Wednesday 8 February 2012

Wednesday 8th. February 2012

Didn't get out today . Didn't want to be out today . Unlike yesterday , there was no thawing , and with snow flurries for most of the day and the thermometer barely getting above 0C , and not even a glimpse of the sun , I stayed at home  .I wasn't going to post for the obvious reason , but the Cotoneaster bush next door was the subject of two invasions today . The first was almost spot on 8 o'clock this morning , when a flock of about 40/50 Redwings , together with a handful of Fieldfares arrived , and stayed feeding for about half an hour . It was snowing lightly at the time , so you can imagine what the light was like , so no picture was possible .This afternoon , at about 3 o'clock , a much bigger invasion occured , when a flock of somewhere about 150 Fieldfares descended on the neighbouring gardens to ours , the centre of attention again was the Cotoneaster bush . They fed avidly for about  an hour in varying numbers , with on average about 20/30 birds on the berries at any one time , the remainder in other gardens and on the trees around . I took one shot of part of the Cotoneaster that still has some berries on it , and I can find 17
Fieldfares in it , there could well be more . The flock contained just the odd Redwing , and as darkness fell , the last birds reluctantly flew off to roost , no doubt to plan tomorrow's invasion to finish things off .

3 comments:

Warren Baker said...

There's more Fieldfare in that bush than the whole of my patch, come to think of it there are more berries on that bush than the whole of my patch!!! :-)

ShySongbird said...

I also think there may be more than 17 but I got in a mess and started seeing ones that probably weren't there ;-) Now that is what you call a lot on one bush!

I have a Cotoneaster like that but it isn't in very good view of the window, I shall try and take a good look tomorrow! I did have a Redwing on RSPB bird count day!

Alan Pavey said...

A great spectacle to watch from the comforts of home Greenie.