Goldfinch and Time to Stop and Stare

What is this life if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

W H Davies

The Goldfinch is a species which in recent years has done well as far as numbers are concerned, at least locally.  The Northumberland Bird Atlas findings support my own observations and point to the availability of garden feeding as one likely cause of this success.  I regularly see Goldfinches nearby and even more often hear their calls.  Nevertheless, it is a species that has been a very infrequent visitor to my garden over the years. Despite an investment in a nyjer feeder years ago and my attempts to encourage them with nyjer and black sunflower seed, they have remained elusive, that is until the past few days.  A pair have now begun to visit and feed on the sunflower seed and explore the birdbath, so I am hoping more will follow.  They have been visiting each day now for over a week.  The the common Goldfinch along with the Bullfinch are two species that would compete on equal terms in making a watcher’s eyes turn even when watching birds in more exotic surrounds.  I believe we take our common birds far too much for granted.  I decided to refresh myself on some facts about the Goldfinch.

Many readers will know that the collective noun for Goldfinches is charm, but some may not know where the use of charm stems from.  It is derived from the old English c’irm used in describing the bird’s twittering song.

The scientific name for Goldfinch is Carduelis carduelis which is derived from the Latin for thistle, Carduss.  One vernacular name for Goldfinch is thistle finch, reflecting the bird’s favourite food.  Other vernacular names include goldie, gold linnet, seven coloured linnet, King Henry/Harry, King Harry Redcap, and petaldick.  King Henry refers to King Henry Eighth who was thought to be dapper, as is the Goldfinch.

With it’s connection to thistles and thorns and its red face, this has led to the Goldfinch being associated to Christ and the crucifixion and may explain why so many images of the Goldfinch appear in Renaissance paintings, many of them showing Mary with the baby Jesus.  It was believed that the red face of the bird depicts the blood of Christ and appeared after the bird had come down to fee on the crown of thorns at the crucifixion and dipped its head into the blood of Christ.

Robin

Coal Tit

I am happy to say that whilst unable yet to capture an image of the Wren, I can listen each day to its singing in the garden.  At least one Collared Dove has now reappeared but is not being welcomed by the pair of Wood Pigeons which have made this area home and now come up to the window and appear to stare me out if I have forgotten to put seed on the lawn.   The Robin of course is always just so happy to pose for the camera whilst the Coal Tits are regulars again.

Magpie

Collard Dove

I have added the odd image from the garden.  Don't forget to click on image to up size.

Close to Home

In the circumstances I believe it unwise to talk a lot about positive aspects of lockdown, so many people have suffered under this and from this vicious virus.  As an aside I would say as much as we want to get rid of this virus I do hope no one takes seriously the pompous President of the United States of America when he suggests the injecting of disinfectants might be the answer.  I don’t believe for one second he didn’t mean it despite his back tracking.  Is this bloke for real?  I am sure one day we will all wake up and find that there is in fact a real man of substance in the White House.  Being overly positive at this time in respect to benefits to nature might sound as if I am a politician putting spin on an incredibly sad subject.  Nevertheless no one can ignore possible short-term benefits to the natural world from matters such as cleaner air, less traffic and the chance for some wildlife to gain some space away from constant pressure from Joe Public.  Add to this the fine weather, in the UK at least, and one can see how some, if of course not all, wildlife might benefit.  Apparently, in Thailand it has been noted that sea life is returning to areas long deserted because of throngs of holidaymakers lining the beaches.  This must be happening in many places now.  A temporary period of less pressure, but a much needed one.  I have certainly noticed more butterflies locally than there has been at this time of year in recent years.  Speckled Wood Butterflies seen in the garden are shown below, as is an Iris.  This Iris stems from Irises given to us by a neighbour in around 1976 when we were all collecting soil from an area of the village, to add to our muddy and rock-solid gardens.  The houses had just been built.  It is doing well this year as its fragility has not been hammered by April showers as per norm.

