Tuesday 29th.December 2009

The forecast was right , the rain/sleet started falling just before 9 o'clock , and it hasn't stopped since . Needless to say , hedgelaying went by the by , and the day has been spent sorting photos on the computer , with occasional looks out the back bedroom window , to see what was about in the gardens . It was during one of these breaks , during a really heavy downpour , that I noticed two Collared Doves , perched in next door's Laburnum tree , nothing unusual there . Then one of them lifted it's wing , then the other did the same . Over a period of 3/4 minutes , they carried on doing this , until , at one time , they managed to synchronize their movements , and now I'm wondering if it is synchronized showering or synchronised semaphore practice ?
All the expected species have been visiting the gardens , but fewer Winter Thrushes today , with just 1 Fieldfare and 6/8 Redwings feeding on the Cotoneaster next door , the other side .
Talking of which , Steve / Kingsdowner commented on yesterday's post that the shrub must be
'one helluva Cotoneaster' , and yes Steve it certainly is . This shot was taken from my back bedroom window , and the shrub must stand 6/7 metres high , is multi-stemmed , the branches reaching the top of the shot , but having already been cleared of berries . Top left of the shot are the Hazels , which the Winter Thrushes use to sit and digest their meal , before swooping down for more . The bottom berry covered branches span about 8 metres , and the branches behind span about the same . Obviously , they start on the ones out of view behind , then from the top downwards .
It is not the usual Cotoneaster horizontalis , found in most gardens , and also in the wild now , but one of the cultivars of Cotoneaster frigidus-Tree Cotoneaster .