Snow is here early

First snow of winter arrived early Saturday with 2/3 inches, windy as well which means teperatures are well down. Regular visiters remain the same to the garden although a flock of about 15 starlings have become very regular now. Around the house flocks of mainly fieldfare and odd redwing are still feeding on the hawthorn berries although they are fast disappearing. Overhead a couple of ravens are heard on and off during the day and 12 lesser black backed gulls passed through on Sat morning. It was great to also chalk up a woodcock on the walk back from the pub.

Couple of new visitors

Still doing lots of jobs around the house and garden which means I can keep an eye out for any new visitors. This weekend I chalked up a small flock of redwing flying and calling. The huge numbers of fieldfare seem to have dispersed although there remain a few smaller flocks around. A new visitor to the feeders this weekend was a coal tit which is great to see. Goldfinch numbers seem to be very high including one rather sick bird that remained feeding on the nyger even when I was standing right next to it. It looked a bit wet or waxy and I think may have had the disease that alot of finches seem to be going down with. It had disappeared by this morning so I suspect it did not make it through the night. The cotoneaster in the garden has worked attracting in a mistle thrush so here's hoping some of the waxwing fall for it as well!!

Winter is on its way - maybe!

Having said goodbye to the last Gunnerside swallow on the 10th Oct it is now the tern of the winter visitors to show their faces. Most noticeable have been the huge flocks of fieldfare all around the village. Conservatively I would estimate 1000+ birds particularly in the fields and bushes to the west of the village. In amoungst were quite large numbers of starling (100/200)and the odd mistle thrush. I would have expected a few redwing but did not actually ID any. With our cottoneaster laden with berries it wasn't long before a few brave fieldfares even made it in to the garden although to be honest the hawthorn bushes are so full of berries I am surprised they bothered. I noticed last night that there are lots of waxwing reports coming in so here's hoping a few hitch a ride with these thrush flocks and pay a visit "up dale"!
Other birds yesterday included a very vocal raven playing around over the house, an early morning (5.30am) tawny owl "Kirricking" very loudly through the bedroom window and some noisy red grouse which appear to have so far avoided the guns up on the pasture. On the feeders we have all the usual suspects blue and great tits, starling, greenfinch, chaffinch, goldfinch by the dozen or more, wren, pheasant, blackbird, dunnock and a friendly robin which had to be rescued from the garage after he tried to raid the bird food stocks!!
The meadow pipits and pied wags that were all around the house up to 2 weeks ago now seem to have disappeared off to warmer clims - not surprising since we had quite a sharp frost Sunday and Monday am.

Last few swallows

Couple of new birds appeared in the garden this weekend and particularly good news was the first house sparrow - so hopefully the sparrow terrace may get occupied next spring. The other newcomer was Mistle thrush with at least 3 visiting the garden all weekend. Overhead there were just 3 swallows flying around the house. I guess they may all be gone by next week unless it warms up a bit and the insects stay out.

Took a trip to Spurn Point on Monday and it was quite brilliant. Weather was great and birds even better. Chalked Great Grey Shrike, Yellow Browed Warbler, great views of merlin and a good selection of migrants including 5 winchat - FAB well worth the very early start and long walk along the spit.

Week 3

Start of 3rd week in new house and bird numbers in the garden continue to grow. We now seem to have 8 bluetits visiting the feeders, a pair of robin, dunnock and great tit and many goldfinch and chaffinch. A newcomer at weekend were a pair of greenfinch plus very vocal tawny and little owls at night. Still overhead were a count of 6 swallows but no sign of house martins anymore. As an aside there are still large numbers of swallows down dale from Reeth. Also overhead some quite large groups of thrushes. The local pheasant population also seem to have found the food in the garden which will no doubt please the Game Keepers but may prove rather expensive for us on food!

Just some very poor photographic proof that the birds have started to show themselves!

Birds start appearing

Last week we set the bird feeders up but to be honest for the first weekend nothing appeared. Things have warmed up as the week progressed however and now we seem to have a regular crew of feeders at the station. New comers this week include blue and great tit, dunnock, robin and chaffinch. Everything seems to be far more wary than the birds around the village and wonder if it is just that they are less used to feeders or taht the garden is far more open and they are more vulnerable to attack? Talking of which, from the garden we are getting regular sighting of both kestrel and sparrowhawk down by the river. Still plenty of house martins around but numbers of swallow are falling away quickly as temps drop down to about 5/6 degrees over night.
Best thing so far was putting up our nest boxes (yes I know its a bit late!! or early!!) Box had only been up 1 hour when one of our newly arrived blue tits popped straight inside for a look - a winter roost sight perhaps? Several other new birds seen from garden including 2 cormorant which as a local fly fisher was not such a welcome sight!! They did seem to be moving fairly quickly east so hopefully they are on Teeside by now.

