View allAll Photos Tagged AutumnWatch
Up above the trees and the houses, this morning in Somerset.
Taken 10 mins after my previous shot and looking the other way. The mist now begining to clear, revealling the village below.
'M8s'. Two male Bearded Tits or Bearded Reedlings as they are also called, perched here at the edge of a reed bed. Lincolnshire, UK.
Many thanks for visiting my Flickr pages...Your visits, interest, comments and kindness to 'fave' my photos is very much appreciated, Steve
Bearded Tit or Bearded Reedling Notes:-
The bearded reedling is a small, sexually dimorphic reed-bed passerine bird. It is frequently known as the bearded tit, due to some similarities to the long-tailed tit, or the bearded parrotbill. It is the only species in the family Panuridae. Wikipedia
Scientific name: Panurus biarmicus
1. Not a bearded tit
Despite its name, the bearded tit is neither bearded nor a tit! It actually has a moustachioed-look to its plumage and for a while it was considered a member of the parrotbill family, but now it is thought to be more closely related to larks.
2. Reedbed inhabitant
Bearded tits are the only British songbird to stay in reedbeds all year round. Originally they were limited by the availability of reedbeds in Britain, but thanks to newly created or expanded reedbeds, they are now more widespread and can be found in parts of eastern and southern England, Morecambe Bay in northwest England and around the Tay estuary in Scotland.
3. Occasional movements
Although bearded tits are not well known for migration, there is some movement in the autumn through local dispersal. On occasion, there is also an influx of continental birds from mainland Europe. They are more gregarious outside of the breeding season, and therefore tend to be easier to see.
4. Breeding behaviour
There are only around 630 breeding pairs of bearded tits found in Britain, most likely due to the fact that they are limited by habitat. They build their nests low down in the reeds, often on piles of dead reed stems. They will use specially designed nest boxes, which were created to bypass their susceptibility to flooding. They are prolific breeders that can have up to four broods a year, with four to eight eggs per brood!
Bearded Tit/Bearded Reedling - Panurus biarmicus
© Allan Drewitt/BTO
5. Alterations
Bearded tits survive in the reedbeds all year round by changing their diet from insects during the spring and summer, to seeds in the autumn and winter. They cope with this by altering their gut morphology, and by eating large amounts of grit particles that help to grind down the tough seed fibres.
6. Vulnerability
Due to their range restriction, bearded tit populations can be vulnerable to particularly harsh winters, flooding and saltwater inundation into reedbeds. As a result local extinctions can occur. For example, in the cold winter of 1947 the East Anglian population decreased to just four or five pairs in Suffolk and a lone male in Norfolk. It is thought that the snow cover prevented them from accessing the seeds they needed to survive.
7. ‘Moustachioed tits’
Bearded tits are sandy brown with long tails, yellow bills and eyes. The males have grey heads with a conspicuous black ‘moustache’ that flanks the throat. Females are duller and lack the moustache. They have a distinctive ‘ping’ call when they fly, which you will usually hear before you see them.
Discover Wildlife Notes.
'Swiftly flying past'. A Sandwich Tern, Sterna sandvicensis, showing its distinctive yellow tipped black bill...on a mission, Northumberland.
Many thanks for visiting my Flickr pages ...Your visits, interest, comments and kindness to 'fave' my photos is very much appreciated, Steve.
Sandwich Tern Notes...
Found around our coasts during the breeding season, the large Sandwich Tern can be spotted diving into the sea for fish such as sandeels. It nests in colonies on sand and shingle beaches, and islands.
Species information
Category: Seabirds
Statistics
Length: 36-41cm
Wingspan: 1m
Weight: 250g
Average lifespan: 12 years
Conservation status
Classified in the UK as Amber under the Birds of Conservation Concern 4: the Red List for Birds (2015).
When to see: March to September
About
The Sandwich Tern is a relatively large tern, which breeds in colonies on sand and shingle beaches, islands and spits. Sandwich terns feed on fish, such as sand eels, sprats and whiting, which they catch by diving into the water.
