Saturday 30 May 2020
Hare-ing around!
Andy M watched three Hare, chasing each other around the lovely flower meadow on Granta Park early one morning recently.
Young Goldfinch being feed
A family of Goldfinch have recently fledged in Andy M's garden, and the young have been hanging around the adults, and begging - hoping for a meal!
Young, recently fledged birds around the village
A number of fledged young birds have been seen around the village over the last week or two, and Andy M has taken a few pictures of some of them.
Young Dunnock
Very like the adult, but with less grey on the head
Young House Sparrow -
very like the adult female, but keeps the yellow gape
Young Starling -
drab brown colour with some streaks, and a yellow gape
Young Goldfinch
Young Goldfinch -
Black, white and yellow pattern on wings similar to adults, but
lacking the adult's red, black and white colour on the face and head.
Very like the adult, but with less grey on the head
Young Blue Tit - peeping out. This family fledged the next day.
Similar pattern to adult, but colours more yellowy and muted, as if 'washed-out'
Young Great Tit -
Similar pattern to adult, including white cheek patch and black breast strip,
but colours more yellowy and muted.
Young Rook -
Very similar to adult, but lacking the white bill - making it seem similar to a Carrion Crow.
Young Rooks still have the characteristic 'dagger-shaped' bill though.
Young Blackbird
Young Blackbird -
Young Blackbird -
Similar to female, but often with a shorter tail. More speckled, particularly on the breast.
Young Blackbird - sunbathing!
Young Canada Goose goslings with adult -
Goslings remain 'fluffy' for some time
before turning pale grey-brown like the adult, but with a brown neck for the first year.
Various Geese on Granta Park
There have been three species of geese on Granta Park recently, Greylag Goose, Canada Goose, and Barnacle Goose, and Andy M took a few photos to show the differences.
Greylag Goose
Large (length ~80cm), mostly grey-brown,
brown neck with obvious striations, large orange bill, pink/orange legs.
The only 'grey goose' seen in large numbers in UK in summer.
Greylag Goose
Canada Goose
Largest UK goose (length ~90cm), body mostly grey-brown,
long black neck, black head with white 'chin-strap', black bill, dark legs.
Introduced from N America, now breeds widely in UK.
Barnacle Goose
Medium-sized (length ~65cm), body mostly grey with darker bars on back,
shorter black neck, head mostly white with black cap, small black bill, dark legs.
Mostly a winter visitor to UK (breeds in Arctic), but a few birds remain and breed in the UK.
Abington Bird Survey May 2020 - Summary
Friday 22nd to Monday 25th May 2020
There were 17 reports and a total of 63 species
There were 17 reports and a total of 63 species
Species
|
Maximum Count
|
Number
of Reports
|
Barnacle Goose
|
2
|
1
|
Blackbird
|
7
|
17
|
Black-headed Gull
|
1
|
1
|
Blackcap
|
3
|
8
|
Blue Tit
|
10
|
15
|
Bullfinch
|
2
|
2
|
Buzzard
|
3
|
7
|
Canada Goose
|
10
|
3
|
Carrion Crow
|
6
|
8
|
Chaffinch
|
2
|
5
|
Chiffchaff
|
2
|
6
|
Coal Tit
|
10
|
3
|
Collared Dove
|
4
|
12
|
Corn Bunting
|
2
|
2
|
Cuckoo
|
1
|
5
|
Dunnock
|
8
|
10
|
Feral Pigeon
|
1
|
1
|
Goldcrest
|
2
|
3
|
Goldfinch
|
10
|
11
|
Great Spotted Woodpecker
|
2
|
6
|
Great Tit
|
6
|
10
|
Green Woodpecker
|
2
|
5
|
Greenfinch
|
3
|
10
|
Grey Heron
|
1
|
2
|
Greylag Goose
|
8
|
2
|
Herring Gull
|
3
|
1
|
House Martin
|
8
|
6
|
House Sparrow
|
14
|
12
|
Jackdaw
|
16
|
15
|
Jay
|
1
|
4
|
Kestrel
|
1
|
3
|
Lesser Whitethroat
|
2
|
2
|
Linnet
|
10
|
2
|
Little Owl
|
2
|
1
|
Long-tailed Tit
|
4
|
3
|
Magpie
|
2
|
11
|
Mallard
|
14
|
3
|
Mistle Thrush
|
10
|
1
|
Moorhen
|
2
|
3
|
Nuthatch
|
1
|
1
|
Pheasant
|
2
|
3
|
Pied Wagtail
|
3
|
5
|
Red Kite
|
1
|
2
|
Red-legged Partridge
|
3
|
2
|
Reed Bunting
|
2
|
2
|
Reed Warbler
|
1 (h)
|
1
|
Robin
|
4
|
14
|
Rook
|
12
|
14
|
Skylark
|
8
|
5
|
Song Thrush
|
4
|
11
|
Sparrowhawk
|
1
|
3
|
Starling
|
12
|
6
|
Stock Dove
|
4
|
3
|
Stonechat
|
1 (h)
|
1
|
Swallow
|
6
|
7
|
Swift
|
14
|
6
|
Tawny Owl
|
1 (h)
|
2
|
Tufted Duck
|
1
|
1
|
Whitethroat
|
4
|
2
|
Willow Warbler
|
1
|
1
|
Woodpigeon
|
c50
|
17
|
Wren
|
4
|
7
|
Yellowhammer
|
5
|
2
|
T (h) = heard (p) = possible
It is pleasing to see an increase in the
number of reports this year up from 11 last year for example.
Also pleasing is the number of species
found within our boundaries – again up from recent years which have hovered
around 50.
It is probably not surprising that the
species most frequently noted were Blackbird and Woodpigeon closely followed
by Blue Tit, Jackdaw, Robin and Rook.
I am grateful to everyone who was able to
take part. Many have said they enjoyed it. Perhaps this is one positive thing
to come out of the coronavirus restrictions.
DLT
28.5.2020
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