On the sightings board: Chaffinch 65 , blackbird 8, reed bunting 7, linnet 13, jay 1, great spotted woodpecker 3, redwing 6, fieldfare 2.
and a sparrow hawk in Pony Wood and redwing by the FAUNA stones
Jan21st bird reports
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Category Archives: Wildlife
Remains of the fallen horse chestnut
The Wednesday volunteers joined, by Andy Lee worked on the fallen tree in Pony Wood on Wednesday. The trunk and larger branches were sawn up and left in situ, the smaller branches were taken into the wood to make a hedge of brash: although dead wood is good spread around a woodland to rot down naturally, too much can cover ground flora, encouraging perhaps brambles to grow over it to shade out lower plants. It can also cause a problem for access for management in the future. Stacking brash either in heaps or rows is beneficial to small mammals, birds, insects etc, but a row or hedge can create corridors through the wood to connect to outside boundaries etc. Eventually they compost down with mosses, lichens and fungi to increase nutrients to the woodland floor.
Bird sightings on the board
Feeding Station
chaffinch 20+, blackbird 4, robin 4, great tit 2, blue tit 2, dunnnock 2, reed bunting 12, wood pigeon 4, pheasant 1,
Pony Wood
jay 1, redwing 6, mistle thrush 1, wren 1 goldfinch 6,
Overflying
pinkfoot 40, greylag 15
Linnets
We have had an answer from Jon Carter about the loss of linnets this year. He said that they did a circuit of the maize fields on Aldcliffe Marsh and Fairfield. The maize has bee replaced by grass so the linnets are no longer interested
Early January records on the sightings board
Chaffinch 38, linnet 11, reed bunting 4, stock dove 4, blackbird 4, greenfinch 1, gold crest 1, song thrush 1, goldfinch 12, long-tailed tit 6, and 1 little egret in West Field.
Yesterday Will Walton dropped off more feed from the RSPB
More linnets at the feeding station
On Dec 17th Dan reported 52 chaffinch ( mainly males) and 15 linnet, plus 8 lapwing in Flora Field. Link to LDBWS website below.
LDBWS feeding station at Fairfield – Lancaster Bird Watching Society
Records from the sightings board
Recorded on Dec 7th during very cold weather
LDBWS feeding station : 24 chaffinch, 5 stock dove, 4 reed bunting (3F), 3 robin, 2 blackbird, 2 linnet
Pony Wood: 3 jay
West Field: 2 redshank
Song Thrush in a Birch Tree
A lovely song thrush this morning in the extension.
Stonechats by the newt ponds
Male and female Stonechat on vegetation by the newt ponds, alongside Aldcliffe Road at around midday on November 22.
Also 4 Reed Buntings and 1 Linnet at the feeding station, with Chaffinch, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Woodpigeon and 1 Stock Dove
6 Linnet on path-side tree, Pony Wood
6 Stock Dove feeding on Flora Field by the bee hives
1 Jay
Birds in Flora Field
This morning we saw stock dove and reed bunting ( male and female) feeding on the recently scattered seed, chaffinch, goldfinch and blue tit on the table as well as overflying kestrel , long-tailed, blue and great tits.
City Nature Challenge
A small but keen group met on a chilly damp morning on May 1st to take part. 18 species of invertebrates were identified in moth traps and in the Flora Ponds and 25 bird species. Highlights were – a red kite ( from Grizedale?) over Flora Field, 5 stock dove, a swallow, probably collecting mud from the Flora Ponds for a nest in the boat house opposite, whitethroat in Pony Wood, a jay making a very strange call in The Orchard, and a great diving beetle larva gobbling up smaller creatures in the plastic tray. For those of us unfamiliar with moths, the names “Hebrew character moth ” and “shuttle shaped dart” were fascinating in themselves.