MarkyMark's Nature Blog: April 2020

Sunday, April 26, 2020

MarkyMark's Nature Blog:- Long Tailed Tit #15

Long tailed Tit in garden - Photo by Mark Appleton

My friend Kerry requested I do a blog on the cute Long Tailed Tit, as its one of her favourite garden visitors. Not every one is lucky enough to have a garden or able to travel to a green space in these difficult times for their daily exercise, so I will try and bring a little bit of nature to you.

Long-Tailed Tit spotted at RSPB Lakenheath - Photo by Mark Appleton

Their plumage is a very distinctive mix of black, whitish and pink. They have a very long thin tail which is a give away for identification and a very tiny black bill. The black bits include a very large black stripe above their eye. The whitish bits include the central crown stripe and outer tail feathers. The body can look plump and round. Their eyes have a pinkish tinge to them. I often spot them on my feeders or in my mums garden. They travel around in small flocks and fly in single files between bushes. If you spot one there is probably several others nearby. They are forever on the move and can be quite hard to photograph. They are noisy birds and their presence can be signalled by their low purr and sharp whistled calls to each other. For their song and contact calls click on the following link:-Long-Tailed Tit song

Ten years ago the Long-Tailed Tit was a scarce visitor to the garden. This has changed and it has moved into the top ten of the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch, into 9th position for the most common garden visitor, from 12th position last year. They have had a large increase in numbers and a spread northwards in their range in England. Garden feeding may have played a part, but generally milder winters is more likely the major reason for this. These tiny birds are very vulnerable to extreme cold.

Long-Tailed tit on garden feeder - Photo by Mark Appleton

It builds a rounded enclosed nest of lichen, moss, cobwebs and feathers, with a side entrance, usually built in a low bush. It lays 8-12 eggs and has one brood between April and June,. The eggs hatch after about 15 days and the young fly after 16 days being fed by both parents for a further 2 weeks after fledging.

Did you know:-

The oldest known bird survived over 10 years.

Numbers of long-tailed tits in gardens peak during winter. During spring, many fewer Long-tailed tits are spotted in gardens as they move out into the countryside to breed.

It can take over 3 weeks to build its nest which is lined with over 3000 feathers.

Overnight, Long-tailed tits will bed down together to conserve their energy. A thick shrub such as hawthorn is favoured and individuals will huddle into a ball with their tails sticking out.

A group of Long-tailed tits are known as a "volery" of tits.

Long-tailed Tits after a rain shower - Photo by Mark Appleton

For more information on Long-tailed Tits click on the following links:-

RSPB - Long-tailed Tit

Garden Birds - Long-tailed Tit

BTO - Long-tailed Tit

and lastly

A BIG SHOUT OUT FOR ALL OUR ESSENTIAL KEY WORKERS WHO ARE DOING AN AMAZING JOB IN THESE DIFFICULT TIMES

STAY AT HOME HELP THE NHS SAVE LIVES

MarkyMark's Nature Blog:- The Jay #14

Jay, photo taken from a bird hide in woodland - Photo by Mark Appleton

I live near the woods, so I am lucky enough to take my allocated daily walk there during these times of lock down. I know a lot of people are not as lucky, or don't have a garden, so in these difficult times, I will attempt to bring a little bit of nature to you.

Often while walking up the main paths of the woods, I hear a raucous screech. On other occasions I walk on the narrow paths through the dense woodland and will often see a bird or pair of birds flying through the trees, having been disturbed by my noisy footsteps. This bird is the Jay. I have also found that there is one often nearby when hearing the Nuthatches alarm calls.

Jay in the dense woodland - Photo by Mark Appleton

Jay in the woods - Photo by Mark Appleton

The Jay is a beautiful crow of the woodlands, but can also be seen in parks and on some garden feeders when food is scarce. It has a pinkish body, pale streaked head, black moustache, black tail and thick dark bill. The Jay is noticeable with its large, beautiful, barred, bright blue patch on its wing as well as a white wing panel. It has a large white rump which becomes more noticeable in flight and helps identification. Jay's are very well camouflaged in the dappled woodland light.

