Waiting Game

I watched the freezing fog roll in last night. That was after the snow fell on top of the already icy roads outside, so I cancelled any thought of early morning ringing or birding and instead had a lazy lie in; it’s not often I do that.

The garden birds were pretty busy with a couple of Goldfinch at a time coming regular to the feeder, 7 Collared Dove, 2 Woodpigeon, the consistent Coal, Great and Blue Tits, and the resident Wren, Robin and Blackbirds. I’d put extra apples out and topped up the feeders and whilst the Goldfinch and Chaffinch responded, apart from a few Blackbirds no other thrushes appeared.

Chaffinch
Chaffinch
Goldfinch
Blackbird

Towards lunchtime the temperatures rose a bit so I put a net up and caught 17 birds, 7 Goldfinch, 1 Blue Tit, 1 Starling and 8 Long-tailed Tit. A Woodpigeon bounced itself out of the net before I could get there.

Goldfinch
Long-tailed Tit
Starling

So although I would have preferred some birding or ringing at our feeding station, both will have to wait until the weather picks up.