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Garden / Yard List 2025 (4 Viewers)

I find that unfrozen water is as important as the seed feeders on -minus days.
I always put fresh water down irrespective, even if it’s already frozen!
As you say….Poeciles, Robins, Dunnock, Nuthatch, Blackbird, Song Thrush and even on occasion Wren seem to have a need.👍
In Finland, birdbaths are only seen in a few gardens. I dug a water hole in the yard of my previous house (I think I even posted pictures of it on the forum at the time), but digging one in the yard of an apartment building here might cause resentment among the other residents.
Here in Finland - Land of the thousands lakes - (...and about 1,5 million kilometers forest ditches:mad:) is enough bathing places for birds even without birdbaths.
 
Yikes Jos, I hope the Wild Boar around here don’t discover our feeders, we only have a few square mètres of ‘lawn’ and we’d like to keep it unploughed by les sangliers!
Up with the lark this morning (except we never see larks;)) at 04h50 as my wife was doing an early shift, I spent a good hour listening for owls -zilch. Still, a nice reward later on when at least three Black Grouse were on show across the valley having their breakfast of deep frozen birch buds.
Less exotic, but welcome nonetheless, the first

34 Starling

of the year, three feeding on the only unfrozen part of the fields down in the valley with thrushes. Between 2017 and 2022 I only had one January sighting of the species but today’s birds constitute the third year in a row that Starling have made an appearance in the first month.
A Le Sanglier would be welcome here. 1737109804792.png
 
A Le Sanglier would be welcome here. View attachment 1623533
Haha, I was tempted to have a small glass of my 'Ararat' Armenian Cognac to keep me warm earlier as I was outside scanning the frozen fields for half an hour hoping for a Grey Wagtail to visit the famous dung heap! Still I got a reward thanks to being out of doors as I heard the sweet melodic screech of a

35 Spotted Nutcracker

not far away, moments later two of them flew past. I don't always see them in mid-winter as they mostly stay higher up in the forest until August when they start their hazelnut raids.
 
Haha, I was tempted to have a small glass of my 'Ararat' Armenian Cognac to keep me warm earlier as I was outside scanning the frozen fields for half an hour hoping for a Grey Wagtail to visit the famous dung heap! Still I got a reward thanks to being out of doors as I heard the sweet melodic screech of a

35 Spotted Nutcracker

not far away, moments later two of them flew past. I don't always see them in mid-winter as they mostly stay higher up in the forest until August when they start their hazelnut raids.

Ah yes, I remember the Suffolk bird of yore.👍
 
Only 2 and a half weeks into the new year, and time to play catch up and see if I can remember what I've seen so far this year. (I did make starting notes on a bit of blue paper.)

Mabe Burnthouse, nr Falmouth, Cornwall UK

January 1st

1) Herring Gull looking ominously at me from rooftop opposite
2) Magpie
3) Redwing 30+ in the hedge out the back.
4) Chaffinch 1 male
5) Blue Tit
6) Blackbird
7) Mistle Thrush
8) Goldfinch
9) Long-tailed Tit - flock of 12+ through whilst out in the back garden
10) Rook
11) Great Tit
12) Starling single flyover

January 2nd

13) Wren 1 out front and 20 minutes later 1 (same?) out back
14) Blackcap a female and then also a male feeding in the ivy
15) Firecrest 1 cracking bird showing well in the bare acacia(?) tree
16) Dunnock 1 silhouette in back hedge
17) Woodpigeon on line over garden

Mistle Thrush a bird I can only recall from the garden a handful of times befoe.
 
3rd January

18) Jackdaw
19) Cormorant 3 over to roost late afternoon
20) Pied Wagtail
21) House Sparrow 1 v brief in flight
22) Coal Tit 2 in back hedge

We also had our first frost of the winter that I was aware of - killed the 18 inch high potato plants that had been growing of their own accord in the back garden and reduced to nothingmush a day later, and most of the Nasturtium flowers in the front.

Not making any real effort much, but did spend a bit of time looking out the attic velux window. Tried stringing the wagtail as a grey, seen briefly in flight, but a minute later picked up the Pied on a nearby roof. Jackdaws are pretty resident, so should have had them earlier. Thought I heard a Robin singing, but wasn't thinking about it at the time, so that will wait.

Had to go out by car at one stage, driving out of our little estate was rather surprised to see a Black Redstart on someone's drive not 80 metres away, as the bird flies, but with other houses in between. Foolishly I carried on down to Asda to fill up with diesel, rather than parking up and racing home and back on foot (to get it on the year green list). 10 minutes later came back after realising my mistake but didn't relocate it in a brief look (more people were about in neighbouring gardens too). One to keep an eye out for though hopefully.
 
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This is where my paper listing ends ... between 4th and 16th Jan -

23) Song Thrush 2 in back hedge
24) Carrion Crow 2 over
25) Buzzard 1 distantly

Still pretty minimal effort - although I did spend a couple of short sessions scanning from the attic on one day when visibility allowed, but nothing other than the Buzzard (and lots of herring gulls looking momentarily interesting).

c300 Redwing the other day
2 Mistle Thrush chacking and flying over
Firecrest again, this time in the front garden, looking down on it in the conifer from the attic

17th January

26) Black Redstart 1 female/1stw type flushed from beside the car
27) Raven 2 high over (heard a distant cronk, then seen, including doing the barrel rolls)

Great that managed to connect with the Black Redstart, wintering locally as suspected. I was just walking down the front path when I inadvertently flushed it from the pavement just outside the gate (I was just still in the garden). Clocked it's rufous tail as it flew away before briefly landing on the roofs opposite, a bit of furious tail shaking before it disappeared over the other side. Hopefully it will be back this side again when I see it before it sees me.
 
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25. linnet
Very few records but recent tree surgery means I can scan some distant fields and I picked up a flock of about 30. Also a flock of about 15 stock doves.
Badger is visiting nightly, but camera trap shows no pattern for arrival time. It has been before 6 on two evenings before the trap went out though.

Rob
 
From weekend in home garden:

#18. Treecreeper - first time in January

I visited my Kirkkosuo forest for the second time this year. Weather was much warmer (+4) but it was so windy that I couldn´t get the campfire started at first. In the end, I managed to do it and I and my friends were able to roast sausages over a fire. Also I got few new birds:

#3. Treecreeper - not so surprisingly
#4. Willow Tit - I think I´ve never seen this in any of my gardens, but I´ve seen it almost every time when visited in better part of my forest.
#5. Fieldfare - 4 of them still in woods

On the whole, at this time of year there is much less birds in woods than in towns. Hopefully situation get better at Spring. Whether I have time to be in my own forest then is a whole other story. :rolleyes:
 
Currently garden watching at my Mams house outside Salford.
Lots of changes in the 34 years since I left here. Regular Jays, on-the-ground Woodpigeons, daily Greater Spotted Woodpecker, Black headed Gulls at next doors bird table plus Grey Squirrel - none of this in my day.
Also so far no Greenfinches, Blue Tit seems scarce, still a small flock of House Sparrows present. A Bullfinch was a pleasant surprise as they were regular in winter when I was a kid.

News from the garden at home in Türkiye, my Landlord surprised a Goshawk plucking a neighbours pullet.
 

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