Patch Round Up

Another year draws to the close and so does another year of record keeping on my patch. Every weeks survey is inputted into Bird Journal. This software is an excellent way to store data and I have found it very useful, especially some of the graphs it auto generates.

The first graph shows the number species recorded over the year. In 2015 I recorded 54 species of bird over 45 visits. This was better than last year but still below average.

 This next graph shows the percentage make up of the birds seen during 2015. The species mix shows that my patch is comprised of a river, wetland, carr, woodland and farmland.

This next graph shows the checklist counts for all species recorded in 2015.

Hide and Seek

Today was an interesting day down the mill. It was very springy. It has been all over the news how mild the weather has been this year and evidence of this weather was everywhere this morning.

For a start the birds song seemed very spring like in the air. Then down on my patch of land the White Nettles were in flower and most surprisingly a young willow with catkins.

Another nice sighting was a Chiffchaff along the riverbank. It is not unusual anymore to see this small warbler in the winter, In fact more and more Chiffchaff's and Blackcap's are overwintering in Britain each year rather than migrate to Africa.

The last key sighting of the morning was the Kestrel. Since breeding in the summer they have remained ever present through Autumn and Winter. This male played a game of Hide and Seek with me, ducking from tree to tree before hiding in a pylon.