Saturday 27 April 2019
Jay with tumour, Christophstal April 2019

Jay with tumour, Christophstal April 2019

Jay with tumour, Christophstal April 2019

Jay with tumour, Christophstal April 2019

It's still quiet in the garden. Only some gruesome photos today of a jay with a nasty looking tumour.

Friday 26 April 2019

The weather changed today and it has been really quiet in the garden. There were again lots of starlings flying around. This one caught my eye as it had a white flash on it. It seems to be a feather just lying on its back, but he flew off a few times and came back with the feather still attached so it must have been stuck on in some way.

The blue tits who are nesting in our house martin nests are still taking lots of material in. There can't be much more room in there.

Starling with white feather, Christophstal April 2019

Starling with white feather, Christophstal April 2019

Starling with white feather, Christophstal April 2019

Starling with white feather, Christophstal April 2019

Blue tit with nesting material, Christophstal April 2019

Blue tit with nesting material, Christophstal April 2019

Blue tit with yet more nesting material, Christophstal April 2019

Blue tit with yet more nesting material, Christophstal April 2019

Thursday 25 April 2019
Starling with caterpillar, Christophstal April 2019

Starling with caterpillar, Christophstal April 2019

Kestrel, Christophstal April 2019

Kestrel, Christophstal April 2019

Farewell, whinchat. Until September. Christophstal April 2019

Farewell, whinchat. Until September. Christophstal April 2019

Greenfinch eating maple flowers, Christophstal April 2019

Greenfinch eating maple flowers, Christophstal April 2019

Greenfinch eating maple flowers, Christophstal April 2019

Greenfinch eating maple flowers, Christophstal April 2019

Caterpillar TBI, from willow catkins, Christophstal April 2019

Caterpillar TBI, from willow catkins, Christophstal April 2019

For the past couple of years I've seen what I thought were fritillary butterflies flying at this time of year when there shouldn't be any. Today I got a good look at one and realized it was a tau emperor moth. No photo I'm afraid, but mystery solved.

There were lots of starlings around today, probably around 50. They seem to be nesting over the other side of the valley but are collecting food from our side. This one has a nice fat caterpillar. Looks like it might be a timothy tortrix.

There were two kestrels around briefly too.

The whinchat was around all morning, but just before 14:00, he flew up to the trees and I watched him fly off to the Northeast. The weather is changing tomorrow so that's probably it for whinchats until the return migration in September.

This greenfinch was eating off the maple flowers.

I finally got around to photographing a caterpillar that came out of some willow catkins we brought in for decoration. I'm expecting this to be one of the autumn sallow moths.

Wednesday 24 April 2019

There's still a whinchat hunting around the back of the house.

Today I had a brief glimpse of a lesser whitethroat. I wasn't really quick enough with the camera and he was gone before I could get a decent shot.

There's been a lot of commotion recently in the pond with too many male mallards and too few females. Today I saw this female mallard on her own eating an egg. I've had a look to see if this is common behaviour and I couldn't find any other references to female ducks eating their own eggs.

On a more cheerful note, the fantastic weather is continuing and the blossom on the mirabelle tree is looking wonderful.

A 30cm slow worm was basking on the drive this afternoon. This one had me confused as slow worms are normally a bit more colourful than this one. I think it is about to shed its skin which is why it looks so pale.

