Sunday 29 January 2017

Tree Sparrow in the garden!

Lade - mild, showery, sw 3 - We spent the weekend hosting our Kate`s 40th (now I really do feel old...) birthday gathering, but still managed to get around the local patch both days, and where Smew and Slavonian Grebe were present, plus 11 Goldeneyes.
  Today an influx of 300 Teal on south lake and a pair of displaying Sparrowhawks over the willow swamp was noteworthy. There was also a strange encounter with a pair of Foxes that have taken over the old Badger sett by south lake. The vixen was whining like a baby and the much larger dog was still fussing around her, so I reckon they`d just finished copulating.

                                Vixen left, dog right

  Most surprising of all though was an hour spent surveying the Plovers garden for the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch (ably assisted by our six year old grandson), where amongst the meagre tally of 12 species was a Tree Sparrow! I really must pay more attention to the garden in future.

3 comments:

  1. Tree Sparrow! It's been nearly ten years since my last garden record and probably three since I saw my last? Enjoy - Dyl

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  2. Over 20yrs since I saw a Tree Sparrow ever.

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  3. It certainly was a bit of a surprise. The nearest Tree Sparrow colonies are within a mile of our cottage, but this is only the third time I`ve recorded one in the garden in 11 years.

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