Birds in your garden and immediate area

Andy & Diana Oldacre [April 2009]

A few days of dry weather, here at Wild Cottage, and now the rain is back! But at the feeders it has not stopped the return of Yellowhammer and Siskin. In particular the air is filled with typical Siskin calls, and whilst out in the garden cleaning the patio, the other day I heard their 'wheezy' call.

Because of the number of small birds at our feeders, we have also noticed greater activity of the local Sparrowhawk. She has a wide choice on her menu - House Sparrow, Chaffinch, Greenfinch [now back in small numbers], Siskin and Robin.

We now also have large numbers of Collared Dove, Common Gull and Blackbird in or over the garden. Starlings occasionally appear in large groups too. In the evening, just before it gets dark, we see a bat or two.

Buzzards are frequent overhead, their calls often heard, and one of our local white-tailed eagles flew quite near [over the telephone exchange] the other day.

Several years ago we put out a Niger seed feeder [frequented by Chaffinch and Siskin] but primarily we wanted to attract Goldfinch. We've seen several single birds in the garden over time, but never on the feeder. Now finally, today [4th April], there were three on the feeder!!

Around the Lochdon area today [5th April] I noticed that a few Sand Martins were battling the strong winds to feed over the moorland above the village. Alongside them were at least four Buzzard and a couple of Lesser Black-backed Gulls. On the loch several Wigeon remain and a huddle of three Grey Herons surveyed the low tide whilst Common Gulls, Oysterchatchers and a couple of Curlew searched for food. There was much courtship activity amongst the Collared Doves and Chaffinch, Dunnock, Wren and House Sparrows were all in fine song.

Pam & Arthur Brown [November 2008]

In the early part of the month we had a lot of of Redwings and Fieldfares passing through the area after the abundant amount of autumn berries. This is not unusual but this year they were accompanied by several groups of Waxwings, which turned up in a lot of gardens, unfortunately not ours.

We now have a few black beaked foreign Blackbirds joining the resident blackbirds and settling who's who in the pecking order. The birds in the garden have suddenly gone mad with feeding due to the very cold weather we are experiencing at the moment with lots of Coal, Great and Blue Tits, Chaffinches and Greenfinches, Collared Doves and Rock Doves. Robins have returned, and the House Sparrows, and we now have daily visits from a female Great Spotted Woodpecker.

At Loch Cuin in the village the cold weather has brought the snipe out of the reedbeds always a nice bird to see, these have joined the Redshanks and Greenshanks, Curlews and Oystercatchers which are always there in the winter. Winter ducks at Dervaig are Teal, Mallard, and Red Breasted Mergansers which have now been joined by Goldeneyes. Little Grebes are seen here daily at the moment as are the ubiquitous Herons and Common Gulls.

Buzzards and Kestrels are seen daily and we see a Barn Owl hunting the fields by the Loch most evenings. Although we rarely see them, we hear a local pair of Tawny Owls most nights.

Mike Wagemakers & Carol Marshall [late October]

Where has the early autumn gone, in a blink the end of October is here, our summer birds gone and the remaining ones desperately trying to find shelter in our wind swept garden. Which reminds us, it is time to gather in and clean up the feeders for the weeks ahead, those that haven’t been blown away that is!

We are enjoying watching the couple of Robins busy through the shrubbery and occasionally sitting on the garden wall, bobbing and flicking their tails; the small parties of Blue Tits passing through searching for last remaining grubs and insects, the family of Great Tits that have taken to searching the window reveals and eaves for spiders and not forgetting the Wren that we disturb late at night roosting in the small bay tree.

There is always the constant chatter of the Sparrows that have taken up home under the roof tiles; the Chaffinches, Greenfinches and occasionally Goldfinch passing over head; the Starlings on the roofs imitating any other bird they can and the occasional Jackdaws that have come over with the Rooks from Iona. Our Blackbird and Song Thrush now rarely seen, presumably in other peoples gardens less exposed than our own. All of these keeping a watchful eye for our local Sparrowhawk that visits daily and delights guests when it alights on the wall, watchful for the unwary. Hopefully, the two Yellowhammers, that spent thirty seconds recently on our garden shed and disappeared again, didn’t succumb.

Looking further afield, most notable is the female Hen Harrier, male rarely seen, that is visible daily from our sitting room window, hunting the moor for voles and pipits, hopefully the Stonechats staying out of harms way in the gorse, often with the local Kestrel hovering overhead; the passing gulls of various species heading to Loch Pottie for their daily ablutions; the Buzzards and Ravens that frequent Torr Mor opposite and the occasional call of Golden Plover, Oystercatcher and Redshank passing overhead, coast to coast and of course the constant presence of Snipe in the tussock grass and rushes – you don’t have to walk far without disturbing one or more. Mustn’t ignore the local Heron gliding in with his ‘landing lights’ on in search of frogs and toads.

For us though the best thing about this time of year is the migrating wildfowl. Great pleasure gained, sadly on only a few days, watching the Barnacle Geese and Whooper Swans passing through on their journey further south, grateful that a few rest up here before carrying on. Groups of up to 40 swans have been seen on nearby Loch Pottie in the past weeks, with small groups of Tufted Duck, Wigeon and Teal joining the local Mallards, hopefully not disturbed by the resident Otter. A walk to Fidden will find over 100 Barnacle Geese and small groups of Brent Geese at present; White fronted Geese and even the odd Pink Foot may also be found whilst enjoying the sound of Meadow Pipit and Skylark flushed from the ground joining the flocks of Redwing amongst the rocky outcrops, hopefully catching a glimpse of the occasional Twite and possibly even a rare wader on its enforced trip from America in amongst the Golden Plover, Turnstone and Dunlin!

We often joke that there isn’t much to be seen from our garden and near by at this time of year but in writing this we have to think how lucky we are. What will we see in the next few weeks, we wait with anticipation?

Ian Wilson [November]

We are now in the second full week of November and our exposed garden in upper Tobermory is taking a buffeting from the wind and rain we are currently experiencing.

The most abundant bird we are seeing at our feeders is the coal tit. Our coal tits appear to be extremely messy eaters, throwing as much seed on the floor as they consume. I suspect however they are only being selective and choosing the seed they prefer and from which they gain the best nutrition. The blackbirds which have been absent from the garden for the past four weeks are starting to return to our ground feeders. The other species sighted at present include great tit, blue tit, dunnock, chaffinch and robin.

As I write the ever present gulls of Tobermory are gliding effortlessly in the strong winds alighting from time to time on the rooftops. We have spotted one such herring gull which is easily identified by the cable tie that is securely fastened to its leg. It highlights the ever present threat discarded rubbish posses to our wildlife no matter how small or seemingly insignificant it may appear to us. Fortunately on this occasion the cable tie appears to cause no noticeable discomfort or distress, it just allows us to easily identify this individual from the rest. Perhaps we should give this bird a name, and monitor its progress. Any suggestions?.

Further afield in Tobermory Bay we have sighted a least one little grebe and shag.