Lesser whitethroat, Christophstal April 2019

Lesser whitethroat, Christophstal April 2019

Lesser whitethroat, Christophstal April 2019

Lesser whitethroat, Christophstal April 2019

Female mallard eating her egg, Christophstal April 2019

Female mallard eating her egg, Christophstal April 2019

Female mallard eating her egg, Christophstal April 2019

Female mallard eating her egg, Christophstal April 2019

Female mallard eating her egg, Christophstal April 2019

Female mallard eating her egg, Christophstal April 2019

Mirabelle blossom, Christophstal April 2019

Mirabelle blossom, Christophstal April 2019

Slow worm, Christophstal April 2019

Slow worm, Christophstal April 2019

Tuesday 23 April 2019
Nightingale, Christophstal April 2019

Nightingale, Christophstal April 2019

Nightingale, Christophstal April 2019

Nightingale, Christophstal April 2019

Nightingale, Christophstal April 2019

Nightingale, Christophstal April 2019

Nightingale, Christophstal April 2019

Nightingale, Christophstal April 2019

Nightingale, Christophstal April 2019

Nightingale, Christophstal April 2019

Nightingale, Christophstal April 2019

Nightingale, Christophstal April 2019

Resting black redstart, Christophstal April 2019

Resting black redstart, Christophstal April 2019

Greenfinch, Christophstal April 2019

Greenfinch, Christophstal April 2019

Chiffchaff, Christophstal April 2019

Chiffchaff, Christophstal April 2019

Nightingale #3, Christophstal April 2019

Nightingale #3, Christophstal April 2019

Nightingale #3, Christophstal April 2019

Nightingale #3, Christophstal April 2019

It was much cooler today. We tried the fish pond dry stone wall again for sand lizards and drew a blank again.

There was only one whinchat about today, but I was kept entertained by the presence of two nightingales. They started to get used to me firing off my camera so I eventually got some photos of them out in the open. You can see this in the photos as I've posted them chronologically. The last one is the 'money shot'.

I've included a couple of photos of a black redstart, a greenfinch and a chiffchaff as they're quite nice photos. The black redstart sat there looking exhausted for some time.

** Update ** After posting, yet another nightingale showed up. This one looks quite different to the other two and seems a lot smaller and has a whiter underside.

Monday 22 April 2019

I decided to run the moth trap last night for the first time this year. The temperature fell to 2oC and there was a full moon so conditions weren't ideal. Even so, there were 7 species including this nice fresh puss moth.

Late last night I also spotted that an orange-tip butterfly I collected off woad last year had emerged, a female. I released it and it settled down to overnight under a leaf. It was still there this morning but flew off once the sun was on it.

We went for a walk down to the dry stone wall again this morning to see whether we could get some photos while the sand lizards were warming up. It was too cold for them and we didn't see any but on the way, we saw this yellowhammer (I had the wrong camera with him so the photos are crap). This is a new species for the valley for us but it doesn't add to our house count as we didn't see it from the house. I got a photo of the unravelling forked spleenwort.

This robin was giving a full throated song from the top of a tree when we got back.

The red squirrels are enjoying our peanuts washed down with a drink from the bird bath.

There were lots of chiffchaffs and blackcaps singing today. Here's a couple of photos.

Once again there were quite a few common redstarts and two whinchats around. One whinchat came very close to the house enabling me to get some close up photos.

The highlight of the day was the arrival of this fine male pied flycatcher.

It was sunny enough to bring out this common lizard in the garden. I was really surprised to see that it had a tick. I was convinced that they only fed off warm blooded animals.

