Feeding time In Crow Wood

Blue Tits and a Coal Tit....note the white flash

The Great Tit

Great Spotted Woodpecker on the fat balls, wary as ever

A Nuthatch, about to leave and stash a sunflower seed for later consumption

I have just set up the bird feeding station in the wood as I have done for several winters now. There's a bird feeder filled with a seed mix and also a few fat balls in a mesh tube. It seems like the birds are waiting for it to appear as a few bolder individuals are very quick to find it and they soon get used to my truck parked nearby which makes a great observation hide........perhaps they have come to associate the truck with food being supplied. There are no great surprises in the species that arrive - Nuthatches, Blue, Coal and Great Tits and the occasional Great Spotted Woodpecker......but it is very satisfying to be able to watch them at close quarters and to know that I might be helping them to survive the cold, lean months ahead.

On my usual walk around the wood I found evidence of a different meal, one likely disrupted by my presence - a part eaten Wood Pigeon on the path, the work of either a Female Sparrowhawk or even a Goshawk. The breast feathers had all been plucked out and the head removed. I have yet to see a Goshawk in our wood as they are pretty elusive but this is exactly how they eat their prey. It is far more likely however to have been a Sparrowhawk, a much more common raptor species. The female is much bigger than the male and very capable of tackling a fat pigeon.

Feeding of a different kind....dinner for a bird of prey

So far the weather has been pretty mild and the trees have kept their autumn colours well. It has been an amazing autumn. Perhaps the birds do not need my support quite yet but they are eager and I am happy to keep topping up the feeders regularly in an attempt to keep up with them. It seems that I am also feeding the local pheasants who do a good job in mopping up the seeds spilled by the over eager Nuthatches. It's a win win for all of us.....

A well camouflaged female Pheasant getting a share of the goodies on offer