2nd March - You Seemed To Be Where I Belong

Winter has finally arrived although I missed the worst of it as I was in Germany where the temperatures were much lower than here, but without  the drama.  The garden has been very busy as you would expect, the birds feeding all day on the feeders.  The star bird though has been a very smart Fieldfare.  

At first the Fieldfare would sit in the tree watching.

Up close a stunning looking thrush.

A beautiful contrast of greys and maroon

There was only one that actually came into the garden, and looking out across the gardens I could see others moving, and realised that they had found some berries still present on one of the trees.  With them were a few Redwing, but I counted ten Fieldfare in total, and they would sit in the branches between forays to pick of berries.

A newcomer to the garden was a very distinctively marked female Blackcap.

The Starlings were active, fighting each other over the feeders, and then sitting at the top of the trees and singing.

There were only a few Siskin in the garden, and no sign of any Redpolls.  This male's yellowish green plumage standing out against the snow.

The female Blackcap is still about, she moves from the feeders quietly and keeps away from the more aggressive Goldfinches.  There has not been any sign of the male Blackcap for sometime.

Two pairs of Chaffinches were about, this male having the brighter plumage.

The Fieldfare then became a little more adventurous, coming from the tree down onto the snow to stand by the apples and chasing away anything that comes too close.  Fortunately it was more interested in apples than the mealworms, and our tame Blackbird and Robin were able to feed without any hassle.

Goldfinches were about in good number, their plumage is brightened by the snow, and head on it looks like they have a bikini top on!

But it was back to the star of the show, snow on the beak from foraging for the snow covered apples

The Robins continued to sit around and make us feel guilty and give in and put out more mealworms 

The tiny Goldcrest was busily moving from feeder to feeder, but preferred the fatty nibbles

Then finally back to the Fieldfare, who by the end of the afternoon was sitting next to the apples and guarding them form anything that came close

Another one did arrive late on, but sat in the tree watching, not daring to drop to the snow.

One concerning observation was the eight Long-tailed Tits that had been in the garden according to Helen the day before, were not seen at all during the day.  I just hope they had not succumbed to the freezing conditions, and that they were safe in the shelter of woods somewhere.

It would be nice tomorrow if the re was a a dry spell and we could get out for a walk in the snow.