Jay in tree - Photo by Mark Appleton

This bird is widespread and common, but not often seen by the general public due to its shy nature. It is most likely to be seen in autumn. At this time, they come out into the open and will be seen flying from oak trees, bills laden with acorns, on their way to burying them in the ground, to be eaten when food is scarce. It can be seen feeding on the ground using long, bouncing or leaping hops. They have amazing memories being able to remember where they bury the acorns. At other times of year, Jays have a large and varied diet, ranging from fruit, nuts, to insects, eggs, nestlings and small mammals.

Jay in woodland - Photo by Mark Appleton

In contrast to the beautiful blue wing panel, some people say the Jay has an ugly voice with its horrific, loud, raucous, rasping call from which the Jay gets its name from. The Jay's song and call can be heard by clicking on this link:- Jay song

Jay -Photo by Mark Appleton

Nesting begins in mid-April. Nest is built of twigs, built by both adults usually on a branch or fork in a tree. The female incubates 4 or 5 eggs for about 18 days. The young are fed by both adults and leave the nest after about 3 weeks. The adults continue to feed the young for a further 6-8 weeks.

Did You Know

The Jay has a curious habit of allowing ants to run over its plumage. It is believed it is to employ the ants chemical defence's against parasites.
The Jay's lifespan is 3-5 years.
If there is a surplus of acorns, some of the acorns that are not retrieved by the Jays grow into new oak trees.

Males and females are monogamous and usually pair for life.

For more information about the Jay, click on the following useful links:-
RSPB - Jay
Garden Birds - Jay
BTO - Jay

and lastly

A BIG SHOUT OUT FOR ALL OUR ESSENTIAL KEY WORKERS WHO ARE DOING AN AMAZING JOB IN THESE DIFFICULT TIMES

STAY AT HOME HELP THE NHS SAVE LIVES

Wednesday, April 22, 2020

MarkyMark's Nature Blog:- Garden bird photography #13

Blue Tit - Photo by Mark Appleton

A lot of time has been spent in my sisters garden during lock down as the weather has been nice. For daily exercise, I have taken a walk to the local woods. Not everyone is as fortunate to have access to a garden during lockdown, so I am trying to bring a bit of nature to you. I thought I'd share some pictures taken in my garden over the last few years and some tips for getting photos of the birds in the garden. Let me just say there are some fantastic photographers out there and I just take photos for pleasure.

Camera
Most people these days have a camera of sorts, whether it be a phone camera, bridge camera (portable camera with fixed lens and powerful zoom), or digital SLR camera with interchangeable lenses. The digital SLR cameras have bigger sensors than the bridge cameras so the photos have better image quality, but they are a lot bulkier and more expensive. I started out with a bridge camera for my bird photography and I still use it sometimes as it is very portable and has a big built in zoom. The camera I have is a Panasonic FZ200. The mobile phones have great cameras on them and it is amazing what you can also do with a phone camera. Together with editing software that comes with your phone or on your computer, pictures can be enhanced or cropped to zoom into the subject to provide more impact.

Great Tit in the garden - Photo by Mark Appleton

Attract the birds
To take pictures of the birds in your garden, you first need to attract them. With a little thought, you can turn your garden into a bird photographic studio. The easiest way to attract birds to your garden and have a subject for your bird photography, is to put out feeders. Popular foods include mixed seeds, mealworms, fat balls, sunflower seeds and niger seeds. It could be as simple as placing a stick on bird feeder to your window, be it kitchen, bedroom or conservatory.

Nuthatch attracted to garden with mixed bird seed - Photo by Mark Appleton

Siskin on bird Feeder - Photo by Mark Appleton

Spring Time
It is a bonus if you have a bird box in your garden as it can attract lots of action.
The end of April and beginning of May is a great time for taking photo's either in your garden or local green spaces.

Blue Tit feeding young - Photo by Mark Appleton

Many birds are busy nest building, feeding their young and some of the young are beginning to fledge. A couple of years ago I had blue tits nesting in a bird box in my garden. I regularly sat outside with a coffee and always took my camera. I was fascinated watching the adults feeding their young.

