At 5pm I set out for a walk towards the river – it was mild and the evening light seemed suddenly to have come back. From a rooftop near Snipe Meadows there was a blackbird in full song! What a glorious sound….

The birds have fallen into a deep winter hush. Only a few fieldfares were clacking as I tramped through the snow towards Biggin Hall. The ruined barn where a barnowI buzzed me back in 2008 has been done up as a shooting lodge, and the owls will have to find a new place to roost in spring. It has a lovely view looking across to Glapthorn and Short Wood on the other side of the valley, and I was very taken by the door bell.

A mild and foggy morning by the river, with lots of birdsong for the time of year. 

Yesterday I saw two robins fighting in the garden, dunnocks scrapping in the bottom of a hedgerow near Snipe meadow, and some very excitable greattits near the recreation ground. This morning at 9am a songthrush was singing in a nearby garden, as he has done for a week now. On a trip to North London in the afternoon I heard a few notes of a blackbird in full song – spring seems to be coming very early….

The first gales in a long time came roaring from the south. Geese flew in a great circle over Snipe meadow, and a single lapwing called as it rose against the wind. A songthrush took off from a tree near the boathouse and wheeled round and round the flooded meadow as if glorying in its own energy and strength.

A few weeks ago I was surprised to see two muntjac deer at the edge of Snipe Meadow and managed to get a photo of one before they both melted into the hedgerow. At 6pm today I was passing Glapthorn Cow Pasture and popped in for a few moments to listen for tawny owls. A muntjacdeer started barking as soon as I opened the gate. Hard to reconcile the sound with its small size and timidity, especially on your own in the dark!

A mild and wet Christmas day. Poked my head out of the back door early this morning and thought I heard a few blackbird calls, but they turned out to be a distant mistle thrush. Walked down to the river Nene and took this image of some geese on the flooded meadow

 

A lovely hazy Sunday, the noon sun just beginning to warm through the morning frost. At the edge of Southwick forest a songthrush suddenly broke into full song. There was too much background noise to make recordings so I took some photos instead. The red kite’s forked tail was picked out by the sunlight as he watched me walk back down the hill.      

 

The new CD has just arrived! Sixteen local songbirds, each highlighted on a track between 2 and 5 minutes long. And many thanks to Lawrie Webb for the lovely Songthrush cover photo.

 

Walking above Southwick I came across half a dozen  goldcrests (a “charm” of goldcrests?) twittering away in a thicket. They were hard to spot but not at all shy when it came to singing.

I sent some of of my birdsong CDs to a customer in Hong Kong. He emailed back with a lovely recording he’d made of an Asian magpie robin called Ludwig, duetting with a nightingale from one of the CDs. Ludwig & Nightingale Duet