Birds

This morning was a morning of birdsong, or at least some song and some calls. I counted at least six robins (click on 'Audio/Video' in the menu at the left to hear the song) between my house and the bus stop, some giving an alarm call, some giving brief snatches of song, and then a beautiful melodic phrase ringing out from the young trees behind the library. Lots of sparrows were around, although only one solitary cheeping bird in their usual hedge. A blackbird or two called from trees at the back of some houses, and I think I heard a snatch of song there, too. A chaffinch 'pink'ed at me as I walked by a garden, and the song thrush was back in the trees opposite the bus stop. Once again there were hundreds of gulls by the river; again, probably black-headed gulls but possibly some common gulls as well. At the station, two collared doves sat on top of a lamppost, one cooing and bobbing to the other in courting behaviour. They flew off later, one still following the other closely.

( List )

Yesterday's birds, backdated.

For reference

Identifying leaves. Hawthorn = may; blackthorn = sloe.

This year, I'm finally going to work out which of the thorny hedges currently bare of leaves are actually hawthorn. I have a feeling that they all might be, but I'm sure one of them flowered very early last year so it might be blackthorn. In theory, they're quite different in both their leaf shape and their flowering time. However, many people apparently confuse them. I've been confused about which is which since participating in a nature 'treasure hunt' when I was small, in which I was supposed to find an example of a hawthorn leaf. I kept bringing back leaves but was told that I was wrong each time. Looking at the website I've linked to, I'm still convinced that I was right.


Oh, and if anyone else in the UK fancies watching out for signs of Spring, the BBC's Springwatch is once again collecting first sightings of frogspawn, the peacock butterfly, the seven-spot ladybird, may blossom, the red-tailed bumblebee, and swifts.