Freezing February

Tomorrow it's March and still the freezing North Wind seems to get colder every day.

It may look warm but it's not!

The fields to the left are being farmed again after several years. By mid February the ground was ready for ploughing but still probably too wet - ploughing was finally carried out at the end of February after the cold winds and lack of rain allowed the earth the dry off.

What effect will it have on the birds?

YELLOWHAMMERS! 

A few days ago, on 17th February 2013, after a slightly frosty and foggy start, the day was dry with a gentle ENE breeze and the sun quite warm but becoming colder as the wind increased.

Just a quick look starting at around midday, birds were very noticeable in the tree tops before the wind strengthened. Wild garlic was now forming a green carpet covering the bare ground under the hazels and oaks with some cow parsley here and there. New Guelder Rose plants held plenty of buds but none were evident on the new Blackthorn.  

There was plenty of activity, with robins singing (12) blue tits, some acting like treecreepers on the old oaks, foraging for insects - and others chasing (42) whilst great tits (12+) concentrated on calling loudly. Greenfinches (5) were also calling, with goldfinches, 4 visible and many more hidden behind a thicket calling too and (12) house sparrows chattering in a hedgerow whilst a dunnock foraged underneath.

Again, no sign of fieldfare or redwing but 6 blackbirds, most down on the river bank, not singing but giving alarm calls when startled, usually by suddenly flapping woodpigeons (24) up from the bank or from trees or by a noisy magpie (3). Only 3 starlings and 3 carrion crows were seen flying across but numerous herring gulls were wheeling around overhead (65) then disappeared, leaving airspace for a buzzard gliding towards the river, hunting. It flew closer and landed on an old oak just as a second buzzard flew up from behind a hedgerow. 

A song thrush was singing loudly for a while and a nuthatch was seen foraging, in an ash tree, hitting a branch with its beak whilst clinging on upside down, then silently flew off. Two more were calling in other areas (3). Distinct calls under the river bank came from a moorhen - they are now more commonly seen on the river here and under the roots and vegetation overhanging the banks. 

The air was suddenly full of singing and calling coming from the sunlit back of a hedgerow but the birds were invisible. A few minutes later a tightly knit flock of linnets (20+) flew up - a great sight.

Last but not least:

Standing looking through the branches of an old oak on the river bank, across the flattened field, at least 5 brilliant bright yellow colours, spread out in a row, were a group of male yellowhammers under a hedgerow foraging for seeds, making their way out towards me and more movements around them, less easily visible, were the female yellowhammers (10+). At each dip in the field they disappeared, then only their heads were visible as they moved up again. There were probably many more in the flock than could be seen. These farmland birds are in rapid decline due mainly to lack of seeds available during the winter with changes in farming and lack of weed seeds due to the use of herbicides and lack of insects such as grasshoppers which are fed to the nestlings  ( due to use of pesticides and diminished field margins ). Therefore it's great to see that there are still some surviving.