 I am pleased to say that two birds missing from my garden list in recent weeks, Wren and Coal Tit have returned.  The Wren was in full song yesterday, and a wonderful song it is.

My lockdown exercise included a recent walk down to the lake.  The highlight down there being the pair of Great Crested Grebes.  No line of photographers this year.  I noticed too that the Coot appears to be sitting on eggs, so the pairs coming together was a success in that respect.  I stood by the larger lake watching for Swallows and Sand Martins for several minutes before their calling was heard and they appeared in number from behind me, flying over the lake to feed.  The highlight of my walk was on my return journey.  As I approached the church grounds I picked up the song of Willow Warbler which the constant calling of Chiffchaff failed to drown out.  I eventually caught sight of the bird, lit by the sun and gleaning between song bursts.  I entered the church grounds and stood under the tree in dappled sunlight.  Apart from bird song there was silence.   The bright new foliage of the tree giving some shade.  I listened to the song for several minutes before moving on towards home.  For those minutes, my mind had focussed solely on the song of the Willow Warbler and all seemed normal and well with the world.  I felt as refreshed as I had done for a long time, as I once more settled in to lockdown.  Nature is a wonderful relaxant as is poetry, as I am finding out.

Elephants Troop Past Fenwick's, Northumberland Street, Newcastle.

My favourite mammal is the Elephant.  I’ve seen many in the wild and stood within metres of a few.  I could go on to tell many a tale involving Elephants, animals certainly not to be messed with, but that is not the reason for this blog.

With time on my hands and as Chuck Berry once said, no particular place to go, I’ve begun to go through old family photographs of which there are many in my home.  I knew within this collection there was at least one which showed Elephants trooping past Fenwick’s on Northumberland Street, Newcastle, and I was lucky enough to find it in the first batch of photographs I pulled out yesterday.

I have in the far recesses of my memory a picture of me standing on Northumberland street as a small child watching an Elephant or Elephants, which I think were on the way to a Circus or an Exhibition on the Town Moor.  That would have been in the early 1950s and I can’t be certain this photograph is of that occasion.  However, I do know this photograph would have been taken probably in the early 50s by my mother. I find it hard to imagine this was only a few years after the ending of the World War Two.  I’m thinking I might be able to make out tramlines on the road, but I don’t know for sure when they were removed.  Trolley buses ran when I was a small child but perhaps the tramlines were still in place.

I have no idea how many times Elephants have trooped up Northumberland Street, which was of course the main AI at the time this photograph was taken.  Does anyone remember being there I wonder?

I’ll save my story of me having been bitten by a monkey on the Town Moor for another occasion.

I have a clearer memory of going to see a large cetacean at Blyth.  Cetaceans are up there with my favourite mammals too.  In this case it was not alive and it was some years after the troop of Elephants.  It would have been either the late 1960s or early 1970s.  Now if you were around at this time you must remember the appearance of Jonah the Whale.

I tend to keep all things associated to visits outings etc, so have an odd assortment of information from my past years and I have a small leaflet which gives facts about Jonah, but is lacking any dates.  I must have read it at the time, but having read it more recently much of the information seemed new to me, so maybe I had just put it to one side and forgotten it.

Having done a little research I’ve found that Jonah was one of three Fin Whales killed for ‘scientific reasons’ in a joint project between the Norwegian Whaling Industry and the World Wildlife Fund.  The whales were hunted and killed around 1952/53 and Jonah had been involved an earlier tour of the UK in the 1950s.  Initially this all seems to have been an attempt by the whaling industry to seek positive publicity.  I can’t believe the WWF would get involved in such a project these days!  I’ve read the Jonah eventually fell into the hands of showmen, and it is they perhaps that were responsible for the showing at Blyth, although the WWF are still shown on the leaflet as being involved in the sponsorship.   Do the remains of Jonah still exist I wonder?

Below is an image of the leaflet giving information.  

Click to enlarge

I have put this information on my blog as it is historically interesting.  I would not wish any reader to assume I support in any way the killing of Cetaceans and the use of Elephants in shows of any kind.  I prefer to watch wildlife where it ought to be, in the wild.

