Winter wagtail

In winter the pied wagtail has, to an extent, adapted to the disappearance of the rocky, often stream-side environment they like. During my lifetime I have seen these attractive black and white birds repeatedly using locations that must provide the food that they require, places such as school playgrounds, tennis courts, car parks and roofs of all descriptions. In recent winters I have found pied wagtails searching the crannies of wood shingles on the roof of the Forestry England visitor centre at Beechenhurst in the Forest of Dean. The photograph shows one of two birds that were carefully scrutinising the roof during a recent visit.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P950

Robin close-up

I've never done a survey but I imagine that 95% of the birds represented on Christmas cards in the UK  are robins. I have the impression that it used to be 100%, but in recent years a few others (owls, blue tits, wrens etc) have begun to make an appearance. Today's robin came very close to me allowing this photograph and being rewarded with a few seeds we were carrying.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P950

The cormorant tree

A year or so ago the River Wye was in spate and the force of its flow knocked down a tree that cormorants liked to roost in. There was no obvious nearby tree that they fancied and so the sight of these birds perched above the river was no longer a regular occurence. However, as the months have passed one tree looks like it might become a substitute perch as birds seem to be favouring it. Cormorant trees are known for their dead branches caused by the birds' droppings. This tree is not yet marked in this way, but regular use will undoubtedly produce these characteristic features.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P950

Roosting little egret

The little egret is a member of the heron family that has quickly established itself as a relatively common bird in the UK. It is found in the same sort of locations as grey herons but also favours, in my experience, field drains and salt marshes to a greater extent than its more numerous cousin. It is frequently found roosting in trees and in groups. I've seen as many as ten together in a tight cluster in a pasture near a river. The roosting bird in today's photograph drew my attention for the way it was surrounded and overlaid by  branches. Usually when photographing birds it is customary to seek a completely clear view; here I was attracted to the pattern in which the bird remains the visual focus.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P950

Grey Heron

The grey heron (Ardea cinerea) is one of the UK's taller birds (90-98cm) with a wing span double its height. It is relatively common with an estimated 13,000 nests being found in heronries annually. The population of herons increases in winter with a large influx of birds from the continent. Its diet is mainly fish so it is usually found by rivers, streams and lakes. The heron's plumage is an attractive and subtle mixture of grey, black and white against which the orange bill and yellow eye stand out. All these factors make it one of the easier birds to photograph.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P950

Kingfisher

The kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) is one of a relatively small number of birds that the layman can readily name. Its striking orange and electric blue plumage makes it noticeable even though its fast, direct flight gives only brief glimpses of the bird. It is easiest to photograph as it sits in waterside branches scanning the shallows for any small fish. Capturing the bird in flight requires patience and skill as well as an appropriate camera and lens. This obliging kingfisher sat in riverside willows for about thirty seconds or so before moving on. Time for me to fire off several shots of which this is the best.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P950

Do not feed the gulls

Many of the seaside towns and villages around the British Isles have signs that say "Please do not feed the gulls". This is sound advice: herring gulls (Larus argentatus) in particular, but also lesser black-backed gulls, will happily finish off most of the items of food that reckless tourists offer them. And it's probably this deliberate ignoring of the signs that has turned these gulls into brazen thieves that will snatch food from the hands of unsuspecting. We saw some of this going on during a recent visit to the south coast, though none that I could photograph. Instead, I took this shot of a placid herring gull against a sympathetically coloured background.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Oystercatcher

One of the most noticeable and easily identified wading birds is the oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus) - it is black and white with an orange beak and orange legs. Its sharp call is very distinctive as is its habit of feeding on mudflats in flocks that can number in the tens of thousands. When I was a young birdwatcher I marvelled at the enormous gatherings on Morecambe Bay and I also monitored the bird's habitat spread from the seashore to include river valleys: in my case, the valley of the River Ribble. On a recent visit to Weymouth we came upon a few birds feeding on a freshwater RSPB reserve only a stone's throw from the seashore. The soggy nature of the marshland made this the dirtiest oystercatcher I've seen.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P900

Dunnock

The dunnock (Prunella modularis) is one of the many "small brown birds". It acquired its commonly used name around 1475 (donek) and it had settled on the current spelling by 1824. Country names abounded often including the word "hedge", and it was called "hedge sparrow" for a couple of centuries. It stopped being grouped with sparrows when it was realised that it fitted the accentor family. In the UK its is a bird of both rural and built up-areas. This bird was on the massacred hedge of a small block of flats towards the end of May, singing its heart out.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

House Sparrow

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds' "Big Garden Birdwatch 2024", concluded that the house sparrow (Passer domesticus) was the most common bird to be seen in the gardens of the UK, a position it has held for the past twenty one years in a row. In second place was the starling and the blue tit came third. The house sparrow held the top spot in the survey despite the species' sixty per cent decline since 1979. Interestingly, the house sparrow is one of the most widely distributed and most numerous birds in the world, a situation that came about with the help of mankind. The bird in today's photograph is a male of the species that was broadcasting its tuneless chirps from a buddleia bush.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P900