View from new house

New beginning!!!

Right! Having just moved house it feels right to have another new beginning with Gunnerside Twitch! Our move is just one of 1/4 mile to the outskirts of the village but it gives us much more space and big big views of the Dale. We moved in last Thurs (9th Sept) and what I hope to do is record the birds and other wildlife seen in and from the grounds of the house, as well as reports on other local wildlife sightings.

The house is surrounded by fields, stone walls and the odd tree/bush. The previous occupants did not seem to feed the birds and there are currently no bird boxes up. In between moving boxes over the weekend we did manage to keep an eye out for bird activity but our count of birds in the garden is pretty poor so far
Blackbird
Wren
Swallow
Mipit
Pied Wag
Goldfinch

Birds from the garden is a little more impressive (just)
as above
Jackdaw
Raven
Kestrel
Red Grouse
Pheasant
Mistle Thrush
Starling

My intention at first is to do a weekly update in particular recording what success we have in attracting new birds to the garden. Already our bird feeders are up but we are keen to make the garden far more wildlife friendly with perhaps hawthorn hedging and a small water feature.

Update - better late than never!!

All been a bit busy since coming back from hols so got very lazy on blog !! So what has been happening? Well I don't know what others think but from a Gunnerside perspective I think 2009 is looking like a really good breeding year for garden birds. The bird table and feeders seem to be absolutely full of young and the swallows/ swifts and house martins are still very busy nesting. Houise martins on front of house and very busy feeding young and I guess they may well fledge in next day or two - once gone we will however have a very serious window cleaning job to do - it seems the young like nothing more than pointing their a*** out of the nest and projectile poohing all over our bedroom window!!!! Still a small price to pay i guess.
Sand martins are also still nesting down at Rowleth, infact they were washed out just 2 weeks ago and started nesting again 2 days later. We were relaibly informed by my house sitting parents that the Spotted flycatchers successfully raised a brood and they fledged whilst we were on holiday. Up on the moors there seem to be a few grouse around along with a few curlew and lapwing still.
Tawny owls in the village seem to be very vocal at night at the moment and i wonder whether this is the young just practising their hooting!?
Birds in the garden most days at the moment include, chaffinch, blue tit, great tit, blackbird, collared dove, siskin, goldfinch, greenfinch, dunnock, robin, song thrush, jackdaw, house sparrow, great spot woodpecker, pheasant, pied wagtail, swallow, house martin and swift.

Back from Hols

Been away for 2 weeks in Sutherland - fab weather with great walking, kayaking, fishing and wildlife - highlights were a minke whale just 50 metres away from us and a brief glimpse of a pine martin! Pick of the birds was a Black Throated Diver and chick I found while fishing Loch Crogach and a singing male Snow Bunting on the top of Conival.
Bird news from Gunnerside is that spotted flycatchers and grey wags raised broods just 10 metres from the front door of the pub!! The house martins have rebuilt their nest on the front of our house and seem to be well on the way to raising a family. Yet more nesting is taking place in the garden, the rear nest box, having been vacated by blue tits is now the home of a family of house sparrows and dunnocks are nesting in our clematis. I think that now takes us to the following nesting species in our garden this year; house sparrow x 3 nests; jackdaw; blackbird; blue tit; swallow; house martin; and dunnock.

Snow in June!