Puss moth, Christophstal April 2019

Puss moth, Christophstal April 2019

Female orange-tip butterfly, ex larva, Christophstal April 2019

Female orange-tip butterfly, ex larva, Christophstal April 2019

Yellowhammer, Christophstal April 2019

Yellowhammer, Christophstal April 2019

Yellowhammer, Christophstal April 2019

Yellowhammer, Christophstal April 2019

Forked spleenwort, Christophstal April 2019

Forked spleenwort, Christophstal April 2019

Singing robin, Christophstal April 2019

Singing robin, Christophstal April 2019

Drinking red squirrel, Christophstal April 2019

Drinking red squirrel, Christophstal April 2019

Chiffchaff, Christophstal April 2019

Chiffchaff, Christophstal April 2019

Male blackcap, Christophstal April 2019

Male blackcap, Christophstal April 2019

Common redstart, Christophstal April 2019

Common redstart, Christophstal April 2019

Whinchat, Christophstal April 2019

Whinchat, Christophstal April 2019

Whinchat, Christophstal April 2019

Whinchat, Christophstal April 2019

Common redstart, Christophstal April 2019

Common redstart, Christophstal April 2019

Pied flycatcher, Christophstal April 2019

Pied flycatcher, Christophstal April 2019

Pied flycatcher, Christophstal April 2019

Pied flycatcher, Christophstal April 2019

Common lizard, Christophstal April 2019

Common lizard, Christophstal April 2019

Common lizard -

Common lizard - "has he seen me?", Christophstal April 2019

Tick on common lizard, Christophstal April 2019

Tick on common lizard, Christophstal April 2019

Sunday 21 April 2019
Water pipit, Christophstal April 2019

Water pipit, Christophstal April 2019

Water pipit, Christophstal April 2019

Water pipit, Christophstal April 2019

Whinchat on one leg, Christophstal April 2019

Whinchat on one leg, Christophstal April 2019

Whinchat, Christophstal April 2019

Whinchat, Christophstal April 2019

Common redstart, Christophstal April 2019

Common redstart, Christophstal April 2019

Buzzard with toad, Christophstal April 2019

Buzzard with toad, Christophstal April 2019

Barbel, Christophstal April 2019

Barbel, Christophstal April 2019

Blue tit with nesting materials, Christophstal April 2019

Blue tit with nesting materials, Christophstal April 2019

Magpie, Christophstal April 2019

Magpie, Christophstal April 2019

Undignified greenfinch behaviour, Christophstal April 2019

Undignified greenfinch behaviour, Christophstal April 2019

Male sand lizard, Christophstal April 2019

Male sand lizard, Christophstal April 2019

I got excited by this bird down by the pond. I think it is a juvenile white wagtail, but it's got a very short tail. *Update* we've since been informed by Dr Marc Förschler that this was a water pipit - a new species for us.

There were two more whinchats over the back of the house as well as a common redstart. The common redstart is sitting in exactly the same place as the earlier whinchat.

I got a clear photo of this buzzard carrying a toad.

I also got a clearish photo of the fish in the pond - which I can now identify as Barbel.

Another photo of a blue tit with nesting material, as well as a magpie.

There was some more strange greenfinch behaviour. I'm not sure what is going on here, but it isn't dignified.

It was a fantastic sunny day so we went down to the dry stone wall beside the fish ponds and saw lots of sand lizards including this beautiful male in his breeding colours. I'll try to get down there again to get a better photo.

Saturday 20 April 2019

This is normally the day I look forward to every year - when all sorts of interesting migrating birds appear. After the early arrival of the whinchats, stonechats and yesterday's nightingale, today was actually an anticlimax. The weather was perfect, but nothing beyond a few blackcaps made today more than a normal spring day.

I've got some photos, but nothing particularly interesting, although I do claim our 91st bird species - a jackdaw who was chasing a buzzard away. To be honest, I'm doubtful that that is a buzzard - the neck is too long - but I can't see what else it can be. It was carrying what I believe is a slowworm.

We put Christine's hair out for the birds and this blue tit was collecting some today.

An interesting mallard was floating around the pond. This one has a blue head.

Finishing off with a jay who was stuffing peanuts down his neck.

*EDIT* after posting, some greenfinches arrived and were behaving very strangely. There were two colourful individuals who appeared to be egging on two of the lesser coloured individuals. It culmonated in a mating (there is a female under there).

Jackdaw and buzzard, Christophstal April 2019

Jackdaw and buzzard, Christophstal April 2019

Blue tit collecting hair, Christophstal April 2019

Blue tit collecting hair, Christophstal April 2019

Blue tit collecting hair, Christophstal April 2019

Blue tit collecting hair, Christophstal April 2019

Blue headed mallard, Christophstal April 2019

Blue headed mallard, Christophstal April 2019

Blue headed mallard, Christophstal April 2019

Blue headed mallard, Christophstal April 2019

Corpulent jay, Christophstal April 2019

Corpulent jay, Christophstal April 2019

Greenfinch in egging mode, Christophstal April 2019

Greenfinch in egging mode, Christophstal April 2019

Mating greenfinch, Christophstal April 2019

Mating greenfinch, Christophstal April 2019

Friday 19 April 2019

I got up early in the hope that there'd be lots of interesting birds about. There were a lot of birds, but nothing very interesting apart from this very tired looking black redstart. We've have lots of female/juvenile black redstarts in the valley for several weeks, but not many nicely marked males like this one. He sat in the tree for a long time so maybe he's just arrived?

Later in the morning, a single whinchat made an appearance. And we had a wood pigeon close to the house too, which is a surprisingly rare occurrence.

Towards lunchtime, I went for a run through the woods and saw lots of black morels.

I checked on our heath spotted-orchids and they are both coming.

