Bold as brass!

One of our neighbours has been feeding the local Red Foxes and they have now become very tame, allowing great photographic opportunities from the living room. Found all around the northern hemisphere, the Red Fox is now the most widespread canid on Earth (and has 45 subspecies!), and the UK is well known for its urban populations. This vixen was still out foraging at 10am this morning, suggesting she has a den nearby with hungry cubs.

The tail end of winter

A few hours traipsing around Staines Moor this afternoon failed to produce the hoped-for first Sand Martin, Wheatear or LRP of the year, but a singing Chiffchaff, 4 displaying Lapwing and 5 singing Skylark added a spring-like feel. 4-5 Water Pipits along the River Colne, 2 Goosander and a flock of 70+ Fieldfare were the highlights.

Staines Moor is littered with the oldest Yellow Meadow Ant Lasius flavus nests
in Britain, and are a good indication that the ground here has never been ploughed!
This is also a great area for Green Woodpeckers.

A tale of two gardens

Twitched the 1st winter Oriental Turtle Dove at Chipping Norton this morning (I know, I'm weak!). With my back improving I wanted some easy birding, and what could be easier than watching a ninth for Britain from a warm kitchen? With the crowds now subsided I was able to spend 45 mins watching the bird feeding and preening just metres away in the garden of no. 41 The Leys (many thanks to the Akers family). I knew very little about this species before today so it was an education studying the salient ID features. Great bird! Also amongst the common species on the feeders were 4+ Brambling (including a very bright male), 4+ Bullfinch and a Reed Bunting.

The journey back along the M40 was livened up by 36 Red Kite, 2 Common Buzzard and a Sparrowhawk, but then things got even better when a detour for petrol at Sunbury led me to at least 150 Bohemian Waxwings feeding on berries on the A308/A316 roundabout at Sunbury Cross (present at 11 am).

Back home watching the feeders in my own back garden, I was thinking birding for the day was over when at 13:20 a Red Kite flapped lazily low over heading north! Not a bad day so far!

Brazil photos on WikiAves

WikiAves is an interactive online encyclopedia of Brazilian birds, that allows people to upload photos and audio files of any wild bird in Brazil, as well as data on identification features, distribution, habitat and taxonomy. WikiAves has been around since 2009, and with over 225,000 photos and 14,000 sound recordings now uploaded, of almost 1,700 species, the site has become a powerful resource for birders in Brazil. If you are planning to go to Brazil then I highly recommend you take a look. Some of my favourite photos are these of Toco Toucan, Buff-fronted Owl, Crowned Eagle and Spot-tailed Nightjar. I've set up my own account to showcase some of the many photos I've taken in Brazil over the years. Check them out here.

Garden megas!!!

Why all the garden birding of late? Well, at the end of last year I managed, somehow, to mess my back up again, which has led to me spending a lot of time hobbling around the house in pain (two weeks now until I see an orthopedic surgeon). Still, big news! There's been two megas in the garden over the last two days - a Stock Dove yesterday and 2 Starling today.

More Waxwings!

Driving down the A3 this morning on my way to work, I glimpst what looked like a small flock of Waxwings flying around over the Sainsbury's car park at Cobham. Thinking they were probably actually Starlings I decided to check them out, and I'm glad I did, because on entering the car park I located a flock of about 40 Waxwings flitting about in tall trees between the car park and the small housing estate in the south-east corner. I was about to drive off when I noticed another 16 birds feeding on berries on the northern edge of the car park. Once at work I found out that a group of 20 was seen here two days ago.

RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch 2011

Took part in this years RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch. Activity in the garden has been high in recent weeks (see here), but despite the ridiculous number of feeders I've got hanging up and a thick layer of 'Robin Seed and Insect Blend' on the lawn, today was rather disappointing. The Goldfinch swarm that has been plaguing the sunflower hearts recently was down to a pitiful 2, and the regular Great Spot decided it had better things to do. The remaining tally was: Blackcap 1 male, Nuthatch 1, Coal Tit 1, Long-tailed Tit 2, Great Tit 2, Blue Tit 2, Robin 2, Dunnock 1, Chaffinch 3, Blackbird 4, Ring-necked Parakeet 4, Woodpigeon 4 and Magpie 7.

For some proper feeder action click here.