Enjoying Nature and Reflecting Despite Lockdown

To use a couple of words now in constant use, lockdown has certainly had me ramp up the garden bird watching.  I’ve spent several hours this past week sat at the patio door with camera at the ready.  Patch birding to my mind is without doubt the best and most rewarding part of bird watching and of course if you have a garden it will often be a central part of your patch.  I remember being asked some years ago by a then up and coming twitcher ‘’do you not get bored watching the same area and birds all of the time’’?  I’d like to think that now a little more mature, that the person in question will have a better understanding of the merits of patch birding.  Of course, present circumstances will have presented the need of all birdwatchers to stick to patch, at any rate one would hope so.

Chiffchaff on Rose Bush

Blackcap female

I took the opportunity whilst watching the garden to take some images of common, and in a couple of cases less common garden birds.  I’ve always been proud of the numbers of birds attracted to my very small garden in the middle of housing estates in a now not so new township.  Gardens will become more and more of a haven for birds and other wildlife in this and other areas, as concrete and brick cover more and more green areas around us.  If my garden can attract birds, so can yours, and without too much effort!  Council and developer talk of wildlife corridors (don’t corridors have to lead somewhere?) and increasing biodiversity is simply political spin in my opinion, whilst your garden (if you are lucky enough to have one) could form part of a pattern that provides space in a real and practical manner.

Robin

Dunnock

In no way do I try to deflect from the fact that I travel in normal circumstances to watch birds, although chasing rarities is not and has never been my thing.  With such activity along with much else out of the question at present, it is not only garden watching that I have ramped up.  I’ve been digging out some old music albums that I retain from my youth and the one I have lined up to play next is, Snow Goose by Camel, recorded in 1975 and inspired by Paul Gallico’s book The Snow Goose.  I was given a copy of the latter, which is illustrated by Peter Scott as a gift from a good friend.  I believe the central character of the book was based largely on Peter Scott himself.  The book was also made into a film of course.  Now the Snow Goose is one bird I would chase after and I envy the author William Fiennes who followed the migration of Snow Geese in North America and produced the book The Snow Goose which I have somewhere, but can’t find.

Chaffinch

House Sparrow with friend

As well as albums I’ve been revisiting one or two of my older bird books, and one I pulled out the other day was Robert Dougal’s Celebration of Birds.   Readers of a certain age will remember Robert was a News Reader on BBC as well as becoming President of the RSPB.  I found the receipt for the book inside and see that I purchased it from Thornes Bookshop on Percy Street, Newcastle on 12^th March 1979.  Good grief, that is over 40 years ago.  As the man said, I do not believe it!   The book contains quite a bit of poetry and poetry has appealed to me more as I have aged.  Poems can say so much with so few words if put together well, although I confess there is some poetry I would not touch with a barge pole and even more that I don’t quite understand.  I have become keen on the poet John Clare as I know no other poet that describes the natural world around him so well.  Clare also wrote very well about working farms and villages in the nineteenth century and although written long before my childhood they do bring back memories of days spent on the farm I visited as a child.  In the early 1960s the farm still used a horse in the fields.  Bob, the horse, would not have looked out of place in a scene set in Clare’s time and neither would the hay-gathers, when everyone mucked in, have looked out of place.  I remember well hot sunny days in the meadow when everyone would break when the farmers wife brought down the basket of scones, sandwiches and large pots of tea.  I must thank my friends Hilary and Kelsey for introducing me to Clare’s works and the artwork of Carry Akroyd that often accompanies them, and I have been reading this poetry and admiring the artwork over the past few days.

Great Tit

Blue Tit

Goldfinch shares bath with Blue Tit

Returning to Robert Dougal, he describes in Celebration of Birds a two man show he and Newcastle born James Alder (one time president of the Natural History Society of Northumbria amongst many other roles) were involved in at the Theatre Royal, Newcastle on the 5^th November 1970.  Were you there?  Apparently James had with him an injured Kestrel which he released and it flew off into the auditorium.  On hearing James call it, the bird immediately flew back to him.  I know James would often help injured birds back to fitness and rerelease them whenever possible.  Prior to the show James had written to The Evening Chronicle about Kestrels breeding on top of a crane on the banks of the Tyne.  I have a book about this very subject which was completed from notes by the son of James Alder after his father’s death.

