AUGUST
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A quiet transitional month when we start to feel the first early chilly mornings and shorter days. The odd leaf beginning to turn yellow then brown and the natural world cycle "knows" that colder days are not too far away. The Red-legged Partridges certainly know what is coming ... besides Winter; the start of the annual shooting season! Although officially October 1st they are already forming small coveys and spend much more time in our front field feeding on the vegetation .. a safe haven. Nothing special for us rural folk but very pretty little birds when studied closely. Sadly our own beautiful English Partridge is now very scarce and I have not seen one locally for some years. They really need protection.
Other than the cooing of the ever present Wood Pigeon the birds are almost silent. The Barn Swallows have mostly departed but a pair with a second brood in my neighbours' stable are spending ever daylight minute frantically looking for the dwindling numbers of summer insects to feed their hungry chicks .. a race against time. Last week a family of House Martins was circling over the house joyously with hardly audible twittering .. a special sighting as I have not seen many this year. The youngsters were obviously wheeling around and around strengthening their wing muscles and grabbing insect fuel for their migration south to winter in north Africa. A last hurrah .. I wish them well.
Other than the cooing of the ever present Wood Pigeon the birds are almost silent. The Barn Swallows have mostly departed but a pair with a second brood in my neighbours' stable are spending ever daylight minute frantically looking for the dwindling numbers of summer insects to feed their hungry chicks .. a race against time. Last week a family of House Martins was circling over the house joyously with hardly audible twittering .. a special sighting as I have not seen many this year. The youngsters were obviously wheeling around and around strengthening their wing muscles and grabbing insect fuel for their migration south to winter in north Africa. A last hurrah .. I wish them well.
click on a picture to enlarge
One upside in birding terms; this is the start of the flocking season ... the Tit families .. particularly Blue, Great and Long-tailed .. the latter often in the dozens .. dashing through the trees looking for insect food. It will soon be time to clean out and hang the feeders .. sunflower seeds and peanuts .. they love them. With this extraordinary summer what will winter bring? Mild and wet or more like winter should be? I shall be looking out for the first visitors from Scandinavia .. the Redwings and Fieldfares ... both welcome members of the "Turdus" (Thrush) family .. there will be plenty of berries ready waiting .. plentiful beyond belief this year. Lots of "big black ground feeding birds" in the horse paddock last week .. almost dismissed as Carrion Crows .. but the binoculars quickly revealed the identity as Rooks .. my favourite species in the family of corvids. Sociable and with a gentle nature .. a huge difference to the black-hearted Crow .. aptly named for its propensity to kill chicks of ground nesting birds and even other younger crows!! The absolute trait of a bully .. Yes ... Rookeries are noisy but please put them in the "good guy" category. Look for the bare whitish patch of skin behind the bill.
Let us hope the rest of the year will be a nice surprise .. even an "Indian summer"? With the worlds' climate changing anything is possible.
The Barn Swallows look a little uncertain .. Africa is definitely out there somewhere.
Brian Taylor
Let us hope the rest of the year will be a nice surprise .. even an "Indian summer"? With the worlds' climate changing anything is possible.
The Barn Swallows look a little uncertain .. Africa is definitely out there somewhere.
Brian Taylor