The Fieldfare popped in this morning for one more breakfast before taking to the skies allowing the resident Blackbirds and Song Thrush back in the garden to feed. The wintering male Blackcap was joined briefly by another male and female but like the Fieldfare he defended his garden well and they quickly left without as […]
Tag: Blackcap
Fieldfare drops in
With the recent cold blast the Fieldfares have decided they like the menu on offer in my garden to the point where they have taken over. The resident Blackbird and Song Thrush are chased off as the Fieldfare defends his new short term territory whilst he ignores all the other birds. The male Blackcap has […]
African birds at the bottom of the Raydah Escarpment – Abha
Whilst birding the lower areas of the Raydah Escarpment in late March I saw a number of African species. Birds seen included African Grey Hornbill, Violet-backed Starling, Black-crowned Tchagra, Bruce’s Green Pigeon and White-browed Coucal. Bruce’s Green Pigeon is an interesting species as it only eats the fruit of a single type of fig tree. […]
Blackcap Singing
Blackcaps are quite stocky birds, about the size of house sparrows. They are mainly light grey-brown in colour with the male having a neat black cap on its head, while the female’s cap is chestnut-brown. In summer, recently fledged young also have a chestnut-brown cap, with young males gaining their black cap by late autumn. […]
Pennington Marsh – 7th April
This first half of April has been fantastic, like mid-summer come early, after an early morning breeding bird survey where the highlights were a couple of Song Thrush and a Willow Warbler I spent a couple of hours at Pennington Marsh. Spring really is here and there wereBlackcap singing from the scrub, fair numbers of […]
Brittany – Birding around St Malo and Dinan
Brittany, France – May, 2016 – the northern coast of Brittany in France is a great place to spend some time. The dramatic rugged coastline, sandy beaches, wildlife, food and Breton culture are well worth exploring! We were based around Cancale on the east side of the bay of Mont St Michel. Here the oysters […]
Britain’s migrating birds are drastically declining, RSPB says
Bird populations that make the great journey between northern Europe and Africa – including the nightingale and turtle dove – are drastically declining, conservationists have warned. Nearly half of the 29 summer migrants, who appear in the UK in spring to breed before returning in the autumn, show long-term population declines. The nightingale, famed for […]
The Eurasian Blackcap
Sylvia atricapilla Passeriformes – Sylviidae This dullish bird does not come often to feeders but I see it once in a while when I go for strolls in the woods. Ce n’est pas un oiseau qui vient facilement à la mangeoire mais il m’arrive d’en croiser en promenade dans les sous-bois et c’est bien plus […]