Starling

I’ve included here several images taken this week in the garden and hope you enjoy them.  There’s nothing of great rarity but it was never my intention to capture such.  I was pleased to see a Chiffchaff and a pair of Blackcap, the latter may be nesting at the foot of the garden as may a pair of Robins.  The BlueTits are exploring their usual box and the now resident Wood Pigeons have been very amorous and are nesting in the large tree again.  Noticeable absentees whist I watched were Coal Tit, Wren and Song Thrush. Perhaps too busy nesting elsewhere.  I was pleased to count several Blackbirds, this perhaps being my favourite visitor, not least because of its song.  On quiet spring evenings, and every evening is quiet just now, the song of the Blackbird is a joy to hear as the early evening light begins to fade.  Over two or three days I listened to the drumming of Great Spotted Woodpecker.  I wonder how many of my neighbours noticed that?

Wood Pigeon

Jackdaw

Greenfinch

I’ll let John Clare have the final word.  Stay well.

The Blackbird

The blackbird is a bonny bird;

I love his morning suit,

And song in the spring mornings heard

As mellow as the flute.

How sweet his song in April showers

Pipes from his golden bill

As Yellow as the kingcup flowers,

The sweetest ditty still.

Little Things Mean a Lot

“You need to let the little things that would ordinarily bore you suddenly thrill you.”

― Andy Warhol

I think perhaps in the present circumstances of lockdown that we all find ourselves in, it would be a good idea to take heed of Mr Warhol’s quote.  Restricted though we all are currently, nature is not usually far away from us in some form or another.

Lesser Celandine Ranunculus ficaria is a plant that I used to try and erase from the garden as soon as the leaves began to show, not an easy task.  Perhaps fortunately, a growing interest in botanical matters had me becoming very fond of this harbinger of spring, a fondness that was shared by William Wordsworth.  I’ve mentioned once (probably more than once in fact) before on this blog that Wordsworth had wanted the Lesser Celandine carved on his gravestone, but sadly an error was made and what he got was Greater Celandine, an altogether different plant.  The brilliant yellow flower of the Lesser Celandine is now showing well in my garden and once it has disappeared the plants will be pulled up.  I’ve acted this way in recent years but the flowers still return each spring.  I’ve watched closely the development of the plant this year and taken a few images as the flower developed.

There is a Flower, the Lesser Celandine,

That shrinks, like many more, from cold and rain;
And, the first moment that the sun may shine,
Bright as the sun himself, 'tis out again!  (William Wordsworth)

D H Lawrence’s character Paul Morel in the book Sons and Lovers comments to his girlfriend about Lesser Celandine, ‘I like them.  When the petals go flat back with the sunshine.  They seem to be pressing themselves at the sun’.  Mr Morel doesn’t appear to have gone on to tell his girlfriend that pilewort was a vernacular name in use for this plant.  So named, as it was thought to be a good treatment for piles.  Apparently to be used with care as it is poisonous and I note that at least one guy needed medical treatment after having used it.  Ooowwwccchhh!

During the warm days of early spring (where have they gone?)  I noted two or three Small Tortoiseshell Butterflies in the garden along with Bumblebees, the odd Hoverfly and other insects.  Whilst in lockdown, I noticed last night that I am not alone in the house.  A large spider was with me in the bathroom and such was its attachment to me after I had photographed it, it later followed me into the lounge.  It’s presently behind the TV……...or is it?

Whilst chatting to Sam over the telephone I was pleased to hear of his renewed interest in local patch birding.  I don’t think he will be alone in that respect.  Sam had noticed that an area we visit which is normally devoid of people was quite busy with walkers the other day.  There’s little to be positive about at the moment, but maybe the current situation will bring to peoples notice what nature is around them in the vicinity in which they live.  It is probably too late to make the councils and developers take note to how important these open spaces are for our psychological wellbeing and the health of wildlife.

