February

February already and Spring is round the corner, although it certainly didn't feel like it this morning at Willsbridge (2/2/12). Brilliant sunshine but bitterly cold and at 10am not many birds around. But as is often the case, I just hung around by Catscliff Wood for about 15 minutes and things started to appear. A male GS woodpecker started to hammer. I couldn't see him but a female was visible in the treetops and playing hard to get. Bluetits and great tits and a couple of robins popped out with one great tit even giving forth his 'teacher-teacher' call. Didn't he know it was far too cold to look for a mate?

A treecreeper appeared nearby, my first for the year, followed by another year-first, a goldcrest. A song thrush sat quietly nearby before flying off when it spotted me then a robin came and had a look so I threw it some seeds, a couple of which it sampled then looked at me as if to say "Where's the mealworms then?"

Up the path near St Anne's church were two more GS woodpeckers that were a little more interested in each other than the earlier pair. Finally on the way home towards Long Beach Road were two goldfinches at last year's bramble seeds. Not a bad two hours worth, I thought.



Here's the tree creeper that I saw.