This photo was taken 7pm last night outside the Kings Head pub - proper snow on 5th June, last time I saw that was 1976 and for 3 months after that the temp hardly fell below 75 degrees - lets hope it repeats itself!
First however the bad news, our house martin nest has fallen off the house. It seemed to coinside with some light rainfall so perhaps it just got wet and slipped off, I assume this is a fairly common occurence?? As yet they dont seem to be interested in rebuilding in the same place. The swallows however continue to thrive and we are expecting that some chicks may hatch pretty soon and the sparrows are still busy feeding their young in the nest box.
Went for a short walk up the gill this pm once the torrential rain had stopped and some sunshine had come out. The swallows, swifts and house martins were really busy feeding with light winds and loads of insects up and about. Up at Pot Ing there were several pairs of wheatear busy feeding chicks and as we headed down towards the river we picked up our first spotted flys of the year - always great to see them and we are really lucky here as we seem to get alot of them still. On our short stroll back to Gunnerside bridge we saw about 6/7 of them. Other birds picked up were, goldfinch, redpoll, song thrush, oyster catcher, lapwing, blackbird, blue tit, meadow pipit, mistle thrush, starling, blackheaded gull, great tit, robin, jackdaw, willow warbler. At the bridge we did a quick scan of the bushes and were delighted to pick up both grey wag and spotted fly and even happier to see that they were both nesting right next to the bridge, even allowing great views into the SF's nest itself - it will be interesting seeing how they both get on as last years SF's in this location were unsuccessful nesters.

Holiday time!

Had fabulous week up in Scotland last week. Mostly walking and fishing with a bit of birdwatching thrown in. Total bird count for the week was 101 including some scottish specialities, crested tit, breeding dotterel, scottish crossbill, black and red throated divers and of course osprey. Fishing was good too with good catches of pollock and brown trout - so we didn't go hungry!

News from Gunnerside is that we now have both swallows and house martins nesting in or on the house, taking our nesting birb species in garden this year to 6!!! I guess it will also mean that the out house and window will also get covered in droppings - still, on balance worth it I think.

Couldn't resist one fish photo, just to wind up my brothers!

Northumberland

Weekend away in Northumberland so no Gunnerside news. Some excellent walking and plenty of birdwatching on the coast. Over 90 different species seen over the weekend, including whimbrel, arctic, little, common and sandwich terns, swift, white wagtails and a good selection of waders moving into breeding plumage. Paid visit to Holy Island which was fascinating but birds proved elusive. Did manage to get some great shots of a swallow that was nesting in the hide overlooking the lake though.

Stang Forest and Scargill

We ventured over the dale and up to the Stang forest today. Did lovely walk through pine forest and then down wooded valley to Scargill and then back over the moor. Highlight of day was finding 3 pied flycatchers. Two were already paired up and investigating a nest box. With a little patience I was able to get some reasonable shots of the birds. There were also a couple of blackcaps and a marsh tit to be seen with plenty of willow warblers and chiff chaffs. Today we also heard our first cuckoo of the year but try as we might he remained hidden from sight. Coming back over Garnerthwaite pasture there were lots of curlew and lapwing and even the odd hatchling.

Four Ravens still here

The four ravens seen all winter are still very active and vocal around Gunnerside. seems late for them to still be here so I will watch with interest to see if they see the summer out here

Easter weekend

After a week away cross country skiing in Norway it was back to the milder clims of Gunnerside for Easter - but our bird list for the weekend still has a number of winter visiters. First good news was the reappearance of a pair of Redpolls on the birdfeeders, along with a couple of siskin. They must have been hungry because they haven't really moved from the birdtable all weekend!

On Friday, with Mum and Dad in tow we went over to Whaw, Arkengarthdale and walked up dale to Dalehead and back round, with the hope of seeing some Black Grouse. After a few anxious miles we eventually did see a pair hiding behind some trees but fortunately better views were had as we walked back near Shepherds Lodge. Other birds of note included 2 x Redshank, 2 x Snipe, 4/5 x Oystercatcher, a lone Wheatear and good numbers of nesting Lapwing. Also nice to see a flock of 100+ fieldfare plus one or two Redwing all looking very bright as though getting into breeding plumage. Rather incongruously, up above them flew a lone Swallow.
Sunday saw us head off up the Gunnerside Gilll in search of Ring Ouzel. The weather was absolutely beautiful despite an early morning frost. After having got Dad up on to Jingle Pot Edge path with the aid of oxygen we continued up past Botcher Gill gate and on to Ewe Leap Scar. The first Ouzel of the day were seen at Botcher Gill Gate and from then on it was an Ouzel fest!! Our full count for the day was 5 pairs including one in the middle of nest building. The Gill truely is a great place for these summer visiters but I am not sure we have had such a high count before. We were also quite surprised to still see the Ravens over wintering Scar. There were 4 flying around most of the day. I am assuming these will be juveniles and they will be moving on soon. An unusual sighting just below Potting was a lone bat out in the mid afternoon sun. The attached photo (awful quality) gives some idea of its features - we are guessing it was a Pipestrelle.
Monday was yet another glorious day, so we decided to take a look up on Low Row Pastures. The highlight of the morning was a pair of Redstarts on the edge of Little Rowleth Wood along with a good smattering of Willow Warbler. Again we saw 2 Ravens flying over head. Other birds seen on the walk were; calling Snipe, large numbers of Lapwing, 6 + pairs of Wheatear and a pair of Sparrowhawk. Also of interest on the walk were a Roe Deer and a cracking Violet Ground Beetle.
PM I took myself off for the first fly fishing session of the season and although I blanked as far as fish were concerned I did see the first pair of Sandpipers of the year at Rowleth Bottoms.
In addition to the Blackbird that is nesting in the coal shed we now have the following nesters in our garden; Sparrows in nest box and in Cotoneaster, Blue Tit in nest box and Jackdaw on roof. In addition something is building a nest in the open nest box we have in the back garden but is proving rather elusive to nail down!!