Blue Tit with grub in garden - Photo by Mark Appleton

Blue Tits, Mum and Dad feeding young - Photo by Mark Appleton

Blue Tit with grub -Photo by Mark Appleton

Young starling being fed on the garden fence:-

Starling feeding young - Photo by Mark Appleton

Blackbird looking for worms in garden - Photo by Mark Appleton

Fledglings

Having sat outside the bird box most days, I was very lucky to capture the baby Blue Tits fledging and taking their leap into the unknown:-

Ill just take a peek - Photo by Mark Appleton

Baby Blue Tit in bird box - Photo by Mark Appleton

Baby Blue tit - Photo by Mark Appleton

I'm nearly ready to go Photo by Mark Appleton

Blue Tit, time to fledge Photo by Mark Appleton

One of the fledglings flew straight on to the patio until its parents coaxed it into a garden tree:-

Blue Tit just fledged - Photo by Mark Appleton

The bonus with young birds is a lot of them have not yet learnt to be frightened of humans and you can get some good pictures without them flying away:-

Young Starlings waiting to be fed

Young Starling waiting to be fed Phot by Mark Appleton

Time of Day
Think about what time of day you will be taking your photographs. Most birds are active early morning or early evening and also the light is more agreeable then. Shooting midday can cause your pictures to be over exposed or bleached out. Also think about where the sun will be, especially if you are waiting for a bird to land on a specific prop as you don't want to be shooting into the sun.

Prop
As mentioned earlier, you can set up your garden like a photographic studio with some very well positioned props. These can look more natural than birdfeeders. For example, add a log, rock or stick in the garden. To tempt the birds, wedge nuts in the log or smear some peanut butter on the prop, but out of site for your photo. Here is a stick planted in the garden that I was lucky enough to have a Dunnock land on:-

Dunnock on prop - Photo by Mark Appleton

Background
When setting up your props, take notice of what is behind them. You could get some unwanted objects in your photos, such as a bike, rather than a nice green bush or blue sky. One way around this is to blur the background by choosing a low aperture number, This will give you a shallow depth of field, so make sure your focus on the bird is good.

The sky has been chosen in the following picture as a background to hilight the Starling:-

Shooting upwards to capture blue sky background - Photo by Mark Appleton

While the next 3 pictures have blurred a cluttered background:-

Male Blackbird, cluttered background blurred - Photo by Mark Appleton

Baby starling being fed - Photo by Mark Appleton

Baby Robin, house blurred in background - Photo by Mark Appleton

Water

If you have a garden try adding water features, whether it be a bird bath, large flowerpot dish or plate of water, especially during the hot weather and you will see a lot more birds. You may be lucky enough to capture a bird drinking. I placed an empty bird bath in the middle of my sisters lawn and filled it up and saw Robin, Wren, Blackbird, all drinking that day. You may also see a little bit of magic that will brighten up your day, a bird having a bath. This picture was taken a couple of years ago of a young Blackbird in the garden:-

Young blackbird on bird bath - Photo by Mark Appleton

Young Blackbird having a bath - Photo by Mark Appleton

and lastly

A BIG SHOUT OUT FOR ALL OUR ESSENTIAL KEY WORKERS WHO ARE DOING AN AMAZING JOB IN THESE DIFFICULT TIMES

STAY AT HOME HELP THE NHS SAVE LIVES

Tuesday, April 21, 2020

MarkyMark's Nature Blog:- Garden Birds #12

Goldfinch - Photo by Mark Appleton

So back to sitting in my sisters garden during lockdown. Some of us don't have gardens or cannot get to a green space in these difficult times, so I will attempt to bring a little bit of nature or colour to you in this blog. Why colour, because I will bring you three of the colourful birds that visit our gardens. Therefore I need to apologize to the not so colourful garden birds that don't get a mention, I still love you. So I don't feel as guilty, a quick mention for the top 5 most popular garden bird visitors in this years RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch:-

1. House Sparrow
2. Starling
3. Blue Tit
4. Woodpigeon
5. Blackbird

Many garden birds are essentially woodland birds and many can be tempted by food and water and some within range can be lured in to add some colour and variation to your visiting garden birds.

