January .Birds at home.

I have been staying close to home in this latest lockdown ( unlike most of the building trade it would seem, but my decision) and so have spent more time with the birds in our garden and small piece of land. I was hoping for a bit more wintry weather but had to make do with a couple of days of hard frost. I still enjoy being close to even our commonest species and try to improve on past photos or at least in different settings and poses. Dunnock, Marsh Tit, Blue Tit, Yellowhammer, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Nuthatch and Robin.

Goldfinch

A set up in the garden to photograph the beautiful Golfinches that enjoy the supply of sunflower hearts on my feeders.

Sociable Lapwing in Cornwall.

The Sociable Lapwing (or Sociable Plover) Vanellus gregarius,is classed as a critically threatened bird globally with as little as six thousand pairs worldwide, breeding in Kazakhstan and Russia and wintering in Sudan, Pakistan and India. So one found in Cornwall was a real star bird, and a first for me anywhere. First found at Crows an Wra in the far west of the county and then being relocated seventy miles to the north at Bude marshes. (After the second lockdown) we travelled down towards Lands End but only had fairly distant views of the bird as it rested alongside Northern Lapwings and not showing well at all, but at least a lifer in the bag, and then three weeks later and thankfully much closer to home at Bude, where although seen well ,I only managed some record shots as it tended to be half hidden by reeds and kept just out of reach for any decent photos, although nice to see it in flight a few times. I decided to have another look on 2nd January ( always nice to get a good bird in two different years),when once agian in the morning it played hard to get , but I stayed on and later in the day had much better views as it fed more out in the open. A slendid way to start the years birding but alas we have now gone into lockdown three,so its local birds and wildlife for a while again now.

Great Spotted Woodpecker

A common enough bird I know, and seen at my bird feeders almost daily, but I still get a little tinge of excitement when I see them, probably because they are differant to all the other visitors, also they are quite predatory, I've seen them take Blue TIt nestlings from a box and wait for the local Nuthatch parents to leave the nesthole and try to break into the nest ( unsuccessfully thankfully, the Nuthatches were'nt far away and went into attack mode), but thats the way nature is. This female perched on a tree trunk in front of my hide ( a shed with some camo netting over the doorway) and preened in the afternoon light giving me the chance for some nice photos

Red Breasted Flycatcher

This super male Red Breasted Flycatcher was recently found in the churchyard of St.Wynwallow at Church Cove on the Lizard in Cornwall. Only the third I've seen and the first male. They breed in Eastern Europe and winter in South and West Asia, a few turn up in the U.K each year.