A Christmas Robin with a spring in its step, not least its voice! And just why might that be.

Of late, I’ve heard song from Blackbirds, Song Thrushes, Robins, Mistle Thrushes, Great Tits and Coal Tits and probably a couple more I haven’t mentioned. Why?

Perhaps this pre-Christmas Davis weather station graph might help guide you towards an answer.

 

Pre-Christmas Air Temperature Maximums from Newbury, Berkshire – December 2015 so far.

 

Yes, the unseasonable Temperatures aren’t helping our bird’s natural processes of late, least not, nature in general is pretty confused. The minimum Temperatures as illustrated by the chart below don’t help things much either. You’ll note that I am yet to register a single Air Frost in December. Once again, the blue line (in this case, maroon) represents the approximate average conditions expected in any given year.

 

Pre-Christmas Air Temperature Minimums from Newbury, Berkshire – December 2015 so far.

 

Now time for some Christmas cheer. Voted No.1 in David Lindo’s UK’s Favourite Bird survey, as promised, here is our Christmas Robin.

 

A Robin Redbreast (Erithacus rubecula)

Happy Christmas and a Happy New Year from Tony Powell and UKbirdingtimeline.com

 

 

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Heightened garden bird feeding activity due to the weather?

I have once again, topped up the garden feeders and I think it is fair to say, the birds are feeding at an unprecedented rate. In fact, if you were to look at the weather with regard to rainfall amounts and maximum Air Temperatures associated with them, you would not find my observation too shocking.

June 2012 climate summary as of 16th June

Currently as you can see, as of Mid-June, the rainfall accumulation is 92mm with the mean Air Temperature at 1.6c below average. If at this stage, you were to break down the precipitation into rainfall hours, this would illustrate how soggy June has been so far. My Davis rain gauge can perform this very precise calculation by accumulating the amount of bucket tips it produces, each one measuring 0.2mm at a time. Furthermore, the weather station records the weather parameters each minute of every day. On this basis, June has therefore produced 448 tips. The absurdity of our climate at this mid stage of June being proven by my location in Berkshire having received 105 hours of rainfall. Thankfully, for most folk at least, a good amount of this rainfall has been localised and arrived during the overnight period. Another summary is available via this blog post.

I think June is a wonderful month for birding activity in general in our gardens. This time around, in no doubt due to the lack of insect food, most of this is washed clear of the local trees and shrubs, the birds are amassing. A post on my other blog hinted at this activity and boy, is it continuing to this day. My sunflower hearts, the main feed provision is digested at approximately 2 kg or more per day. The variety is very high quality too. Sample lists from when I am at home involve the usual Blackbirds, Robins, House Sparrows and Song Thrushes etc. More interestingly, the number of finches is impressive with many different types accounted for. These include Goldfinches, Greenfinches, Chaffinches as well as a Bullfinch or two. Annoyingly though, the more boisterous birds will on occasions bully the smaller ones off the feeders. The main culprits being the individuals with higher biomass effect, birds such as Jackdaws, Starlings and Wood Pigeon. More about these potential bully birds next time!

Best Wishes

Tony Powell

Posted by: Tony William Powellon