It’s Monday and another chance to spend the day at the Meadow Hide. It might be grey and a little gloomy , with a light drizzle of rain but I rather like my new office and routine. With time comes more choice , so next year I plan to once again broaden my list of locations , providing of course we’re not back in another Covid lockdown here in the U.K.
Today’s activities have centred around the Woodpecker post ( a 2.5M / 8 ft rotten trunk we use to attract woodpeckers ) We have had a mini Olympic event today with several competitors taking part to see who can land on the post , and stay there the longest . No prizes for guessing who the winner was , the Gold medal goes to woody the Great spotted woodpecker, Silver medal goes to the Blue tit who would have stayed on the post longer had he not been chased off by woody, and Bronze goes to the Robin. The Blackbird made several attempts to land on the post but all failed , he just didn’t seem to be able to copy the other birds. The final competitor the Grey Squirrel was disqualified for using four-paw drive !
Anyway , this year here at the meadow we were luck to witness the arrival of a few young birds with Robins , Great tits , Dunnock and Great spotted woodpecker all introducing us to their broods. But according to a report in the Telegraph , due to a very wet May it’s been a bad year for many birds. Read the full story here.
Other visitors to the meadow today included a welcome return of the Long tailed tits , a bird species that hasn’t visited the meadow since late spring . A pair of Bullfinch, Chaffinch, Wren , Magpie , Crow , Wood pigeon , four Pheasants ( all males ) and lots of Dunnock’s all made appearances. Oh and on elusive Jay who’s very camera shy. One surprise is that there were no birds of prey . Normally the Red Kite and Buzzard are reliable and regular visitors.
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