case and the safety of the nest and eggs is my priority** 

Blackbird Nest Update #1

As you can see from the above picture, the first blackbird egg has been laid! Since my my most recent post about the blackbird nest, there has been very little activity at the nest site. I assumed this was because the female finished building the nest but wasn't yet ready to lay eggs, although I did worry that, because I hadn't seen her for about a week, she might have changed her mind about laying there. 

It turns out I was worrying over nothing. When I went to make a cup of tea at 8am, I glanced out of the window and I was thrilled to see the shape of the female blackbird sitting on her nest. Her fan-shaped tail was what alerted me and I could also just about make out the top of her head. Through binoculars I was able to spot her eye and beak as well. Of course, it was great to see her back at the nest site and I knew the possibility of her having laid an egg was extremely high; this realisation really ramped up my level of excitement.

When I came back from Chichester this afternoon, (I'm a volunteer on the Chichester Cathedral Peregrines project, more on that in a future post) I had a quick peek at the hedge she's occupying and saw that she was away from the nest. I'm fortunate to be able to see inside the nest quite easily, by standing on a chair and using my handheld camera. I always make sure I am in no way at risk of disturbing the nest or damaging it; you can tell by the quality of the photos I'm getting that I'm only sticking my arm into the hedge. There it was, a bright blue egg speckled with brownish-red spots! Well done, Mrs Blackbird. I'm glad I was able to confirm that she has started laying as these are all observations that I can list for the BTO Nest Box Challenge. If only the long-tailed tits would make it so easy for me to see inside!

One thing that really did concern me was that, since taking the above photo at around 2pm, I haven't yet seen the female return to incubate the egg. This was worrying as I was sure that several hours of exposure would make the egg far too cold. I did some reading up on this subject and confirmed from several sources that blackbirds don't start full incubation periods until all of the clutch has been laid and even then, the vast majority of incubation is done by the female with only the occasional bout of help from the male. I'm expecting an egg a day to be laid until she has between three and five so hopefully by Easter Monday, I will see her begin incubation properly.

Flying Teaspoons and Blackbird DIY

 Nest construction is well under way in our garden. I'll begin with the apex nest box in our oak tree which housed a family of blue tits last year. This year I have observed both blues and great tits inspecting the box and gradually I began to see only the greats popping in and out. Yesterday the greats started to bring in nesting materials, their beaks stuffed with moss, which is a promising sign and exactly what I'd hoped for. I obviously did a decent enough job of clearing out the box.

Over the past week or so, I have noticed a female blackbird spending quite a lot of time in one of the bushes just across from our kitchen window and I wondered whether she might be building a nest there. Balancing on a chair, I ventured a peek through the branches and saw that I was right! A very neat, well-shaped nest it is too. I managed to take a few snaps, though not particularly good ones but enough to see inside and spot the mud lining. She has been back and forth with new materials since I discovered it and watching her sitting and squashing everything down has been wonderful.

Based on when I originally saw nest material start to appear on this site, I have estimated that she has been building for around a week and a half which suggests that she should more or less be done now. I am really hoping that she does choose to lay a clutch of eggs as I will be able to monitor her progress and make observations. With the visibility of the nest site being so clear, I am keen to watch the eggs hatch and the chicks fledge and hang around to be fed by their parents. We shall see what the next few weeks hold!

Today, I actually discovered another new nest site and this was purely by chance. I happened to be taking a photo of a patch of primroses at the edge of our driveway when a "chuck chuck" sound caught my attention and brought my gaze up, where a long-tailed tit, affectionately known as flying teaspoons (!) was perched on an overhanging branch, its beak filled with a white, fluffy material that looked to me like cotton wool. I stood up slowly, keeping my eyes on the bird and watched it flit around, still chuck chucking before it flew inside the hedgerow in front of me. It didn't seem particularly fazed by my which is surprising, given that they are quite a timid species. I was stood very still and quiet so it's likely it didn't know I was still there. 

It was soon joined by another long-tail and the pair of them chuck chucked for a while before darting out of the hedge. I waited for them to leave the area before I had a look at their handiwork, as I didn't want them to become distressed. From what I could see, they are at the very early stages of building a nest as there was a layer of moss, some feathers and leaves starting to form the foundations. Long-tails are similar to wrens in that they build a dome-like structure that fully surrounds them and their chicks. Although there were no signs of a dome just yet, I will most certainly be keeping my eyes on their progress. It can take up to three weeks before they complete it so it will be interesting to see how it takes shape.  

The nest site is quite well-hidden in dense vegetation so the chance of predation is unlikely, though the threat is always there, no matter the location. I'm pleased that they've chosen a spot where I will be able to observe them with relative ease. In the below photo, you can see one of the pair leaving the hedge; the nest is located in the top right section.

