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A Suffolk Lane

~ A diary of my life in rural north Suffolk.

A Suffolk Lane

Tag Archives: Springtime

Avian Visitors

28 Mon May 2018

Posted by Clare Pooley in Rural Diary, wild birds

≈ 116 Comments

Tags

Barnacle geese, birdsong, Blue Tit, Fieldfares, Firecrest, Garden birds, goslings, greylags, mallards, moorhens, nesting, Redwings, song thrush, Springtime, starlings, Suffolk, Swallows, Tufted Ducks

We have had some warm periods of weather at last, after a long, cold spring.  Spring flowers have rushed to bloom and set seed before summer arrives and the trees have clothed themselves in delicate green leaves.

Any warm days we had in early spring were quickly followed by much cooler and wetter weather and the returning birds were confused, I am sure.  I saw a couple of vanguard male Swallows (Hirundo rustica) at the beginning of April but the ensuing wet and windy weather must have sent them back south because I didn’t see them again until mid May!

Two Swallows on the electric cable above our garden in April

Swallow number 1

Swallow number 2

We are pleased to say that the Greylags (Anser anser) did arrive in our garden, a little later than usual and spent a couple of hours a day inspecting the place…..

Greylag male and female

…..until they were ready to set up home here for the duration.  A nest was built on the island and the female began to sit on her eggs at the end of March.

The geese taking up residence.

The island

The goose on her nest. She lowers her head to become less noticeable.

The gander patrols the water…..

….but often went off elsewhere to eat and meet his friends, though was within calling range.

The goose sat and sat and sat, only leaving the nest for a couple of minutes in the morning and evening to snatch a quick bite to eat.

Eventually, right at the end of April the goslings hatched.  There are four of them but I have had great difficulty photographing them.

Retreating Greylag family

As the goslings have grown the parents have become a little more relaxed but still beat a hasty retreat if anyone gets too close.

Gander on the lookout

Four fat babies eating our grass

These photos were taken at dusk and with my zoom at full stretch!  The goslings are on the move all the time and it is very difficult to get them in focus.

This photo was taken a few days later from Elinor’s bedroom window

I managed to get the whole family in this one!

While the goose was still sitting on her nest we had some surprise and unexpected visitors in the garden.

Barnacle Geese! (Branta leucopsis)   They had the cheek to land on the Greylags’ island while the goose was on her nest!

They appeared to want to set up home there too.

Richard saw them visit a few days later when the Greylag goose decided she didn’t want them there any longer.  She called her mate who arrived very quickly and saw them off.  These photos were taken from Elinor’s bedroom window again.

The pond has also had many visits from Tufted Ducks (Aythya fuligula).  There have often been two pairs of them swimming together.

Male and female Tufted Ducks

Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) male and female

Mallard drake

A pair of Moorhens (Gallinula chloropus)

The Moorhens again; one displaying its white feathers under its tail.

Before the leaves appeared on the Ash tree we had frequent flocks of Starlings visit in the evening

Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris)

We also had Fieldfares (Turdus pilaris) and Redwings (Turdus iliacus) congregate in that same tree before they flew north and east to their breeding grounds.

Once the winter birds had left, Spring decided it ought to do some catching up.  Flowers appeared, summer birds arrived despite the cool temperatures and I took this rather shaky video of our pond, mainly to record the birdsong (and the lambs!)

I managed to photograph a Blue Tit (Parus caeruleus) in our Rowan tree.

Blue Tit. There is also a crescent moon behind the tree

The next photo is a bit sad.  Sad in one sense that it shows a dead bird and sad in another that I am strange enough to want to photograph a dead bird!  I apologise to anyone who is upset at seeing these photos which were taken to record the presence of the bird in the area.  I buried the bird as soon as I had finished looking at it.

A Firecrest (Regulus ignicapillus).

I found this poor bird in the flowerbed under one of our windows and I assume it had flown into the glass and killed itself.

It is a tiny bird as you can see when compared with my hand.

Here is a link with information about Firecrests

We get Goldcrests in our garden but this is the first time I have seen a Firecrest here and am sorry that it had died.  It proves though, that there are probably other Firecrests about so I must be more observant.

