Five On Friday - Birdwatching

Hello, thank you for dropping in, especially if you have come here via Amy at Love Made My Home.  Thank you very much if you left a comment on my last post - I was quite overwhelmed, and for those of you who were wondering, no, we don't keep a pig in our sty, all we have left of it is one wall and the brick floor, which we have extended with the bricks which used to make the other walls so that we can use it as a patio.  We actually refer to it as "the pigsty patio" which seems to horrify some people.  When it's all lovely in the summer, I'll show you.  I was fascinated to learn that in the USA, pigsties and privies were built of wood rather than brick - one of things I enjoy most about Blogland is the window it gives onto other parts of the world.  It also seems that quite a few of us have childhood experiences of outdoor loos and you may be appalled to hear that when I was at university in 1985 the house I lived in had no indoor loo! 

 

Last weekend the Best Beloved and I went on a little jaunt to North Wales.  Our first stop was The Spinnies, a nature reserve just outside Bangor which we haven't been to before.  A short walk took us to a bird hide which looked out onto a small lagoon.  Unfortunately, the very windy weather had sent most of the aquatic birds into the shelter of the reeds so we didn't see as many as I had hoped to see, but there were plenty of little birdies on the feeders and the Best Beloved took some pretty photos which I thought I'd share with you.  So here are four common British birds and one rather rarer one.

 

1.  Nuthatch

 

 

I have occasionally seen nuthatches in the woods but I have never been this close to one before.  I think they are one of my favourites. 

 

2.  Mr Chaffinch

 

 

The chaffinch is one of the commonest garden birds in Britain but I have never seen one in my garden.  (Don't worry, I have seen plenty of other birds, just not one of these.)

 

3.  Mrs Chaffinch

 

 

Ah, now here is his wife, looking rather plainer than her dandy of a husband. 

 

4.  House Sparrows

 

 

Numbers of house sparrows have declined drastically over the last forty years, perhaps by more than 70%, so I appreciate them a lot more than I used to, but there was no shortage of them here at The Spinnies.

 

5.  Little Egret

 

 

 

Now here is the star of the show and I am sorry that this is the closest we could get - it's a small, white heron with black legs and big, yellow feet.  According to my bird book, published in 1993, this bird is a "scarce visitor" to this country but apparently, they first bred here in Dorset in 1996 and are now seen in a number of places on the south coast of England...and in Wales, obviously.  This is only the second time I have seen one and we watched it for a long time.  Magnificent, especially when it stretched its wings and flew.

 

So, I hope you enjoyed this little ornithological post.  If you have time, you might want to hop over to Love Made My Home and see who else is joining in with Five On Friday this week.

 

See you soon.

 

Love, Mrs Tiggywinkle x