Garden Goodies

At 8.20am this morning, a Green Woodpecker perched half way on the closest branches of the middle tree, but as I passed by the window, it sadly flew off. At 8.40am, both Bullfinches (both male and female) were in the left hand tree- the Rowan/ Mountain Ash tree again feeding on the buds with the male favouring the front of the tree and even the Hebe bush in the garden nearby. The female again perched at the back of the Rowan tree.

I was very sad to hear of the recent very untimely death (from a heart attack) of Gary Moore at just 58, former guitarist with Thin Lizzy who played a mixture of music styles most notably hard rock and modern blues. A guitar virtuoso, who was at his best playing modern blues and hard rock, he reached his peak with the excellent 1990 modern Blues album "Still Got the Blues", which is still one of my favourites. I was fortunate enough to see him in concert at Ipswich Gaumont in 1985. I was planning to see him again, now it will never be, another great musician gone and a very, very sad loss.

Iceland again

A quick look at 8.30 this morning revealed the Lowestoft highlight of the winter, the excellent 1st winter Iceland Gull still amongst the Gulls on Links road car park in what was approaching near perfect light and I managed to fire off a few shots of the bird whilst driving my car into prime position. It finally flew off at 8.42am so I decided to leave for what was to be a very long day at work.

Having some TOIL time late afternoon 3.30pm as I had to work to the ungodly hour of 10pm tonight, I spied 4 Scaup on Leathes Ham , the immature 1st winter male and at least 3 female Scaup at the back of the lake.

Glorious day!

A frosty start first thing, but which eventually turned out to be a gloriously sunny, almost spring-like day revealed a sole male Bullfinch in the tree at the back of the garden in the half light at 8.35am, both male and female Bullfinches were feeding on the buds at 8.45am.

A quick look at the North Beach before work revealed the Iceland Gull on the groynes and it then flew over to the Link's Road car park and stood amongst the Gulls for 10 minutes before it flew off again.

Visiting Martham Library, 300 Pink- footed Geese were seen in a nearby field.

45 Waxwings

Having had a tip off from Alan B that Waxwings were in the Clover Way/ Gunton area last Thursday, I finally had a look Saturday morning and he was as good as his word because at 10.50am, I located 41 Waxwings all perched high up near the base of a telegraph post along Clover Way directly opposite the junction to Squire's Walk. These wonderful birds were trilling away merrily and flew down in small groups to berry bushes including one house on the corner with berries and perched just feet away from me, pity the light was so poor.

Another small group of about 9 Waxwings flew west along Clover Way across the road and fed in a berry bush, 2 houses west of the junction.

They all flew back again and a further 4 birds joined them totalling 45 Waxwings in all. Finally I saw James W walking over (after I texted him; he lives nearby) and I showed him where the birds were.

Bullfinches, Yes but Eyed- Hawk Moth??

Really nice to see the pair of Bullfinches again in the garden on and off between 8.30 and 8.45am.

Flying up to the tree at the back of the garden and feeding on the buds before flying down to the bushes at the back, they only flew off towards Parkhill Hotel grounds at 8.45am.

At Gorleston Library one of our users very kindly brought in a Moth he wasn't sure what it was, but one glance was enough for me to identify it as an Eyed- Hawk Moth. A reasonably common Moth but one I hadn't seen before. He had found it freshly dead by his shed in his back garden in Gorleston, but what on earth was a Hawk Moth doing alive this time of the year? I can only assume it must have escaped from a breeder/ collection of Hawk Moths and the escapee sadly met its untimely end.

Bullfinches Again & Save Our Forests

I was delighted to see the pair of Bullfinches again in the same tree at the back of the garden from 8.38- 8.40am today. This time the female was at the front of the tree. But by the time I had retrieved my camera they were at the back and obscured by foliage. They hopped down to the bushes beyond where they disappeared.

The "Coalition" Government plans to sell off our Woodlands and Forest to private bidders/ companies, ie. all those forest formerly managed by the Forestry Commission.

If you haven't already joined the 38 degrees petition to "Save our Forests from Privatisation" 

I implore you all to do this asap (before Thursday) 

The web address is:

www.38degrees.org.uk

as they'll be dire consequences if they are privatised. 

For example, 

Waveney Forest which already in private hands has a planning application (again!) for a big quarry and the Forest/ habitat disappearing and becoming a great big pit/ quarry instead.

This would affect the wildlife in the woods plus the wildlife seen on the surrounding Haddiscoe/Chedgrave marshes too. Potentially this could mean no more Rough- legged Buzzards, no more Short- eared Owls, no more Hen Harriers and so on.

None of this would have happened if it was still in public ownership.

And just imagine the nightmare if the following were privatised...

Dunwich Forest becoming a vast caravan holiday park! No public access, no wildlife.

No public access at all to Rendlesham Forest which is purely managed for tree felling activities!

 If you disagree with any of these horrendous possibilities, that could happen if these forests go into private ownership, sign up today and stop it. I have also sent a letter to the local Waveney MP Peter Aldous, lets hope he listens to his constituents.

This ludicrous proposal by the "Coalition" Government must be stopped.

Bullfinch Surprise

It was really very nice to see a pair of Bullfinches on the back tree of the garden, the male was at the front of the tree and the female at the back at 8.30am and they were feeding on the buds of the tree. After 5 minutes they flew off but not before I had fired off a few shots with the camera. After another 5 minutes they were back at 8.40am both Bullfinches now at the back of the tree and they stayed another five minutes before next door's children scared them off as they screamed as they were herded into the car that was taking them (the children) to school. 

It was a pity they didn't show during my 1 hour observation yesterday for the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch where I counted a paltry total of 2 Great Tit, Blue Tit, Robin, Blackbird, 2 Wood Pigeon and 1 Collared Dove. Last year I counted in addition the 2 Bullfinch, 5 Redwing and 1 Snipe that briefly settled (of 3 overflying Snipe).