March - becalmed

It's been a bit boring on the birding front largely because I've been ill and away from base.  Most annoying to dip on the Dungeness Penduline Tit last weekend but weather and health were against me.

Here in North Nottinghamshire movement of birds is evident - the winter thrushes have disappeared in the last fortnight and the singing passerines are making the cold but sunny more feel more springlike (even in they not!).

In the garden all the evidence is of pairing up of resident birds.  Visitor numbers at the bird feeders and tables are very variable but Greenfinch numbers are up.  This female blackcap was on seed when I first saw it but soon gobbled up apple when offered.



Out at Gringley Carr, the Short Eared Owls continue to show well and boldly approach cars and stationary humans alike as they scan the ditch sides.  There's less grass for them to patrol - that's been ploughed attracting masses of Black-Headed Gulls in the process. Lapwing numbers continue to grow too.

Also at Gringley the number of Buzzards is on the rise - though the count of 6 yesterday may have been increased by the newly ploughed fields.




Blackcap aside maybe a Winter visitor itself, there's not much sign of new migrants.  But the month ahead will change that.

In more optimistic news, a Barn Owl has been seen locally - the first for three years.  Hopefully it will find a mate.

The other day I was travelling north of Sheffield and pulled in to take in the dark stillness of the Moors near Upper Midhopestones.  It was pitch black.  As I sat in the car - the sound of planes taking off from Manchester Airport the occasional background interruption - I heard the haunting call of the Curlew and the chatter of Red Grouse, unknown wader and duck calls emphasised the avian traffic and a Tawny Owl.  Sitting and listening is under-rated.  But all this nocturnal traffic reminds me of a significnat Sheffield development.

Sheffield University and the Sheffield Bird Study Group have been promoting the camera on the website here as a place to watch a pair of Peregrines hopefully breeding.  Its a great venture also serviced by a Twitter account @peregrines2013.

As I sit at my desk at a building in Sheffield City Centre desk I survey the skies to catch sight of my favourite falcon.  But now the hunting sorties are marked by one of the webcam's observers tweeting that the birds have left the proto nest site.  The other night when fog enveloped the city and the skies were dark the twitter stream remarked the birds had gone hunting, like so many peregrines in cities they have probably learned how to make the most of the city lights illuminating their prey from below. As I walked home the thought of the Peregrines above, going about there business was a comfort (this species has made a formidable comeback) and an excitement.  Great use of technology all round are bring these birds to everyone in Sheffield.  We wait to see how the nest progresses.




This is a screen shot.