A drastic return to winter has been forecast for today, but the morning started mild and overcast. I got up early to spend an hour watching the birds, but there were lots of jays and chaffinches and very little else (although the dawn chorus was loud).
My second overwintering mullein moth emerged, but I thought I was going to be struggling to come up with anything else to write today especially as the weather got wetter and colder as the day progressed.
Even so, we thought we'd spend another hour watching the birds in the mid-afternoon and were treated to a very unexpected visitor. This hoopoe seemed quite happy probing around in the soil in the copse and stayed for some time. The photos aren't perfect, but are OK considering the light was terrible.
The whinchats have gone. There was still plenty to see though. A male blackcap was singing for a long time and a willow warbler spent a fair bit of the afternoon in our hawthorn.
A white wagtail visited the pond and the day was capped off with a brief visit from a great spotted woodpecker.
Male blackcap, Christophstal April 2016
Willow warbler, Christophstal April 2016
White wagtail, Christophstal April 2016
Great spotted woodpecker, Christophstal April 2016
Brindled beauty, Christophstal April 2016
Whinchat, Christophstal April 2016
Whinchat, Christophstal April 2016
Whinchat, Christophstal April 2016
Male blackcap, Christophstal April 2016
Female blackcap, Christophstal April 2016
Tree sparrow, Christophstal April 2016
Enthused by the bird activity in the garden, I put the moth trap out last night for the first time this year. Unfortunately, it fell to -2oC and there was a full moon, so conditions were less than optimal. There were only two moths in the trap this morning, a brindled beauty and an early tooth-striped.
The whinchats were flying again today. There were at least three individuals, probably more.
A pair of blackcaps visited the hawthorn for a short time.
Finally, a tree sparrow visited our fatballs. This is only the second time we've seen a tree sparrow in the garden.
We has an influx of interesting birds today including three species new to the garden, a linnet, a willow warbler and a whitethroat. I got some nice photos of the willow warbler and the whitethroat, but the linnet was only around for a few minutes and was gone before I could get my camera out.
As well as these new species, we had several whinchats and common redstarts flying around the garden.
Starlings are a fairly unusual sight for us. There was a small flock hopping about in the dewy grass early on. Later on, they flew up to our hawthorn and our shed roofs to dry off. I really like starlings. They're really underappreciated.
In total we recorded 25 bird species today. I'm not sure if that is a record, but it must be close.
Whitethroat, Christophstal April 2016
Willow Warbler, Christophstal April 2016
Common redstart, Christophstal April 2016
Female whinchat, Christophstal April 2016
Wet starling, Christophstal April 2016
Starlings, Christophstal April 2016
Male emperor moth, ex. larva Christophstal April 2016
Female emperor moth, ex. larva Christophstal April 2016
Mullein moth, ex. larva Christophstal April 2016
Male blackcap, Christophstal April 2016
Chiffchaff, Christophstal April 2016
Blue tits, Christophstal April 2016
It was a beautiful spring day today.
The warmer weather predicted for the next couple of days has awakened things. Some of my overwintering moths emerged today: all three emperor moths emerged, a female and two males as well as one of my mullein moths from the caterpillars I collected off our buddleia on the 20th June last year. The mullein moth is a new one for the garden. I'd collected caterpillars off the buddleia in 2014 and suspected that they were mullein moths, but they were parasitized, so I couldn't be sure.
Once again, I kept the female emperor moth netted so that I could see how many males would visit. I only saw four visitors and they all seemed to be having trouble finding her. Eventually she mated and, exactly as last year, I was left with a small bundle of around 40 eggs on the wall.
In the garden, the male blackcap and a chiffchaff have been visiting regularly. The chiffchaff must be nesting nearby as it collected this manky-looking feather from under the privet hedge and flew off with it. These two blue tits were obviously a pair.
I'm not sure what was going on at the pond this morning. This photo appears to show one frog eating another. There was lots of splashing and legs flailing about.
There were lots of black redstarts about despite the rain. This couple appear to be pairing up.
A dunnock was singing in our hawthorn tree.
Later in the afternoon, we had a brief visit from this male blackcap, followed shortly afterwards by a female blackcap a short distance away.
Weird frog activity, Christophstal April 2016
Black redstart pair, Christophstal April 2016
Dunnock, Christophstal April 2016
Male blackcap, Christophstal April 2016
Female blackcap, Christophstal April 2016
Bullfinch, Christophstal April 2016
Dunnock with short tail, Christophstal April 2016
Red squirrel, Christophstal April 2016
It rained almost continuously today. There was some occasional sunshine which the birds used to dry their wings as best they could, like this bullfinch.