How to identify
The Sandwich Tern is whitish-grey above and white below, with a large black cap (the forehead becomes white in winter) and a shaggy, black crest. It has short, black legs, and a black bill with a yellow tip. It has a short tail without 'streamers' (long feathers extending past the main tail).
Distribution
A summer visitor to sandy beaches and islands around our coastline, particularly in the south and east of England.
Habitats: Coastal
Did you know?
Named after Sandwich Bay in Kent, the Sandwich Tern is one of three birds to be named after Kent - the others are the Kentish Plover and the Dartford Warbler. WT Notes.
An eerie October walk along the beach at Southbourne Bournemouth. Looking back at Hengistbury Head shrouded in the fog.
Siberian Accentor was busily feeding and came to within 3ft of my wife. It was quite a showy bird. (760)
on a rainy day with nothing better to do ,eureka i'll post a stoat shot :-0) makes a change from stags !!!
Waxcaps are frequent around this time of year in fields and other grassland habitats; a woodland is not the place you'd routinely go looking for them. Strangely, RSPB Swell Woods in Somerset is awash with an array of these brilliantly coloured fruiting bodies emerging from underneath the autumn leaf litter.
Taken at RSPB Old Moor, South Yorkshire. I was volunteering there as a reserve guide and with the BBC Autumnwatch team on site, that brought in some new first time visitors. It was great to be in a hide talking to children possibly having their earliest experiences of wildlife, whilst this bird was putting on a display right in front of us. Maybe we hooked some future conservationists.
'White Crown'. Coal Tit, foraging for insects, West Yorkshire.
Many thanks for visiting my Flickr pages ...Your visits, interest, comments and kindness to 'fave' my photos is very much appreciated, Steve.
'Time is of the Essence'.
It's that time of the year again...a beautiful Dipper, Cinclus cinclus traveling swiftly up the River Holme with a beak full of nest building materials, West Yorkshire.
Many thanks for visiting my Flickr pages...Your visits, interest, comments and kindness to 'fave' my photos is very much appreciated, Steve.
The chocolate-brown, plump dipper can often be seen bobbing up and down on a stone in a fast-flowing river. It feeds on underwater insects by walking straight into, and under, the water.
Dipper Notes and Information:
Category: Thrushes, chats, flycatchers, starling, dipper and wren
Statistics
Length: 18cm
Wingspan: 28cm
Weight: 64g
Average lifespan: 3 years
Conservation status
Classified in the UK as Amber under the Birds of Conservation Concern 4: the Red List for Birds (2015).
When to see
January to December
About
A medium-sized, plump bird, the dipper is often seen sitting on a stone in a river or stream, bobbing up and down. It can be found around fast-flowing streams and rivers, mostly in upland areas, but also in South West England. It feeds on underwater invertebrates, such as stonefly and caddis fly larvae, by walking straight into, and completely under, the water to find them.
How to identify
The dipper is a short-tailed, chocolate-brown bird, with a white throat and chest.
Distribution
Widespread in the uplands.
Habitats
FreshwaterWetlands
Did you know?
Dippers have a third, transparent eyelid called a 'nictitating membrane' that they can close, enabling them to see underwater, NWT Notes.
Waxcaps are frequent around this time of year in fields and other grassland habitats; a woodland is not the place you'd routinely go looking for them. Strangely, RSPB Swell Woods in Somerset is awash with an array of these brilliantly coloured fruiting bodies emerging from underneath the autumn leaf litter.
Oystercatcher male mates with female (Photograph number four in sequence of seven).
Many thanks for visiting my Flickr pages ...Your visits, interest, comments and kindness to 'fave' my photos is very much appreciated, Steve.
‘The last post', but no chorus... a beautiful male Stonechat, Saxicola rubicola taking a moment to check out its surroundings on a North Yorkshire moor... The Stonechat is a Robin size Chat that frequents sparsely vegetated areas such as moors, open pasture land and marsh type habitats. It is a bird that is often easy to see as it has a convenient habit of perching in full view.
