I don't normally expect any bird activity in the Garden until well into November but today a nuthatch turned up and investigated the empty feeder.I have put a bulk order in with Haiths, hopefully he will return and I won't get food rotting in the feeders as has happened when I have tried feeding early in the season before.
I haven't done much birding during the summer but a recent visit to the Forest of Dean did result in a close encounter with a wild boar. I was in the sculpture park on an old raiway embankment when I heard a boar grunting just below me a few yards away. I couldn't see him as the undergrowth was very thick but from the volume it was about the same distance as you would be from a pig at a city farm. I moved a little down the path before leaning over the fence to see if I could spot him but without luck. I did see a small heard of fallow deer later on though. Earlier in the day I had stopped at Brierley to have a look at the beaver release. I did manage to see a beaver dam but no animals.
The garden has been disturbingly quiet this month when traditionally the feeders will be continously active. I am seeing a handful of blue and great tits on the feeders but no finches and only the occasional long tailed tit. Normally I woukld expect goldfinches and a few bullfinches on the feeders and chaffinches and redpolls on the ground at this time of year. It has been a strange winter, very mild apart from one cold snap so I hope that they are simply don't need to come into the gardens. On a better note I saw a pair of sparrows in the front hedge this morning so, hopefully, they might be spreading from their stronghold in privet hedges at the other end of the village. Away from home a family trip to Yorkshire netted three pairs of goosander on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal between Shipley and Saltaire. I think this is the first time that I have been close enough to get a good naked eye view. I have been neglecting this blog, probably because most web browsing is now done on t
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