Chiffchaff

There are several onomatopoeic bird names, that is to say, names based on the call of the species. Cuckoo is probably the best known but curlew, peewit (a country name for the lapwing), jackdaw and kittiwake immediately spring to mind. So too does chiffchaff, a small warbler, a harbinger of spring named for its call that for the past couple of weeks has accompanied our daily walks.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

Robin red breast

click photo to enlarge
When I was young the robin (Erithacus rubecula) was often referred to as the "robin red breast". When I first heard this it struck me as odd because the robin's breast is clearly orange. I supposed that alliterative charm appealed more than colour accuracy. More importantly, however, is the fact that "orange" as a colour name didn't come into usage in Britain until the sixteenth century and prior to that date red was the nearest colour to orange. Interestingly one of the old names for the robin was the "ruddock", a word that also means red. This robin allowed a close approach, standing on the railings, probably hoping for some food from us.

 photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

The wren

One of Britain's small birds that are widely recognised by name is the wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) or, as it is colloquially known, "jenny wren". It is brown, short, rounded, with a relatively long beak and legs and a short tail that sticks up. It also has a much louder voice than you would expect. The wren is a regular visitor to gardens and, being small, suffers in harsh winters. Looking at the bird you can see why the designers of the farthing chose it to decorate the coin in circulation that was of the smallest value (see previous post).

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

The solitary crow

In a tall, old pine at the edge of the grounds of a former hotel sat a carrion crow looking like the lord of all he (or she) surveyed. The crow didn't call, it simply looked first one way then another. Had it found a useful vantage point from which to spot the odd tit bit? Or was it near a newly built nest, tucked away in the branches, over which it was standing guard. I mean to check it out when we pass by on our walks around the town.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

Litter bin robin

Robins actively seek out human company it seems. But, like most animals it only does so in the hope that it will result in some food coming its way. This robin was flitting to and fro, in and out of the slots of a litter bin, but wasn't looking for food. It had its eye on us and it let us approach quite closely before concluding that we had nothing to offer and it might have better luck elsewhere.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

Rook

One of the local rookeries, in trees on a roundabout of the A40 road, has sprung back to life this month and birds are preparing for the forthcoming nesting season. The rook (Corvus frugilegus) is a member of the crow family, a social bird and a colonial nester that doesn't mind if the trees it chooses are in close vicinity to people. The bird above probably came from this rookery and, like its fellow nest builders, was scavenging around the nearby fields and houses, searching for food. Its distinctive bill and the purple sheen of its broadly black plumage were well displayed.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

Great White Egret

I've posted a number of photographs of the Little Egret, a bird that is increasingly common in the UK. Today I post my first photograph of a Great White Egret, a bird that is nowhere near as common as its diminutive relative but which was, until relatively recently, a rarely seen vagrant rather than a breeding resident. My first sighting of the species was several years ago in Lincolnshire. This bird was in Ross on Wye, Herefordshire.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P900

Razorbills

Looking back through my archives I find that I last photographed guillemots in April 1984. This was at Bempton Cliffs, Yorkshire. At that time I also photographed guillemots, puffins, kittiwakes and gannets. I have a memory (though no photographs) of seeing guillemots, black guillemots, razorbills and other sea birds, including fulmars, nesting at St Bee's Head, Cumbria, in 1999. Looking through my shots of razorbills I find that the eye of these birds is so dark that it barely shows up on any of my photographs. When I called up the Google Images photographs of this bird I find that other photographers have the same problem. It makes them look a little odd.

The photographs above were taken at Stackpole Head, Pembrokeshire.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P900

Sea Crow

The name of the bird we call the cormorant (Phalocrocorax carbo) is said to derive from C12 French then Latin (Corvus marinus) for sea crow. Looking at this big black bird one can imagine how that might have come about. Today the cormorant isn't a bird associated only with the sea, though many can be seen there; it is also equally at home on some inland rivers and lakes. The bird in the photograph was perched on a riverside alder tree at Ross on Wye. The white feathers on the neck and the white patch on its flanks indicate that it is an adult in breeding plumage.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P900

Lesser Black-backed Gull

The lesser black-backed gull (Larus fuscus) was relatively common in the UK but is now in decline and has been placed on the Amber List (a species of moderate concern). It nests on cliffs, sand dunes, mountain moorland, and on tall buildings by the sea and inland. This particular bird has been frequenting the River Wye at Ross on Wye for much of the winter, using a perch on a fallen tree that it shares with local black-headed gulls. The lesser black-backed gull acquires adult breeding plumage in its fourth year. The small brown flecks on the head and neck are a winter characteristic of an adult.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2