We've seen a lot of bird courtship recently. Here's a female blue tit simpering to her beau.

It wasn't looking very promising on the migrating birds today until I was this new and unexpected species in the garden. It is a nightingale - our 90th garden bird. Yes, I know it is a poor photo, but I was actually really lucky with this one as the focus point was not on the bird.

Towards evening our first common redstart of the year appeared.

I'm finishing up with a selection of other birds seen today. The singing greenfinch was interesting as we've only ever heard their awful monotonous screeching before. This one was singing quite nicely between squawks.

Male black redstart, Christophstal April 2019

Male black redstart, Christophstal April 2019

Wood pigeon, Christophstal April 2019

Wood pigeon, Christophstal April 2019

Whinchat, Christophstal April 2019

Whinchat, Christophstal April 2019

Whinchat, Christophstal April 2019

Whinchat, Christophstal April 2019

Black morel, Christophstal April 2019

Black morel, Christophstal April 2019

Heath spotted-orchid, Christophstal April 2019

Heath spotted-orchid, Christophstal April 2019

Courting blue tits, Christophstal April 2019

Courting blue tits, Christophstal April 2019

Nightingale, Christophstal April 2019

Nightingale, Christophstal April 2019

Buzzard, Christophstal April 2019

Buzzard, Christophstal April 2019

Greenfinch, Christophstal April 2019

Greenfinch, Christophstal April 2019

Singing greenfinch, Christophstal April 2019

Singing greenfinch, Christophstal April 2019

Common redstart, Christophstal April 2019

Common redstart, Christophstal April 2019

Chiffchaff, Christophstal April 2019

Chiffchaff, Christophstal April 2019

Thursday 18 April 2019
Whinchat, Christophstal April 2019

Whinchat, Christophstal April 2019

Whinchats, Christophstal April 2019

Whinchats, Christophstal April 2019

Stonechat, Christophstal April 2019

Stonechat, Christophstal April 2019

Stonechat, Christophstal April 2019

Stonechat, Christophstal April 2019

The migrant birds have arrived right on cue and they've brought some nice weather with them. There were a couple of whinchats and a stonechat behind the house today.

Sunday 14 April 2019

We had a new record for bird species in one day today - 29. There was nothing particularly special, it just seemed everything turned up today.

It was extremely cold and it snowed quite heavily in the morning. A treecreeper was climbing up the birch and a chiffchaff was singing down by the pond. There was also a vocal mallard on the water.

Yesterday, we put up our new Schwegler bird and bat boxes. We were really pleased to see a pair of blue tits moving in today!

We've been seeing this dishevelled jay around the garden for a few weeks now.

As the day came to an end, five more mallards flew noisily around the valley several times (the best photos only had four in shot).

Treecreeper, Christophstal April 2019

Treecreeper, Christophstal April 2019

Chiffchaff, Christophstal April 2019

Chiffchaff, Christophstal April 2019

Mallard, Christophstal April 2019

Mallard, Christophstal April 2019

Blue tit, Christophstal April 2019

Blue tit, Christophstal April 2019

Blue tit, Christophstal April 2019

Blue tit, Christophstal April 2019

Dishevelled jay, Christophstal April 2019

Dishevelled jay, Christophstal April 2019

Four mallards, Christophstal April 2019

Four mallards, Christophstal April 2019

Mallards, Christophstal April 2019

Mallards, Christophstal April 2019

Wednesday 10 April 2019
Green sandpiper, Christophstal April 2019

Green sandpiper, Christophstal April 2019

Green sandpiper, Christophstal April 2019

Green sandpiper, Christophstal April 2019

We had a very brief visit from a green sandpiper today. I was hoping to get some better photos, but these didn't come out too well.

Tuesday 9 April 2019

This wood mouse was collecting celandine leaves for his nest. That's a mighty fine passenger he's got in his ear. That's the first tick we've seen this year.

Wood mouse, Christophstal April 2019

Wood mouse, Christophstal April 2019

Wood mouse, Christophstal April 2019

Wood mouse, Christophstal April 2019

Monday 8 April 2019
House martin, Christophstal April 2019

House martin, Christophstal April 2019

We saw our first house martins of the year today. There were two flying around behind the house for a short time. I fired off a few photos not really expecting to get anything useable, but this one isn't too bad.