A Song Thrush (Turdus philomelos) singing at dusk

I also made another poor video of this lovely bird singing.  I had to balance on one leg while peering round the corner of our house to make the video which is my excuse for the poor quality.  The video is dedicated to Richard Sutton of A Listening Heart blog who lamented in a recent post that he hadn’t heard a Song Thrush for a while.  Please do visit Richard’s blog.  He writes beautifully about the countryside where he lives and about poets and writers too.

 

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A Walk

28 Mon Mar 2016

Posted by Clare Pooley in plants, Rural Diary, trees, walking, weather, wild birds

≈ 47 Comments

Tags

blackbird, dandelion, English Oak, hedging and ditching, Italian Alder, Lesser Celandines, ponds, primrose, Roe deer, rookery, Springtime, Suffolk folk dance music, walking, windy weather

On Sunday 13th March Richard and I were able to go for a walk along the lanes together for the first time in months.  The fields were still much too wet for us to walk across them easily so we stuck to the roads and got along very well.  The weather was bright and sunny but the wind was strong and from the north-east so we didn’t linger.

DSCN0276Primroses-001

Primroses (Primula vulgaris) had begun to adorn the edges of the roadside.

DSCN0277Roe deer-001

We surprised a Roe Deer (Capreolus capreolus) who didn’t stay around for a photograph.

DSCN0279New pond-001

This pond was dug a few weeks ago and it is now full of water. It is about five or six feet deep. There is a cottage on the opposite side of the lane which is being renovated and we think this pond was dug to improve the drainage round the building.

DSCN0280Italian Alder catkins-001

Italian Alder catkins

Halfway down our lane a row of Italian Alders (Alnus cordata) grow between the lane and a wide arable field.  The trees are large and I assume were planted as a windbreak.

DSCN0281The Beck

The Beck wasn’t as deep as it had been a couple of weeks earlier but was still flowing quite quickly.

DSCN0282Our lane

Looking back the way we had come you can see the ditch at the side of the road is still very full. This ditch, along with most of the others near our house, has been cleared and dug out this winter.

The sides of the ditches are scraped to clear away the thick vegetation which if left, can stop the water from flowing away and will cause the roads and fields to flood.  The mud is then heaped up on the top of the bank and tamped down.  This is necessary work but means that we won’t see many wild flowers here for a while.

DSCN0283Recent hedging and ditching work

This photo shows more of the hedging and ditching work going on.

The ditch in the middle distance has been dug out and the hedge on the far side of it which had been left for too long without maintenance and had grown into a row of spindly trees, was being cut right back.

DSCN0284View

A view across the field looking in the direction of our house.

DSCN0287English Oak-001

A grand Pedunculate or English Oak (Quercus robur) at the side of the lane. It has lost a large branch recently in a storm. You can just see the orange scar where the branch was ripped away.

DSCN0289View

Another view from the lane.

DSCN0288Lane-001

Another of the muddy lanes we walked along. The sunshine and the strong wind were doing a good job of drying the road.

DSCN0290Dandelion

The Dandelions (Taraxacum officinale agg.) are beginning to flower…..

DSCN0292Celandines

…and so are the Lesser Celandines (Ranunculus ficaria).

DSCN0295Primroses

The Primroses are doing well this year.

DSCN0296Rookery

The Rookery at St Margaret’s village was busy.

DSCN0297Primroses

More primroses under the hedge.

DSCN0299Blackbird

A male Blackbird (Turdus merula) sitting in a tree above my head was being blown about in the breeze.

DSCN0301 pond

These ponds appear on St Margaret’s common when we have had a lot of rain

DSCN0302Our house

This is our house as seen from the field at the back. We turned off the lane and walked back home down the edge of the field which had dried out quite nicely.

DSCN0305Big pond

Our big pond as seen from the field. The white cord is all the boundary marker we have at present.

DSCN0306Big pond

A view of the rest of the pond showing where the new summerhouse is.

My choice of music today is a video of a folk music session at a Suffolk pub.

Thanks for visiting!

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I talk about what it's like living in a quiet part of Suffolk. I am a wife, mother and daughter, a practising Christian and love the natural world that surrounds me. I enjoy my life - most of the time!

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