Wild Northumberland

The incessant building work and the resulting encroachment upon green land in North Tyneside and adjoining areas in Newcastle and south east Northumberland, are making in my eyes at least, the area unrecognisable from what until recently it was.  The spin that is given from time to time by local council officials that they care about the environment and nature doesn’t wash at all with me, as I believe that the natural environment is the last thing on most of their minds.  Sadly, I gain the impression that a proportion of the community care little one way or the other.  Thankfully we have Northumberland, where it remains possible to visit the wilds and leave the mases behind.

Sam and I have been out into the wilds of Northumberland on a couple of occasions recently.  Our first trip was northwards on a fine sunny spring day.  Well, fine until the low leaden grey cloud descended from the Cheviots and brought with it a fierce but short-lived hailstorm.  Like any true all-weather naturalists, we entered the pub for lunch at this very point in time.  Our best sighting of the day was finding a Kestrel in a tussle with a Peregrine Falcon close by us as we drove past.

Our next trip was further to the south of the county where we didn’t allow a fierce wind to spoil our day but confess we did make a tactical withdrawal from Grindon Lough before we were frozen in the winds.  We stopped of to visit my brother and enjoyed welcome hot drink before moving on and spending most of the subsequent time watching from the car.  I found myself watching the scenery as much as the birdlife, much of which seemed to be keeping heads down.  Best sighting for me that day was two small flocks of Golden Plover flying past us at close range and in perfect light.  It didn’t feel like spring but it did look and sound like it with the song of Skylark and the calls of Curlew and Lapwing at times filling the air.  Other birds seen that day included Mute Swan, Greylag Geese, Canada Geese, Wigeon, Teal, Goldeneye, Red Grouse, Grey Partridge, Pheasant, Common Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, Oystercatcher, Black Tailed Godwit, gulls, Stock Dove, corvids and garden birds.

We returned to the building site with thoughts we ought to get out into the wilds more often, but hopefully in calmer circumstances.

                                  

Druridge to Prestwick Carr via Venus

25^th Jan.  On the return journey from West Cumbria on 22^nd Jan we did a bit of star gazing.  Venus is showing well in the western sky after sunset throughout January.  A further reward was a Tawny Owl which flew above the car as we drove along a dark and bumpy road in darkness.  However today it was back to birding proper with what was an unexpected trip up to Druridge Bay.  Unexpected outings often bring the best results, could today be an example?  Kestrel and Common Buzzard were seen as we headed for Cresswell Pond.

A hide with a view. (Cresswell Pond)

Light soon improved as the grey clouded sky began to break up, initially giving blue patches of space and some sunlight.  Our first significant find was the remains of a kill at the bird feeder outside the hide.  The only remains of what turned out to be a Song Thrush was its bill and bloodstained feathers.  From the hide we saw the remains of a Grey Heron which looked to me as if it had been taken by a fox, such was the broken-up state of it.  Nature in action can often be a bloody business.  It wasn’t long before we were engrossed in watching live birds and enjoying the sight of flighty flocks of Lapwing, Dunlin and Curlew.  The Lapwing were the most numerous and we estimated 300+, but having counted them in one image taken of a small proportion I think we may well have underestimated.  The flock of Lapwings were split into three separate groupings and spent much of the time in the air.  When seen in such numbers in winter it would be easy to forget how much of a threat this species faces as a breeding bird in the UK.  Other waders seen included Golden Plover, Redshank, Ruff (3), a single Sanderling and Common Snipe on the edge of the reedbed.  Watching flocks of waders has always been a favourite area of bird watching for me, especially when they are in flight and as Sam had said on a previous visit, ‘if Lapwings were rare they would attract many twitchers’.

