October '11

Weather This Month

Max Temp = 26.1°C   Min Temp = -1.9°C  Mean Temp = 10.5°C 

Max Wind = 17mph   

Day's Of Rain Over 2mm = 14  Rain 24hr Max =  28.6mm   Rain For Month =  181mm

Diary

31st. It seems the garden is taking a break at present with all the warm temps around. The birds must be finding enough food at present in the wider countryside as the garden remains devoid of much action. I really look forward to the Blackbirds returning to the garden for the sultanas, but as yet they seem nervous and showing little interest in taking food.

My vismig watching could not take place on Sunday as I returned home in the early hours after a night out and fog of all things decided to throw itself into the mix so sadly I could not get my Fieldfare fix.

The hedgehogs seem to have disappeared for now although I am not convinced they have hibernated as the temps have been to high for this to occur. I shall have to check my trail cam for any evidence.

23rd.  I was looking forward to seeing Thrushes on our return from Portugal and my first chance I took was this morning. I have a place picked out that has a good vantage point and I was not disappointed as mainly Fieldfare eventually turned up en masse with some of them coming over my head at 3 meters.....fantastic as I just love the Thrushes in the winter. The funny thing is that I noted different calls whilst they were flying than I have noted before. It was a gentle call rather than the more harsh "chack-chack-chack". Woodpigeon also was noted in a few numbers. I have posted a vismig page on the left hand menu for those interested. That page includes a map of where I stand and an automatically updated list of bird noted whilst there. For now I will just give a summary of today's sightings.

Visible Migration, Whitworth, Manchester, GB-ENG
Oct 22, 2011 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM
Protocol: Stationary
21 species

Eurasian Sparrowhawk 1
Common Kestrel 1
Black-headed Gull 12 (1-5-2-4)
Common Wood-Pigeon 30 (6-6-6-1-12)
Eurasian Jay 3
Common Magpie 30 This group congregated before a long dispersal period.
Rook 1
Carrion Crow 7 ( 1-1-2-3)
Great Tit 3
Long-tailed Tit 8
Eurasian Wren 2
Goldcrest 2
Eurasian Blackbird 2
Fieldfare 208 (20-10-90-50-2-36)
Redwing 10 (10)
European Starling 18 ( 1-12-5)
Dunnock 2
Common Chaffinch 8 (4-2-2)
European Greenfinch 5 ( 1-1-3)
Common Linnet 7
Eurasian Bullfinch 2

20th.  The first minus temps have hit the garden today with -1.9ºC being posted at 06:30 this morning. It's compounded the holiday effect we have experienced since our return and I have sadly given in to having the heating in the home on!

I forgot to mention the other day that a few Magpies have taken to flying up to the office window that I watch the garden from and sitting there quite happily as I move around in the room. They seem also to have connected me with food so I shall be exploring this shortly when I will begin responding to what I "think" they may be asking of me....I shall see. Bit of footage to Autumn watch may well be in order.

18th.  Back safe and sound after a great holiday to Portugal. We now start the task of sifting through thousands of images and collating info for the trip report.

The feeders were empty in the garden so I was up early to fill them up and it did not take long for the birds to notice with a very welcome sight of Blackbird and Wren putting in an appearance. The Jays and Magpies are business as usual with the monkey nuts and the Starlings are making the most of the windy conditions as a small party float around the area on the buffeting winds.

Did I mention the weather.....yes we are home, it's windy, wet and feeling rather cool....we have swapped highs of 32ºC and lows of 15ºC for temps of high so far today of 7ºC and lows of 3.6ºC. It feels cold!

1st.  Hold the weather talk as a lovely sight this morning as I decided to watch the garden for about 06:30. I was commenting only the other day to Mandy that our usual Great Spotted Woodpecker has missed his cue as for at least the last 3 years a young one finding his own spot often visits the garden, first noticing the peanut basket and shortly after swapping alegience to the fat cakes. Sure enough at 08:15 the red trousers stood out as it clung to a branch before heading for the peanuts and then the fat cakes. This time for the first time in 4 years a female has turned up. I, like most folk, love the GSW and I just hope that she now accompanies us through the winter months.

I shall have to put out plenty of fat cakes whilst we take our short break away.