I read up on the nesting and breeding habits of long-tails and I am quite amazed that they can lay between eight and fifteen eggs in one clutch! I wouldn't have thought such a compact nest structure would be enough to house that many chicks, once they all hatch out.

I have registered both of these new nests with the BTO Nest Box Challenge as I can monitor the progress of them with relative ease. I now have three nest sites and more importantly, three different nesting species to observe so, assuming they all successfully lay eggs in their chosen spots, I will be kept quite busy!

Cleaning up Goring-by-Sea!

It may have been heavily overcast and the wind may have had a slight chill to it, but that didn't stop myself and 22 other brilliant volunteers from arming ourselves with litter pickers and tackling the shores of Worthing on Sunday!

I posted back in January about becoming a beachwatch survey organiser for the Marine Conservation Society and the weekend just gone saw my first event go ahead. I was quite nervous beforehand, having never arranged anything like this before, and I was concerned that less volunteers would turn up than the 18 I had confirmed on the site. Particularly as, despite the Saturday being gloriously sunny and (dare I say) Spring-like, the weather on Sunday was that of heavy cloud that was certainly not budging. I was pleasantly surprised when the allotted time came around (an hour after high tide, of course) and lots of people began to arrive, some seasoned beach-cleaners and some (like me!) who were brand new to the game, but all raring to go! We even had several younger (and very eager) volunteers which I was especially pleased to see. 

After giving a safety briefing and dividing everyone up into groups, all 23 of us headed over to the 100m strip of beach I had measured out earlier, with clipboards, litter-pickers and bin bags in hand. At first glance, there was a fair amount of rubbish to be collected but once we all got going and started recording each piece we found, it didn't take long at all for the bags to start bulging! I was both amazed and disgusted at the level of litter in such a small area. 

A huge amount of cable ties were found as well as fishing line, cotton bud sticks and rope. As would be expected, the vast majority of litter recorded was plastic. Happily, I had several volunteers say to me that they were really enjoying it and finding relaxing and therapeutic. I'm inclined to agree with that and after a while, I wasn't taking any notice of the biting wind, just focusing on the stretch of pebbles at my feet.

I estimated with the number of hands we had that the survey would take about an hour and I was more or less on the money. We piled all of our bags together and I weighed each one individually, finally coming to a grand total of 13.45kg! It really was astounding that we had jointly managed to collect quite so much from only 100m. When you stop and think about the amount of coastline we have in this country though, it's really very worrying to think how much litter is sitting on our beaches. If 23 people can pick up seven refuse bags worth of rubbish in an hour, just think how much more could be achieved if this was carried out all around the UK!

Even though the sun hadn't made an appearance all day, there were plenty of smiling faces as we finished up and started heading back to the car park. Several of the volunteers asked if there would be more cleans coming up and I am certainly eager to arrange future events based on the success of this one. It was really encouraging to see just how many people genuinely wanted to give up their time to do something so worthwhile. As one volunteer said, it really gives you a sense of pride.

In a nutshell, we collected:

-55 metal items

-3 medical items

-26 sanitary items

-31 paper items

-15 wood items

-26 glass items

-3 ceramic items

-615 plastic items!

-37 polystyrene items

-23 rubber items

-72 cloth items

A huge thank you to everyone who turned up and donated their time and energy! You were all fantastic!

If you are interested in future beach clean-ups, visit the MCS website.

A Very Pleasant Risk Assessment

As you may or may not know, I am holding a beach clean-up event on Sunday 8th March on behalf of the Marine Conservation Society. Part of being the organiser involves carrying out a risk assessment of the beach in question and today myself and my mum popped down to Worthing for that very reason. I have been to the beach several times in the past so I know it reasonably well but I also wanted to get an idea of the space we would be litter-picking in and the sorts of facilities available to us on the day.

The last time I visited this beach, Goring-by-Sea, the wind was absolutely howling and there was misty rain in the air which made a casual stroll rather unpleasant after some time! This afternoon was a total contrast to this; the heavy clouds from earlier on in the day had broken up and the sun was out, lending a mildness to the air. We were both surprised at the lack of a coastal breeze once we were on the beach, which is often responsible for bringing the temperature down a few degrees. It was actually very pleasant and I have my fingers firmly crossed that we will have a repeat of such conditions on the day of the event!

Having forgotten to bring either a tape measure or pedometer, I roughly paced out the space we will need for the survey and then checked this area for potential hazards. While wandering along the beach, we spotted various naturally occurring debris such as fish vertebrae and various egg cases. I had to do a little I.D. work on the egg cases when we got back home as I know very little about them. I found them to be whelk and either dogfish or catshark cases. I had an inkling about the latter but the whelk case was news to me: I've always wondered where those strange objects resembling bubble-wrap came from!

I have a decent number of confirmed volunteers for the beachwatch event but more are always welcome! If you are interested in taking part, you can visit this link to register.