Sunday 29 September 2019
Kestrel, Christophstal September 2019

Kestrel, Christophstal September 2019

Kestrel, Christophstal September 2019

Kestrel, Christophstal September 2019

Gormless songthrush, Christophstal September 2019

Gormless songthrush, Christophstal September 2019

Black redstart, Christophstal September 2019

Black redstart, Christophstal September 2019

Blackbird, Christophstal September 2019

Blackbird, Christophstal September 2019

It was a nice sunny day today. A kestrel sat on top of one of the conifers for while and then flew right at me and landed on the roof of the house. Not sure why.

This songthrush was basking in the sun, looking rather gormless.

There were a lot of black redstarts hunting around the house today.

I'm hoping the haws are going to last long enough to bring in some redwings this year. It doesn't look likely with this hooverbelly around.

Saturday 28 September 2019

There's a small area behind the house that wasn't trashed by the cows. There's a fine angelica plant still flowering there.

We haven't seen a hawfinch for a while so this dirty-beaked individual was a welcome sight. A few minutes later a buzzard alighted in the adjacent tree which gave a scale comparison. 

Angelica, Christophstal September 2019

Angelica, Christophstal September 2019

Hawfinch, Christophstal September 2019

Hawfinch, Christophstal September 2019

Buzzard, Christophstal September 2019

Buzzard, Christophstal September 2019

Sunday 22 September 2019
Female blackcap, Christophstal September 2019

Female blackcap, Christophstal September 2019

Chiffchaff, Christophstal September 2019

Chiffchaff, Christophstal September 2019

There's been a very long quiet spell in the garden. The cows arrived at the beginning of the month which meant we had almost no migrant birds this year. The weather had been reasonably decent too and this has meant that there have been a lot more people in the valley. Whatever the reason, there really hasn't been much to see.

Today I saw a female blackcap and a chiffchaff but everything else was bog standard.

Sunday 1 September 2019

Despite what I said on Friday, today we've seen some interesting birds. No whitethroats or whinchats, but today we saw a common redstart (photo is really out of focus, I know), a couple of tree pipits and three juvenile siskins.

Additionally, we saw a couple of wall brown butterflies.

The mullein in our garden stopped flowering a couple of weeks ago, but today it had a final hurrah and managed to push out another couple of flowers right at the very top of its six-foot heft.

Common redstart, Christophstal September 2019

Common redstart, Christophstal September 2019

Tree pipit, Christophstal September 2019

Tree pipit, Christophstal September 2019

Tree pipits, Christophstal September 2019

Tree pipits, Christophstal September 2019

Juvenile siskin, Christophstal September 2019

Juvenile siskin, Christophstal September 2019

Juvenile siskin, Christophstal September 2019

Juvenile siskin, Christophstal September 2019

Male black redstart, Christophstal September 2019

Male black redstart, Christophstal September 2019

Wall brown, Christophstal September 2019

Wall brown, Christophstal September 2019

Last mullein flowers of the year, Christophstal September 2019

Last mullein flowers of the year, Christophstal September 2019