A regular visitor to the garden at the moment is this dunnock with a very short tail. Presumably he's in mid-moult.
There are very few times that a photo I take comes out with perfect composition and I usually have to crop a bit. This photo of a squirrel on the roof of one of our sheds is directly from the camera (reduced in size, obviously).
Today, there were two swallows. I managed to get this awful photo of one of them, which serves to prove it was a swallow, but very little else.
This buzzard was quite capable of flying upside down when being buzzed by a carrion crow. He was later to be seen down by the pond trying to catch frogs from the water's edge.
Swallow, Christophstal April 2016
Buzzard and crow, Christophstal April 2016
Buzzard, Christophstal April 2016
Today we saw the first swallow of the year. I tried to get a photo, but it was too quick.
We saw our first blackcap of the year today, a female.
Black morel, Christophstal April 2016
Alternate-leaved golden saxifrage, Christophstal April 2016
Juvenile buzzard, Christophstal April 2016
Juvenile buzzard, Christophstal April 2016
Juvenile buzzard, Christophstal April 2016
Nuthatch, Christophstal April 2016
This morning we went for a walk in the woods to see if the woodcock was still about. It wasn't, but we did see this small black morel growing in a patch where we've seen them in previous years.
The alternative-leaved golden saxifrage is also flowering behind the Bärenschlössle.
In the late afternoon I got excited when I thought I saw an Osprey. As soon as I'd downloaded my photos I realised it wasn't an osprey, but it did look exactly like a rough-legged buzzard, which I knew was unlikely. After research, it seems that this extremely white bird, in heavy moult by the look of his tail feathers, is a juvenile buzzard. I was so surprised, I had to go back to check the osprey that visited the valley back in June 2015. Luckily, I can confirm that that was an osprey!
As the sun set, this nuthatch was giving it all at the top of a tree. This is a side of the nuthatch that we haven't seen before. Normally, they come to the feeders, grab a nut or a seed and fly off quickly and usually noisily. This individual was perched singing for some time.
We've been enjoying the courting rituals of the birds this week. We've seen jays feed each other, blue tits do little shy dances on the peanut table and today I saw two long-tailed tits 'do the act'. The female is the white-headed variety, which I'm recording as a full caudatus caudatus (Northern Long-tailed Tit). The male had the normal stripey black head, so hopefully, we'll have lots of little hybrids flying around in a few months.
A couple of weeks ago I posted a photo of a mallard which I thought was just coming out of its eclipse plumage. I now think this is an intersex female (a female which shows male characteristics). This is quite a common thing apparently. She's certainly paired up with a male.
Towards the evening, this mystery bird was singing from the top of a tree. Actually, it isn't a mystery, it is a dunnock.
Down by the pond, a carrion crow and a buzzard were both enjoying the toad bounty.
Northern long-tailed tit, Christophstal April 2016
Long-tailed tit/Northern long-tailed tit, head comparison, Christophstal April 2016
Male long-tailed tit, Christophstal April 2016
Intersex female mallard, Christophstal April 2016
Dunnock, Christophstal April 2016
Carrion crow with toad, Christophstal April 2016
A solitary coot arrived in the pond today and was later joined by some mallards.
In the evening, once it had stopped raining, I went for a run in the woods and saw a quail-sized bird fly up from the ditch beside the track. It was chestnut brown with an orange tail which had a black band. I'm presuming it was a woodcock as there's very little else it could be at this time of year and they are being seen up on the Schliffkopf at the moment. It's unlikely I'll see it again and even more unlikely that I'll be able to get a photo.
Coot, Christophstal April 2016
Great tit, Christophstal April 2016
I couldn't resist posting this photo of this great tit with an impressive skirt.
We went for a walk to Sankenbachsee in the warm spring sunshine. We saw a lot of brimstone butterflies (here nectaring on white butterbur) and we saw three camberwell beauties too. This wren was very melodious and loud considering its size.
When we got back home, I got my camera out expecting it to be a really good day, but there still wasn't a lot happening around the house. There were a few carrion crows pecking round at the pond edge and I assumed they were catching toads, but this one was just taking a bath.
The photo of the black redstart is taken with her atop one of my superb bird perches.
The bank vole living one of our sheds is looking quite healthy.
Brimstone butterflies on white butterbur, Sankenbachsee April 2016
Wren, Sankenbachsee April 2016
Carrion crow, Christophstal April 2016
Black redstart, Christophstal April 2016
Bank vole, Christophstal April 2016
The weather didn't look too promising first thing this morning, but once the fog had burnt off, it turned into a beautiful spring day.
Despite the warm afternoon, there wasn't a lot happening in the garden. There were a few distant song thrushes. Here's one in full song.
Song thrush, Christophstal April 2016