It has been very quiet at the feeders this winter in comparison with other years. The seed feeders that I used toe refill every day are only being emptied on a weekly basis. Birds seen over the last week shown below
sparrowhawk - 1 male visits regularly
tawny owl - at least 2 birds heard
woodpigeon - up to 4 visit
great spotted woodpecker - 1 male (we used to get 4 or 5 in previous years)
robin - 3
song thrush - 1
blackbird - c12
goldcrest - 1
wren - 1
dunnock - 2
starling - 1
coal tit - 2
blue tit - 6
great tit - 4
long-tailed tit - 2
jackdaw - 6
magpie - 2
chaffinch - c12
goldfinch - 6 (up to 19 were present in October. A charm of c40 were feeding on cut thistle heads at Lench on Wednesday, so maybe numbers will increase again once this food source dries up)
greenfinch - 3 (flocks of 40 - 60 birds were common here 10 years ago)
bullfinch - up to 10 birds visit (the only finch species that has increased)
house sparrow - up to 16 birds visit some days, but then aren't seen for several days
Collared doves seem to have disappeared. I suspect this could be the first winter since 2003 without a brambling turning up.
I did mean to make a comment on my feeding station report regarding Collard Dove, I did have upto 3 pair but have had none on a regular basis for a couple of winters.
There are still a couple of pair in Irwell Vale but nothing like previous numbers.
We used to have a collared dove roost in the trees at the front of our house. This roost disappeared when most of the trees were cut down. 40 - 50 birds were counted in the roost at peak times. Daytime counts were a fraction of this and never reached double figures, so they may still be about in higher numbers than we realise. Having said that there was a pair that was regular between, what was, Waterfoot Park and Gaghills that I haven't seen for a couple of months. I also used to get up to 10 birds in Cowpe, but have seen far less recently. Maybe the increase in woodpigeons using gardens has had an impact
I thought the cold weather of the last few days might bring something unusual to the feeders. Unfortunately I was wrong. The only change has been the following
grey wagtail & pied wagtail - 1 of each
collared dove - 1pr have started visiting
long tailed tit - flocks of 15 and 9 have been seen
starling - 3 visiting now instead of 1
blackbird - perhaps up to 20 birds in the area
robin - despite the cold weather, two birds were still chasing each other around