Sunday 7 April 2019

Lots of photos of ruddy shelducks today. These three stayed for quite some time. There was a lot of argy bargy. I think there was an alpha male (you can see him perching on the top of the Baerenschlossle). At the end of last week I saw just one ruddy shelduck flying around so I thought maybe something had happened to the pair, but it seems some more have arrived.

A white wagtail was impassively watching all the action.

The blue tit from yesterday was still stocking his nest, this time with a mixture of some carpet sweepings and Christine's hair that we put out for the birds a week ago.

Ruddy shelducks, Christophstal April 2019

Ruddy shelducks, Christophstal April 2019

Ruddy shelduck on the roof of the Baerenschlossle, Christophstal April 2019

Ruddy shelduck on the roof of the Baerenschlossle, Christophstal April 2019

Ruddy shelduck, Christophstal April 2019

Ruddy shelduck, Christophstal April 2019

Ruddy shelduck, Christophstal April 2019

Ruddy shelduck, Christophstal April 2019

Ruddy shelduck, Christophstal April 2019

Ruddy shelduck, Christophstal April 2019

Ruddy shelducks, Christophstal April 2019

Ruddy shelducks, Christophstal April 2019

Ruddy shelduck, Christophstal April 2019

Ruddy shelduck, Christophstal April 2019

Ruddy shelduck, Christophstal April 2019

Ruddy shelduck, Christophstal April 2019

White wagtail, Christophstal April 2019

White wagtail, Christophstal April 2019

Blue tit with nesting material, Christophstal April 2019

Blue tit with nesting material, Christophstal April 2019

Saturday 6 April 2019
Female crossbill, Christophstal April 2019

Female crossbill, Christophstal April 2019

Female crossbill, Christophstal April 2019

Female crossbill, Christophstal April 2019

Female crossbill, Christophstal April 2019

Female crossbill, Christophstal April 2019

Blue tit with nesting materials, Christophstal April 2019

Blue tit with nesting materials, Christophstal April 2019

Blue tit with nesting materials, Christophstal April 2019

Blue tit with nesting materials, Christophstal April 2019

Buzzard, Christophstal April 2019

Buzzard, Christophstal April 2019

Buzzard with frog?, Christophstal April 2019

Buzzard with frog?, Christophstal April 2019

Firecrest, Christophstal April 2019

Firecrest, Christophstal April 2019

Heron, Christophstal April 2019

Heron, Christophstal April 2019

Great spotted woodpecker, Christophstal April 2019

Great spotted woodpecker, Christophstal April 2019

Bullfinch, Christophstal April 2019

Bullfinch, Christophstal April 2019

Sparrowhawk, Christophstal April 2019

Sparrowhawk, Christophstal April 2019

It turned out to be a great day for birds - even though it was a bit chilly. It started off well with a rare visit from a female crossbill preening herself in the hawthorn. We've only ever seen males in the valley before. Unfortunately, I took these through a window and it was foggy so they are a bit grainy.

A blue tit has been doing parachuting displays for the last couple of weeks and he's been eyeing our house martin boxes for nesting. He seems to have found a mate and he was taking lots of materials to the box today.

The frogs are still getting a pummelling from the resident buzzards. At least I think that is what the flying buzzard is carrying.

We had a goldcrest and a firecrest today. I only got a photo of the firecrest though. In fact we saw 27 species today which equals our record from the 22nd April 2017. The crossbill helped us to tick off the first 12 species on our checklist which we've never managed before. I've thrown in a few photos of other species seen today. 

Tuesday 2 April 2019

This starling sat for a while in our hawthorn with some nesting materials. He's in a group of three which have been visiting our peanut table regularly.

Mid morning, I caught a glimpse of something splashing in the pond. There were three or four swallows taking a drink. These are our first swallows of the year. It looks like they were just passing through as they only stayed for a few minutes and were gone. I took a couple of photos not really expecting anything. This was the 'best' photo. At least we can just about tell what they were.

Starling with nesting materials, Christophstal April 2019

Starling with nesting materials, Christophstal April 2019

Swallow, Christophstal April 2019

Swallow, Christophstal April 2019