January 1
I didn’t have too much time on the first day of the year but happy to see 18 birds to get my garden list underway.
Birds seen: robin, blue tit, magpie, wood pigeon, house sparrow, long-tailed tit, blackbird, black-headed gull, dunnock, stock dove, chaffinch, great tit, herring gull, great spotted woodpecker, goldfinch, carrion crow, greenfinch, raven.
There was also a persistent grey squirrel that kept returning to the feeding station, in spite of my dog chasing it away.
Species list 2023 click here
Garden nature blog pages click here
January 2
First thing this morning, six Canada geese flew overhead, heading towards Baggeridge.
They were very vocal and I heard them before I saw them.
Before I went to work, watched a great spotted woodpecker feeding on the sunflower hearts feeder.
January 3
A brown rat in the garden this morning.
It’s inevitable when you feed birds that you will get them at some point, plus we also have stables in the immediate vicinity.
Fortunately, we don’t get too many, just the occasional one throughout the year and as soon as I see one I take steps to remove it from the equation.