Migrants are arriving!

After 10 days of mild spring like weather we headed up Gunnerside Ghyll Saturday to see whether any of the spring migrants had arrived. Our route took us up the ghyll to Eweleap Scar, back south and east across Merryfield, past Old gang mines, on to Surrender Bridge, further east through Cringley Bottoms, across Barney Beck and west to Hilton, Riddings and on to Low Row for a pint. We finished off by walking along the river back to Gunnerside.
The first bird news of the day was discovery of a rather messy blackbirds nest in the coal house, amazingly constructed on top of the open door. Last year they nested in the same building but I mice or rats got to the eggs which was disappointing - hopefully they may do better this year.
As we progressed up the ghyll it was clear that the Mipits had arrived in big numbers, they seemed to be everywhere! Infact they were just about all we saw for the first hour or so, give or take a grouse or two. It was not until we got into the relative shelter of the area around Old gang Mines that we started to pick up a few more birds. Infact at the mines itself we found the first Wheatear of the year, a male in full breeding colours - looked stonking. Also in the area were 2 Grey Wags, 3/4 Pied Wags and a Stonechat. Up above on the moors were a few lapwings, Curlew and the odd Golden Plover calling.
In the fields and woodland down towards Healaugh there seemed to be alot of song and mistle thrushes around which is always nice to see. On Feetham Pasture we spooked a lone Snipe that I guess may well be looking to breed in the area. After a well earned drink at the Punch Bowl we walked back along the Swale. At Rowleth we chalked up the first Sand Martin of the year, a rather lonesome bird but he did seem to finding enough insects to feed on. On the same strech we also disturbed a pair of female Goosanders and 4 Redshanks that again may well be looking for good nesting sites. The regular pair of Oystercatchers have also arrived back at Isles Bridge. No sign yet of any Sandpipers, nor Ring Ouzel up on the moor - still it is early yet!

Active birdtable!

Thought I would post this video just annoy my Mum who has been complaining about the limited bird action in their garden, despite a very tempting array of different feeders. Although not featuring on this clip the siskins are back in residence in Gunnerside and are paying daily visits to the feeders along with large numbers of greenfinch. Also popping in today were 2 LT Tits feeding on the peanuts. Woodpeckers are pretty active in the dale with both GS Spotted and Greens seen this week. There also seem to be large numbers of song thrushes around with one taking up residence at the top of the telegraph pole in our garden and looking quite interested in our outhouse for posssible nesting???

BTO bird survey - late winter

We take part in the BTO annual bird survey which involves surveying a 4km sq local patch 4 times a year. This year our patch is to the north east of Gunnerside, taking in Barf End, Blades and alot of moorland. You have to visit the area 4 times a year and record what you see. In the spring and summer they also want details of any breeding activity. Winter up there is always going to be a little challenging to find anything much of interest, but anyway we gave it a bash on saturday morning. Predictably the results were not that impressive! Nevertheless it was good to find good numbers of lapwing already up there, about 6 golden plover (already in breeding plumage) and one solitary curlew! Otherwise there were plenty of grouse and not much else. We had heard reports of some twite up there but sadly they proved elusive. Hopefully when we come to survey in spring things will be little more busy with the moorland breeders arriving - fingers crossed!