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

Colourful drake, drab duck

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In the world of birds it is quite common to find the male of the species to be relatively colourful in its plumage and the female to be more subdued. This isn't a universal rule, of course, and in species as disparate as the tree sparrow, the magpie, the kittiwake, the sand martin and the snipe, the male and female are pretty much identical. The distinction in colour is particularly noticeable in ducks. The most common duck, the mallard, has a colourful drake and a subdued female, the latter only sharing the purple speculum with the male. One of the biggest contrasts is between the male mandarin duck and the female, though in this case the female shares a couple of characteristics as well as having some unique features, such as the "spectacles".

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

An approachable drake goosander

I recently posted a piece about how female goosanders are overcoming their reticence and are swimming nearer to people, joining the mallards being fed by people on the River Wye in Ross. A few days ago I noticed that a solitary male goosander was also overcoming its caution and doing the same. It's interesting to speculate on why a predominantly fish-eating bird should eat seeds and bread, and overcome its natural reserve and spend time much closer to people.

 I've usually found it difficult to get a photograph of a male goosander  - the best I'd done thus far was this example. The newly obliging drake enabled a couple of much better images.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

The most numerous British bird?

When I was a young birdwatcher, probably about the time of my early teens, I read that the chaffinch was the most numerous British bird. I found that hard to believe because it didn't accord with my experience. The starling, the house sparrow, probably the blue tit, were all more commonly seen by me than the chaffinch. In recent years a few estimates of the most numerous bird have been published. The most recent that I have seen places the wren at number one with over eleven million pairs. I see more robins than wrens (it was ranked second), but then the wren is more secretive and the robin more tolerant of people. The numbers of both will have benefitted from the recent mild winters. Interestingly, the report that named the wren at number one also placed the chaffinch at joint number five (alongside the blackbird) with just over 5 million pairs.

This cock chaffinch was foraging the picnic tables at a Forestry England site in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

The mandarins' new colours

During summer after the hatching of eggs and the quick growth of ducklings the mandarin, like all other ducks, moults its feathers. This period is also known as "eclipse". It is most noticeable in the brightly coloured males that become predominantly brown though they can still be distinguished from the females by their distinctive beaks.

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As autumn approaches a new set of feathers grows and quite quickly the males assume their multi-coloured best. On a recent visit to Cannop Ponds in the Forest of Dean we saw the mandarins by the waters edge, under the overhanging trees. Many birds were perched on the low branches of alders. The second photograph shows a bird standing on a section of submerged branch, its lower body reflected in the water, with real and reflected branches in the background

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P900

The naturalized mandarin

The mandarin duck is a native of Eastern Asia, mainly China and Japan. It became known in Europe in 1599 through a painting brought to Rome by Japanese envoys. Live birds were introduced to Britain shortly before 1745 when it was known as the "Chinese teal". Drawings of the birds in the garden of Sir Matthew Decker in Surrey were made by the naturalist George Edwards. Thereafter many wealthy landowners tried, often successfully, to establish the bird in their grounds and pockets of mandarins developed across the British Isles. I recently acquired the book, "The Naturalized Animals of the British Isles" (Christoper Lever, Hutchinson, 1977) where the above facts (and many more) can be found. Interestingly the large colony at Cannop Ponds in the Forest of Dean isn't mentioned: perhaps it is of more recent establishment. The photograph shows a striking male mandarin at the Ponds, standing on ice.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P900

Kingfisher, River Wye

The Covid 19 lockdowns have severely curtailed my photography in as much as I cannot travel as widely as I would like and consequently I am selecting from a narrower range of subjects. I am also taking more photographs of some subjects, particularly birds. My photographic equipment was never selected with serious bird photography in mind - I am much more of a generalist. But a couple of my cameras allow me to get reasonably close to avian subjects and the kingfishers on the River Wye have been quite accommodating recently. This male bird was performing for people passing by on a footpath only 20 metres distant. I didn't know its sex until I was prompted to find out by a member of the public who asked me if I knew it. Apparently the male's bill is all black and the female has a pinkish-orange tinge to the base of the lower mandible.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Britain's biggest wild bird?

The biggest wild bird found in the British Isles is not, as commonly thought, the mute swan. The bird with the biggest wing span is the sea eagle (over 8 feet - 244cm), the tallest is the common crane (100-130cm), and potentially the heaviest is the great bustard (up to 21kg). The latter is a large "game" bird that formerly flourished on downlands and parts of eastern England until it was shot to extinction in 1832. In recent years a re-introduced population sourced from European birds has been established on Salisbury Plain and there are hopes they can be established elsewhere. The mute swan is, however, the biggest commonly seen British wild bird. The swan in the photograph is an adult (four or more years old) and probably a male judging by the size of the "blackberry" on its beak. There are three kinds of swan regularly seen in Britain - the mute swan, the whooper swan and the Bewick's swan. Since my recent relocation to Herefordshire I have yet to see the latter two, but mute swans abound on the River Wye.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Stonechat, Malvern Hills

When I first watched birds, decades ago in the Yorkshire Dales, I never saw stonechats. There were plenty of whinchats, a species whose numbers have tumbled to the point where their conservation status is Red and I rarely see them today. When I lived on the west coast I knew I would see stonechats at St Bee's Head in Cumbria. And in Lincolnshire they were relatively common on The Wash bird reserves and were occasionally seen further inland in winter. Today I know I can guarantee seeing stonechats on the Malvern Hills. Not only are they easy to see at that location, you can also hear their distinctive call that sounds like two stones being knocked together.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P900

Mandarin ducks and camouflage

As is typical with the majority of ducks, the male mandarin duck is brightly coloured and the female is relatively drab. In terms of camouflage the male stands out boldly against most backgrounds, and the female tends to blend in. Bright male colouring is thought to be connected to attracting a mate and drabness in the female an aid to camouflage when nesting. I knew this theoretically but it took this photograph, particularly the female surrounded by branches, bank and water, to bring home to me the extent to which this is so.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P900

Drake goosander

It has been long known that the majority of British resident shelducks travel to Great Knechtsand, in the Heligoland Bight, off the German coast, to moult and then return to Britain for the winter. What was relatively recently discovered is that the Scottish population of male goosanders (and perhaps others) travel to the North Cape of Norway to moult. Whilst there they are joined by males from other parts of Europe. What prompts this gender specific migration is not known, but maybe this male that I photographed on the River Wye at Ross had made that June to October sojourn.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P900

Drake mandarin duck

On a stagnant, slime-infested pool, home to a single moorhen, a coot and a few passing mallards, we saw a remarkable sight - a drake mandarin duck slowly making its way through the scum on the surface of the water. The contrast between the opulent beauty of the bird and its surroundings could not have been greater. Its striking plumage of glossy purple, burnt orange, white and cream, black and iridescent green and blue seemed to deserve a backdrop of crystal clear water that reflected the sky and clouds above rather than this malignant mess. But it sailed on, seemingly happy in its chosen place, managing, despite the circumstances, to remain scrupulously clean. Until, that is, we got too close and it took to the air, perhaps heading for pastures (or waters) new.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P900