Sunday 29 November 2015

Once again, the crested tit visited the garden and again he was too flighty to photograph. The light was terrible anyway. After some initial heavy snowfall this morning, the temperature rose steadily during the day and it was raining heavily from midday onwards. The snow is still on the ground, but it is very slushy.

Saturday 28 November 2015
Ice Holes, Christophstal November 2015

Ice Holes, Christophstal November 2015

Crested Tit, Christophstal October 2014

Crested Tit, Christophstal October 2014

It's been really cold all week and it was down to -9oC on Wednesday night. The pond has frozen over, but as it warmed up today, this interesting pattern of holes was created.

It started getting dark around 16:30, but it was just light enough to see the first crested tit of this winter hopping around in the garden. Hopefully, he'll visit for the next few days and I'll be able to get a photo. In the meantime, here is a photo of a little chap from last year.

Sunday 22 November 2015
Snow scene, Christophstal, November 2015

Snow scene, Christophstal, November 2015

Snow scene, Christophstal, November 2015

Snow scene, Christophstal, November 2015

Great Cormorants, Christophstal November 2015

Great Cormorants, Christophstal November 2015

It continued to snow overnight and we reckon there was about 5cm on the ground this morning.

Just after lunch, a flock of around 50 great cormorants flew over the valley eastwards. This becomes the 70th bird species seen from the house.

Saturday 21 November 2015
Middle spotted woodpecker, Christophstal November 2015

Middle spotted woodpecker, Christophstal November 2015

Deformed Jay, Christophstal November 2015

Deformed Jay, Christophstal November 2015

This morning, a middle spotted woodpecker visited the peanut table and took his peanut into the mirabelle tree. I'd previously identified this as a great spotted woodpecker. Looking back over my photos, I found that this wasn't the first time I'd made this misidentification. This was actually a new species for the garden back at the beginning of September and he's been visiting fairly regularly since then.

In early afternoon it started to snow heavily.

A more regular visitor to the peanut table is this jay with strange side-projection. We're not sure if he's got an abnormal growth or he's just got some displaced feathers, but he has been like this for several months and is one of the greediest jays we see.

Friday 20 November 2015

It rained heavily for 24 hours. The pond, which was previously at the lowest level of water we've seen, is now right back up to full again.

The spring that feeds the pond and which has been dry since August is now running again.

Sunday 15 November 2015
Greenfinch, Christophstal November 2015

Greenfinch, Christophstal November 2015

Greenfinch, Christophstal November 2015

Greenfinch, Christophstal November 2015

Greenfinch, Christophstal November 2015

Greenfinch, Christophstal November 2015

Brambling, Christophstal November 2015

Brambling, Christophstal November 2015

Raven Ballet (composite), Christophstal November 2015

Raven Ballet (composite), Christophstal November 2015

Once again, there wasn't a lot going on today. We had a visit from a flock of mixed birds: chaffinches, bramblings and greenfinches.

It's interesting to see how variable the greenfinches are in coloration. I've been watching the greenfinches particularly closely as I'm hoping to see a citril finch - which I think looks similar (although a lot smaller).

It's been windy all day and a couple of ravens treated us to a ballet. They seemed to be enjoying getting buffeted by the wind and were doing a lot of stunts together. The image here is a composite of two images. Unfortunately, they're a bit distant.

Saturday 14 November 2015
Traumatised middle spotted woodpecker, Christophstal November 2015

Traumatised middle spotted woodpecker, Christophstal November 2015

It's been a quiet week. The weather changed last night and was wet and windy. This morning is much fresher.

This afternoon, I was enjoying watching a blackbird fluttering about in the garden. He eventually flew off over the pond into some cover. Unfortunately, a sparrowhawk spotted him and managed to flush him and another bird out. I wasn't sure what the other bird was, but I saw the blackbird fly panic-stricken down the valley with the sparrowhawk in close pursuit. It's doubtful he got away.

Immediately after this, we saw a middle spotted woodpecker clinging to our peanut feeder. He clearly wasn't happy and stayed motionless on the feeder for quite a while. It looks like this was the other bird. Perhaps the blackbird saved the woodpecker.

Sunday 8 November 2015
Sparrowhawk, Christophstal November 2015

Sparrowhawk, Christophstal November 2015

Bathing sparrowhawk with crow, Christophstal November 2015

Bathing sparrowhawk with crow, Christophstal November 2015

Sunning sparrowhawk, Christophstal November 2015

Sunning sparrowhawk, Christophstal November 2015

Sunning sparrowhawk, Christophstal November 2015

Sunning sparrowhawk, Christophstal November 2015

A sparrowhawk was bathing at the pond this morning, watched closely by a crow. Afterwards, it sat in the sun drying itself.

Saturday 7 November 2015
Morning dew, Christophstal November 2015

Morning dew, Christophstal November 2015

Buzzard drying wings, Christophstal November 2015

Buzzard drying wings, Christophstal November 2015

Heron reflection, Christophstal November 2015

Heron reflection, Christophstal November 2015

It was drizzly this morning which created this interesting effect on the Harrerbuckel.

A buzzard spent several hours across the valley drying his wings. It would have been quicker if he'd sat in the sun rather than in the shade.

This hunting heron created an interesting shape with its reflection.

Friday 6 November 2015
Carrion Crows Perhaps?, Christophstal November 2015

Carrion Crows Perhaps?, Christophstal November 2015

It continues to be extremely mild and dry. We've seen 26oC on the patio this week.

This morning and evening we had some large flocks of black birds flying through the valley. I think they're carrion crows, but they were silent, which is unusual.

** UPDATE ** They're probably jackdaws as some large flocks have been observed nearby.

Tuesday 3 November 2015
Five Fieldfare, Christophstal November 2015

Five Fieldfare, Christophstal November 2015

There were more flocks of fieldfare flying through the valley today. This time, they stopped off for a while in the hornbeams.

Monday 2 November 2015
Silk Thread, Christophstal November 2015

Silk Thread, Christophstal November 2015

Guardian Crow, Christophstal November 2015

Guardian Crow, Christophstal November 2015

We briefly had a sparrowhawk in the garden this morning. Luckily, it didn't catch any of the birds at our feeders and three crows chased it away. The crows stayed around for a while to make sure he didn't come back.

This afternoon, when the sun was low, we could see some really long threads of silk flying across the valley. Some of them were several metres long. This photo was an attempt to capture this, but it's difficult to see. Presumably these were spiders distributing themselves.

Sunday 1 November 2015
Steamy morning, Christophstal November 2015

Steamy morning, Christophstal November 2015

It continues to be cold overnight and extremely mild in the day. This results in the steamy scenes like those shown here from this morning.