Status and Distribution:
The Stonechat is a common breeding resident in the UK with over 50,000 pairs. The Stonechat occurs in all counties throughout the UK and Ireland. In winter numbers increase as migrants come to the UK from Continental Europe to escape their cold winters, migrants start to arrive in October to winter in our less severe climate.
Habitat:
Stonechats occur lower vegetated habitats throughout the UK, farmland, moorland, breckland marshes indeed any open country habitat with suitable scrub.
Song / Call:
Several call notes are heard; most often a hard metallic ‘Tack’ sounding like stones being struck together, sometimes repeated three or four times.
Many thanks for visiting my Flickr pages...Your visits, interest, comments and kindness to 'fave' my photos is very much appreciated, Steve.
Stonechat Notes and Information:
RSPB notes…The European Stonechat is a small passerine bird that was formerly classed as a subspecies of the common stonechat. Long considered a member of the thrush family, Turdidae, genetic evidence has placed it and its relatives in the Old World flycatcher family, Muscicapidae.
Stonechats are robin sized birds. Males have striking black heads with white around the side of their neck, orange-red breasts and a mottled brown back. Females lack the male's black head, but have brown backs and an orange tinge to their chests. Birds are frequently seen flicking their wings while perched, often doing so on the tops of low bushes.
As its name suggests, birds utter a sharp loud call that sound like two stones being tapped together. They breed in western and southern parts of the UK, but disperse more widely in winter.
A walk through the woods at Bolderwood New Forest National Park Hampshire. A colourful scene in Autumn.
© All rights reserved
chiffchaff ~ phylloscopus collybita
RSPB Green status
I think this bird is a chiffchaff but I am not completely sure. It suddenly appeared over the top of the wall after I had been looking for some 'misty' shots to take before the sun broke through. So I ended up with a few backlit photos instead.
'Life’s a balancing act'. Oystercatcher, Haematopus astralegus in summer plumage. I watched this little beauty preening and stretching at the edge of Loch Spelve, Isle of Mull, Argyll and Bute, Scotland.
Many thanks for visiting my Flickr pages...Your visits, interest, comments and kindness to 'fave' my photos is very much appreciated, Steve.
Notes:-
1
How many Oystercatchers are there in the UK?
Britain supports an internationally important number of wintering oystercatchers with up to 45 per cent of Europe’s population choosing to spend the winter here. Overall, the breeding population in England has increased to around 110,000 pairs, but there has been a significant decline in Scotland, the reasons for which are unclear. Due to these local declines, oystercatchers are Amber-listed in the UK and classed as Vulnerable in Europe as a whole.
2
What’s the ideal habitat for an oystercatcher?
During the winter, oystercatchers are still very much a bird of tidal estuaries and rocky shores. During the breeding season, however, they can be found much further inland thanks to populations moving along linear waterways. In Aberdeen and other Scottish towns, they have even been known to nest on rooftops!
3
Do oystercatchers only eat oysters?
The main diet of the oystercatcher seldom involves oysters in the UK! They predominantly eat bivalves, including cockles and mussels. Given their reliance on shellfish, it is thought that in the past local declines may have been linked to the shellfish industry reducing the amount of available prey.
4
How do oystercatchers open shells to eat?
Individuals have two main techniques for handling their difficult prey. Some, which have shorter, blunter bills, specialise in hammering the prey through the shell. Others, with longer, pointier bills, prise the two shells apart.
5
How long do oystercatchers live for?
The longevity record for an oystercatcher stands at 40 years, one month and two days. Ringed as a chick in 1970, it was last caught by a bird ringer near the same place on the Wash in Lincolnshire in 2010. Amazingly, during all those years it has never been seen away from the site where it was first ringed.
6
How to identify oystercatchers
Oystercatchers are hard to miss. They are large black and white wading birds, with long, orange-red bills and reddish-pink legs. When they are in flight, they have an obvious white wing-stripe, a black tail and a white rump that extends as a ‘V’ between the wings. You often hear them before you see them, thanks to their loud ‘peep-ing’ call. Discover Wildlife Notes.
Pine Marten - Martes Martes
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