Sunday 29 March 2020

The clocks changed last night so we're now officially in summer time. You'd never know it though. Whereas yesterday was 20oC on our patio, today it has snowed all day and has been hovering around 1oC.

I got up especially early to see whether there was anything interesting about. There was a warbler on the near side of the pond which is probably impossible to identify.

A small family of white wagtails has been in the valley for a week or so now and they were around first thing as well.

A flock of 36 wood pigeons flew over in the direction of Freudenstadt.

A crested tit also made an appearance announcing his presence with his high-pitch call.

The blue tit has managed to wrest control of our birch nest box back from the nuthatch. He has been parachuting around all week and today he seemed to be rearranging the furniture.

We spotted our first wood anemone in the garden. They've been flowering down towards Friedrichstal for a couple of weeks now.

Lastly, a bit of a weird photo. We went for a run in the woods after breakfast and saw a lot of snow accumulating in spider's webs which seemed to have been spun on nearly every deciduous tree. The photo is a bit confusing - the white smears down the middle are falling snowflakes. The other white patches are the webs with snow in them.

Unknown warbler, Christophstal March 2020

Unknown warbler, Christophstal March 2020

Unknown warbler, Christophstal March 2020

Unknown warbler, Christophstal March 2020

White wagtails, Christophstal March 2020

White wagtails, Christophstal March 2020

36 Wood pigeons, Christophstal March 2020

36 Wood pigeons, Christophstal March 2020

Crested tit, Christophstal March 2020

Crested tit, Christophstal March 2020

Blue tit, Christophstal March 2020

Blue tit, Christophstal March 2020

Blue tit, Christophstal March 2020

Blue tit, Christophstal March 2020

Wood anemone, Christophstal March 2020

Wood anemone, Christophstal March 2020

Cobwebs, Christophstal March 2020

Cobwebs, Christophstal March 2020

Sunday 22 March 2020
Crested tit, Christophstal March 2020

Crested tit, Christophstal March 2020

Crested tit, Christophstal March 2020

Crested tit, Christophstal March 2020

Crested tit, Christophstal March 2020

Crested tit, Christophstal March 2020

It was really cold and sunny today with a strong, bitter wind. I took a lot of photos of a crested tit that was around the garden for a while but was really disappointed with the results. The three photos you see here are the best of the bunch so you can imagine what the others were like. I wasn't happy with any of them to be honest. Must be something wrong with my camera.

Saturday 21 March 2020

After the nice weather we had yesterday, today was a complete contrast. It snowed heavily and was quite cold. Terrible conditions for photography, but I had a go.

I got excited when I saw two small birds on the far side of the pond. I took some photos but beyond saying that they're warblers of some sort, that's about as far as I think I can go with such poor photos - although they're probably chiffchaffs. One of them was hovering over the water and dipping its legs in which I've not seen a warbler do before.

Before the snow really started, we had five hawfinches in the garden. This photo of one of them is taken through a window so is a bit grainy.

The other photos are of an unhappy buzzard sitting out the worst of the snow and a carrion crow enjoying the snow by having a snow bath.

Unknown warbler, Christophstal March 2020

Unknown warbler, Christophstal March 2020

Unknown warbler, Christophstal March 2020

Unknown warbler, Christophstal March 2020

Unknown warbler, Christophstal March 2020

Unknown warbler, Christophstal March 2020

Hawfinch, Christophstal March 2020

Hawfinch, Christophstal March 2020

Buzzard in the blizzard, Christophstal March 2020

Buzzard in the blizzard, Christophstal March 2020

Carrion crow taking a snow bath, Christophstal March 2020

Carrion crow taking a snow bath, Christophstal March 2020

Carrion crow taking a snow bath, Christophstal March 2020

Carrion crow taking a snow bath, Christophstal March 2020

Friday 20 March 2020
Black redstart, Christophstal March 2020

Black redstart, Christophstal March 2020

Buzzard not sitting on a nest but having a good squawk, Christophstal March 2020

Buzzard not sitting on a nest but having a good squawk, Christophstal March 2020

As if by magic, there was black redstart song all around today. There were at least three around the house, but I only managed to get a photo of this female. We heard chiffchaffs in the woods while out on a run yesterday but we haven't seen or heard any around the house yet.

I thought this buzzard was sitting on a nest when I took the other photo, but on closer examination I think it's a witches' broom.

