The Magpie's Hoard

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Trust

Image © Roger Butterfield, 2009. All rights reserved.

European Robin, Erithacus rubecula.

This wild robin is incredibly trusting. He seems quite content to pose for photographs, singing away to himself on a fence post - provided I serve up a mealworm every few minutes.

If only all birds were so cooperative!

Happy Birthday Mr Darwin

Today is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin.

To mark the occasion, a wide variety of events are being held across the UK and beyond.

If you want to know more about Darwin's life and works, there are loads of really useful resources available on the 'net. The Complete Works of Charles Darwin Online has text and images from many of his publication and private papers, plus an account of how the 100th anniversary of his birth was celebrated.

I haven't yet had an opportunity to visit the Darwin - Big Idea Big Exhibition at the Natural History Museum, but it looks great.

You can leave a birthday message for Darwin here. Don't forget to order your free Tree of Life poster and buy a set of Darwin Stamps.

A Wintry Week

Wintry weather has dominated the headlines for much of the past week. Snow has been unusually widespread across the UK - even the Isles of Scilly got a dusting.

Thankfully, the snowfall wasn’t particularly severe in our neck of the woods - about 12cm according to the Weston Park Weather Station - but it was still enough to cause transport chaos, school closures, etc.

On the positive side, the snow provided plenty of opportunities for photography. I was able get out and capture some winter landscapes in the countryside on Sheffield's western fringes.

Closer to home, the harsh weather brought a variety of birds to the feeding station outside our kitchen window. The most frequent visitors were blackbirds, robins, blue tits and a solitary wren (which, size for size, must have the biggest appetite).

More exotic visitors included several bullfinches. Although we see these colourful birds in our garden fairly often, they do not normally venture so close to the house.

Early on Tuesday morning I spotted a tiny wood mouse nibbling a seed under the bird feeders. I came across the tracks of several other wild mammals in the snow whilst I was out and about in the countryside. Badgers seem to have been particularly active, digging snuffle holes in the frozen ground. I also found a possible set of roe deer tracks near Agden Reservoir - I must keep an eye out for other signs of deer activity around there.

Birdsong

At this time of year, I find myself looking for any small sign that winter is loosening its grip - the slightest hint that spring is on its way.

As darkness fell around 5 o'clock this afternoon, a blackbird was singing hesitantly from the birch tree in our back garden. I paused to listen and also picked up the distant sound of a song thrush in full flow.

It won't be long now...

Wren

Today I took part in the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch survey.

Thankfully, the weather was much better than it was last year. I managed to get a few shots of the birds through the kitchen window too!

More Bigby Results

Earlier in the week I received an email from my friend John, who also took part in the public transport Bigby:

"I had a great year... it pushed me to get out more and try new places and investigate new train and bus routes. I was rather pleased with my total of 187, although at one point I had hopes of reaching 200. King Eider, Glossy Ibis, Red-footed Falcon, Red-breasted Flycatcher and Yellow-browed Warbler were my highlights."

As far as I know, John's Bigby species tally is the highest achieved by a UK-based birder.

Branching out

The UK Natural History Bloggers webring is now open to Irish bloggers.

See uknhb.blogspot.com

Bigby Final Results

Today I submitted my final results for the Bigby Greenbirding challenge.

Just filling in the results spreadsheet turned out to be a challenge in its own right. I find the "international" bird names very confusing. For instance, it took me a while to work out whether the British species of magpie (Pica pica) is known internationally as the black-billed magpie or the Eurasian magpie (it's the latter, I think).

Despite a few taxonomic blunders, I eventually arrived at a total of 154 species. This is one species less than my original total. For some reason, I had added crested tit to the list - as I didn't venture north of Edinburgh in 2008, that was definitely wishful thinking!

Bigby Update

Today I finally got round to bringing my Bigby list up to date. The total now stands at 155 species.