Fieldfare garden show!

Enjoyable walk this morning with Great Spotted Woodpecker, 20+ Tree Sparrow, Yellowhammer and Bullfinch being the highlights, but the main interest was in the garden.

I worked at home today and it was interesting to see how many thrushes were coming in to feed as a result of the snow. I always get decent numbers of Blackbird in the garden and see Fieldfare, Redwing and Mistle Thrush daily at this time of year but very rarely do they come in, they generally just fly over the garden but today was somewhat different with a flock of 45-50 Fieldfare, 2 Mistle Thrush and 4-6 Redwing present for pretty much the whole day feeding on the few remaining berries in mine and my neighbours gardens. Interestingly I also had a ringed Blackbird feeding in the garden today. One of the locally ringed birds or a migrant from further afield? Who knows!....

I managed to get the following shots. I'm quite pleased with them as they were all taken on my phone, through the window!!!


Fieldfare - Garden (phone binned)


Fieldfare - Garden (phone binned)


Fieldfare - Garden (phone binned)


Redwing- Garden (phone binned)


Blackbird- Garden (phone binned)

UPDATE: 10th February.

More of the same today. Again worked at home and again the garden was full of Fieldfare (50+). There was also an increase in Redwing and Mistle Thrush increased from 1 to 2 birds, even allowing a brief set of phone photos to be taken. Also of interest was a single Song Thrush which too posed briefly for a photo. Other highlights included 2 Tree Sparrow that made a brief appearance. Long-tailed, Coal, Blue and Great Tit were all seen along with all the regular common birds. A single Mute Swan flew North, as too did a Buzzard (mobbed by crows). A male Sparrowhawk made a brief attack but didn't catch anything.

A dog walk this evening behind the house resulted in the expected Yellowhammer (2 very smart birds) and the rather unexpected local-area Year Tick in the form of a male Marsh Harrier. The bird flew southeast presumably looking for somewhere to roost, though it was getting seen off by a Crow that had taken offence at its presence.

The following photos, as those above were taken on my phone.


Song Thrush - Garden (Phone binned)


Mistle Thrush - Garden (Phone binned)


Mistle Thrush and Fieldfare - Garden (Phone binned)


Fieldfare - Garden (Phone binned)