We saw our first slow worm of the year in our front garden too although he was quite torpid (but alive).

Sunday 15 March 2020

No bird photos today. We had a coot in the pond today but it kept hiding whenever I tried to photograph it.

It was a warm sunny day and we saw our first butterflies of the year: a small tortoiseshell, a brimstone and a large tortoiseshell.

We went for a run this morning and saw this impressive display of colt's foot.

Colt's foot, Christophstal March 2020

Colt's foot, Christophstal March 2020

Saturday 14 March 2020
Starling, Christophstal March 2020

Starling, Christophstal March 2020

Frog and toad spawn, Christophstal March 2020

Frog and toad spawn, Christophstal March 2020

Nuthatch, Christophstal March 2020

Nuthatch, Christophstal March 2020

Disappointed blue tit, Christophstal March 2020

Disappointed blue tit, Christophstal March 2020

Long-tailed tit, Christophstal March 2020

Long-tailed tit, Christophstal March 2020

Long-tailed tit, Christophstal March 2020

Long-tailed tit, Christophstal March 2020

Dunnock, Christophstal March 2020

Dunnock, Christophstal March 2020

Male brambling, Christophstal March 2020

Male brambling, Christophstal March 2020

And more returning birds. Today there were seven starlings in the field opposite the house.

The mild weather has brought out the first frogs and toads and here's a photo of the early frogspawn.

One of our nest boxes is attracting a lot of attention. This is the first year we've seen nuthatches checking it out - much to the chagrin of the blue tit who thought he'd bagsied it already.

I've included a few other photos of today's birds.

Thursday 12 March 2020

More returning birds today. We were serenaded by this song thrush.

I've also included a grainy photo of one of the dunnocks who have been visiting this week.

Song thrush, Christophstal March 2020

Song thrush, Christophstal March 2020

Song thrush, Christophstal March 2020

Song thrush, Christophstal March 2020

Dunnock, Christophstal March 2020

Dunnock, Christophstal March 2020

Wednesday 11 March 2020
Grey wagtail, Christophstal March 2020

Grey wagtail, Christophstal March 2020

Grey wagtail, Christophstal March 2020

Grey wagtail, Christophstal March 2020

Grey wagtail, Christophstal March 2020

Grey wagtail, Christophstal March 2020

There were more returning birds in and around the garden today and over the past couple of days. We've had a couple of dunnocks (last seen in May 2019) and today a grey wagtail (last seen in July 2019).

Monday 9 March 2020

Apologies for the graphic nature of today's photo and text. Anyone with a sensitive disposition, please don't read the next paragraph and don't look at the first photo.

When the red squirrels are hanging from our sunflower seed feeder, it's difficult not to notice their sex. This photo is of a female. I haven't got a photo of a male yet but we've seen some impressive testicles over the winter.

The second photo is of a marsh tit. They're visually indistinguishable from willow tits but this one was constantly calling during its visit today so I'm able to be sure that this is a marsh tit.

Female red squirrel (detail), Christophstal March 2020

Female red squirrel (detail), Christophstal March 2020

Marsh tit, Christophstal March 2020

Marsh tit, Christophstal March 2020

Sunday 8 March 2020
Mandarin ducks, Baden Baden March 2020

Mandarin ducks, Baden Baden March 2020

We had a weekend in Baden Baden just before everything closed down due to the Coronavirus. It's not from Christophstal, but I couldn't resist posting a mobile phone photo of a pair of mandarin ducks.

Tuesday 3 March 2020
Mistle thrush, Christophstal March 2020

Mistle thrush, Christophstal March 2020

We've started to see some birds return to the garden after wintering elsewhere. Today we had five mistle thrushes hopping about between the house and the pond.

Sunday 1 March 2020

Either the last day of a month or the first day of a new month almost always produces an interesting record. Today, we had a new bird species for the garden: a yellowhammer.

We went for a run in the morning. There were lots of fallen trees about. I got the opportunity to see the fallen bur from a couple of weeks ago close-up and was surprised at its size. Here's a photo with Christine for scale.

Yellowhammer, Christophstal March 2020

Yellowhammer, Christophstal March 2020

Yellowhammer, Christophstal March 2020

Yellowhammer, Christophstal March 2020

Tree bur, Christophstal March 2020

Tree bur, Christophstal March 2020