Goldfinch
Goldfinch are number 6 on the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch list. They love feeders filled with Niger seeds. You can get special feeders with small slits in so that the Goldfinches can use their specialized bills to get them.

Goldfinch - Photo by Mark Appleton

Goldfinch taking off - Photo by Mark Appleton

I often hear the goldfinches flight call whilst they are flying above my sisters garden. It is almost metallic sounding as they keep contact with each other. It is hard to describe, click on the link for their call and song:- Goldfinch song

Goldfinch - Photo by Mark Appleton

Did you know:-

European Goldfinches were introduced successfully to both Australia and New Zealand over 100 years ago.

Young Goldfinches lack the red face of the adult, and are often known as grey pates.

The popularity of Goldfinches as a cage bird in Victorian Britain led to huge numbers being trapped to supply demand, causing the population to crash.

A group of Goldfinches is called a Charm of Goldfinches. I guess we have a Charm of Goldfinches below:-

Charm of Goldfinch - Photo by Mark Appleton

For more information about the Goldfinch, click on the following links:-

RSPB - Goldfinch
Garden Birds - Goldfinch
Woodland Trust - Goldfinch

Next up is

Chaffinch (see the odd one out below)

Chaffinch with Goldfinch - Photo by Mark Appleton

The Chaffinch has dropped out of the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch top 10 this year by two places to number 11. Chaffinches readily visit bird feeders, mainly for mixed seed; they will feed on hanging feeders, bird tables and also on the ground.

Chaffinch - Photo by Mark Appleton

The chaffinch has a distinctive song that sounds like a train chuffing, descending in scale ending with a final sound like 'weetchoo'. For the Chaffinch song click on this link :- Chaffinch song

Male Chaffinch -Photo by Mark Appleton

The pictures here are of the male Chaffinch, the female is much duller and browner in colour and sparrow-like but can be identified with distinctive white patches on the wings and white outer tail feathers and same shape angular head as the males.

Male Chaffinch - Photo by Mark Appleton

Did you know:-

In winter, all-male chaffinch flocks are not unusual, giving rise to the old country name of bachelor bird.

Although the male's song is a short and simple repetition of notes ending in a flourish, the Victorians greatly valued its ability as a songster, and huge numbers were trapped annually for the cage bird trade.

The Victorians used to hold singing matches between cock chaffinches, with the winner being the bird considered to have sung the most phrases in a 15-minute period.
They are one of the longest-lived of our perching birds, hence have a relatively low reproduction rate.

Chaffinch - Photo by Mark Appleton

For more information about the Chaffinch, click on the following links:-

RSPB - Chaffinch
Garden Birds - Chaffinch
Woodland Trust - Chaffinch

Last of my favourite colourful garden visitors today is the

Greenfinch

Greenfinch on garden feeder - Photo by Mark Appleton

The Greenfinch is no longer as common in our gardens as it once was. This year it was position 18 in ranking for visits to UK gardens in the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch. The population has decreased by nearly 60% in the last 10 years. This is partly due to a disease called Trichomonosis and spread by parasites on dirty bird feeders and tables. Please make sure you clean your feeders and tables with disinfectant to ensure we still have these beautiful birds visit our parks and gardens.

Greenfinch - Photo by Mark Appleton

The Greenfinch sings loud trills from treetops as well as rooftop aerials. It has a twittering wheezing song that can be heard by clicking on this link:-Greenfinch song

Greenfinches are about the size of house sparrows. Males are dull-olive green with greenish-yellow on the breast and rump, and have bright yellow wing flashes. Female greenfinches are duller and browner than males but still have yellow wing flashes.

Greenfinch - Photo by Mark Appleton

Did you know:-

Young greenfinches can be confusing to identify as they lack the distinctive yellow on their primaries and tail that the adults show.

British birds generally start breeding in early April, with their first clutches complete by the end of the month and two broods usually attempted by each pair.