Lapwing and Dunlin

Dunlin

At 11.25am we distinctly heard the call of a Tawny Owl from the east side of the pond, maybe having been disturbed.  Little Grebe was heard calling and birds on the water included Wigeon, Teal, Goldeneye and Red breasted Merganser.  A Moorhen entertained with its flashing whited tail underside outside of the hide.  Such was the atmosphere we stayed far longer than expected.  We did eventually have lunch at the Drift Café which as usual was packed tightly with visitors.

Moorhen (Common can = Interesting)

Common Snipe (Courtesy of Samuel Hood)

We drove to Druridge Pools and had a nice view once again of the Little Owl roosting in its favoured spot.  The were at least a dozen Grey Herons in the area towards the pools, thankfully all alive this time.  Walking north from the turning circle we soon found what we had hoped too.  A mixed flock of finches and buntings contained we reckon about 40 Twite which eventually showed well, when they settled only yards from us.  Along with the Twite we saw Reed Bunting, Linnet, Chaffinch and Goldfinch.  One  of the highlights of the day.  We’d seen a pair of Stonechat along the way.  In the fields opposite was a large flock of Canada Geese and a smaller one of Greylag Geese.  Pink footed Geese had been seen in the air earlier on.

Little Owl.  Courtesy of Samuel Hood.

A quick watch of the flat calm sea gave us 3 Great Crested Grebes, Razorbills and Red Throated Divers

On the walk back to the pools we found Long tailed Tit.  The pools themselves were quite but we managed to add Shoveler and Gadwall to our day list along with two Roe Deer, being the first of the year.  As the days remain quite short we decided to miss out East Chevington as we had heard there wasn’t too much about and instead we made for Newbiggin.

After having had a cup of tea at Newbiggin the cloud closed in and the light began to go so we decided to bring what had been a good day to a close and head for home whilst listening to the painful attempts of Newcastle United to beat Oxford in the FA Cup!  The ‘toon’ was dull, but half-way home the skies were not as we met blue sky and sunshine again.  A decision was taken to divert to Prestwick Carr, and a good decision it proved to be.

On arrival we soon had the Eastern Yellow Wagtail onto our life list.  Yes, you all know we don’t rush with these things!  It was feeding away in the field along with many Pied Wagtails, a couple of Redwings and a Robin.  I was more than happy with the sighting.  Afterwards I was mindful to read up my Helm Guide to Pipits and Wagtails.  What a complicated group of birds, but I do feel more educated about the Eastern Yellow Wagtail now.

Eastern Yellow Wagtail (Courtesy of Samuel Hood)

After a good bit of time with the wagtail we walked down the bumpy road towards the feeder having more sightings of Redwing and Fieldfare along the way.  We both feel that yet again the bumpy road has been stretched.  It seems to get longer on each visit.  By the time we got to the feeder the sun was setting but we still found good numbers of Reed Bunting, Tree Sparrow, tits and what we were really after Willow Tit.  Earlier Sam had found what we are sure was a Long tailed Tit's nest.  Very interesting as I have often spoken in talks about the complicated structure of this nest which can often contain hundreds of feathers and which is designed to expand as chicks grow.  This got us on to chat about helpers at the nest, of which this species is one, with un-paired young or failed breeders often helping an adult pair with the feeding of chicks.

As we walked back to the car darkness was setting in and we were the last folk on the carr I reckon.  I’d mentioned the possibility of Barn Owl earlier and low and behold we saw one very briefly as it flew out of a tree and northwards onto the carr.  We couldn’t relocate what was our third species of owl seen today, but had the company of calling Willow Tit almost all the way back to the car.  A wonderful atmosphere on what had been a mild January day brought our birding to an end and it was black dark when we got home.

Prestwick Carr (Courtesy of Samuel Hood)

Although my passion for nature was somewhat curtailed last year through no fault of my own, today reminded me why that passion is a constant one.  I had twelve new species for the year list today taking me past the 100 mark although as Sam and I always say, whose counting, numbers don’t matter one bit, do they?  Great day and a visit to Prestwick Carr after a long absence.

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