Blairgowrie, Perthshire
Upstairs flat, country town, minimal garden space, but view into neighbouring properties with trees.
07.45-08.45
1: 3 Whooper Swans (house tick) flying NE to SW
2: 1 Blue Tit
3: Flock of Starlings
4: 1 Herring Gull
5: 1 Male Blackbird
6: 1 Wood Pigeon
7: 1 Carrion Crow
8: 1 Robin (on my window sill)
9: 1 House Sparrow (in window feeder)
9-10.30 (after putting out feed)
10: 1 Jackdaw
11: 2 Collared Dove (pair - occasional visitors)
12: 1 Chaffinch Male
13: 1 Dunnock
Sadly my walk round the block, even including a field, didn't give me anything new.
Had a pair of Coal Tits at the feeders yesterday, but of course they've gone walkabout today.
At last... 5-6 pm
14: 2 Coal Tits
6 April
A trip to Tesco during OAP hour included a short walk along the river. My expected and hoped for species not around; however, new for my lock-down list are
15: 2 flyover Oystercatchers
16: Chiffchaff heard (unknown here a few years ago)
17: Wren heard (nearly deafened me but I couldn't see him)
7 April
Exercise walk
18: No new birds, but saw two bumblebees. on my exercise walk.
19: Hawthorn leaves are popping out, so hopefully there will be some May blossom to see next month.
8 April
20: Pink-footed Geese (a skein flew over as I left the house). Couldn't see them due to the sun and house roofs.
Tesco River walk
Song Thrush
Wren (seen at last - right in the place where I heard one the time before!)
21: 2 Grey Wagtails (briefly sat on a log in the middle of the river
10 April
As I crossed the supermarket car park a large skein (approx 50) of Pinkfooted Geese flew across in formation, this time heading NE.
A wander along the river finally produced one of my targets there:
22: 2 male Mallards
13 April
The river wander produced nothing new for my list.
However, unpacking my shopping from the car back at home two new ones:
23: Greenfinch singing away in a tree. I've not seen/heard one round here for at least 5 years!
24: Common Buzzard - been expecting this one, though I usually only hear them but today got good views
After feeding the birds, I noticed a male Blackbird collecting a beakful of the mealworms. So he's either feeding his missis who's on a nest or he's already got nestlings to feed.
14 April
25: Great Tit - only an occasional visitor to my garden and window feeders. Had one pretty often through January. One returned this morning.
15 April
26: 2 Goosander - At last, one of the expected species for my river walk
20 April
No new birds along the river today, though I heard a second Greenfinch for the town, and saw a Wood Pigeon sitting on a nest (that's actually a very first for me LOL)
A flower day though, a single pretty little Violet, and a clump of Dandelions
Now I've managed to download my pics from the first week; a few pictures from the 5th.
22 April
Again no new birds seen. However, a wander along the river showed Blackbirds very busy hunting for food, so think they have young in the nest. Also some Robins appear to have fledged and the adults were busy feeding them.
However, I did hear:
27: 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers drumming. One on the other side of the river and the other somewhere in the trees around/near the industrial units.
24 April
The river walk produced another couple of newbies for my list
28: Pied Wagtail
29: Willow Warbler heard (other side of the river of course!
13 May
Felt the car battery was getting sluggish; rather cold this morning. So after the shopping run, drove round the town and spotted my ....
30: First House Martins of the year flying round the houses in a different part of town
15 May
31: First Barn Swallow and close to my premises.
17 May
First fledglings found, still being fed by adults: House Sparrow and Blackbird
1: Wood Pigeon on neighbour's roof
2: Herring Gull flying past my window
then 3 from my afternoon exercise walk
3: Male House Sparrow in someone's back garden
4: Male Chaffinch in a bush beside the road
5: Two Wood Pigeons observing Social Distancing Rules:-O
25 May
Meadow Sweet smelling lovely along the river.
26 May
Brimstone Moth. My first ever and it was on the wall beside the front door of my upstairs flat.
27 May
Local Starling nest emptied. Hoards of noisy youngsters in my garden
8 June
Hedgehog. The first I've seen here for about 2 years. He was cleaning up some spilled seeds from the feeder by the looks of it.
27 June
We're still pretty restricted here, though some things easing off from next week. Appointment for hair cut booked for 15 July, first day they're allowed to start.
Found a feeding station on the edge of town. So can now get regular sightings of Great Tit (as opposed to very rare visits to my window feeder). Coal and Blue Tits in numbers, also Chaffinch.
Red Squirrel is a new sighting for me this year. He's found the peanuts there, so I'll ensure that keeps topped up.
Around it I'm hearing Willow Warbler (actually got some pictures), Chiffchaff, Wrens
32: Yellowhammer
33: Pheasant
Looking forward to finding out what else may come to it.