I like this time of year in the garden, birds are regular visitors and you never know what you may get.  I have been putting food on this log very close to the house and taking photographs, mainly of Blue Tits, Goldfinch and Dunnocks. I have been hoping to get some Coal Tits to come down and feed and today one arrived. Lovely little birds that are getting increasingly common in gardens. They are the smallest of the Tit species weighing as little as  9 grams. Long Tailed Tits also visit my garden regularly in the winter and it will be just a matter of time before I get one on there to photograph.

I have been deliberately leaving my Kingfisher alone this last week to make sure that she is not disturbed too much. It is now 11 days since she last perched in front of me in the hide, but I have been checking up now and then to catch the odd glimpse of her.  This evening at dusk, I went to the hide and was very pleased to see fresh droppings, not only on the hide but also underneath the branches close by. So, great news, she is still around and I am sure a good long session in the hide will get me some more photographs.  It is more than two weeks since I put minnows and sticklebacks in the tank and they are doing fine, even eating the fish food that I have given them. When I am not there I have been covering the top of the tank with a cam tarpaulin and then camouflaging it even more with dried grass.  As usual, there hasn't been any disturbance whatsoever which says a great deal about the people of Alphington.

Otter Update

I am seeing a great deal of Otter activity around my hide just lately and also on the concrete slip by the road.  Earlier, I found some very recent spraint on a "sandcastle, probably deposited last night and there are very fresh tracks in the mud.  A "sandcastle" is  a scraping together of mud in to a small pile which the otters use to then spraint on. A "spraint" is a deposit that the otters pass.  It is strongly scented with a very distinctive twang to it.  It is unmistakable and once you have smelt it you will always recognise it is uniquely otter. I am going to place my infra-red hunting camera there tonight and see if I can capture some photographs or video of the animal.

Flag Counter

You may be aware of the flag counter on the blog that records where my visitors and readers come from. I have now had visitors from 123 different countries which is amazing, the latest new country being Uraguay.  I also have  lots of visitors from the USA, in fact 3,694 unique people so far from 48 states , 3 to go before a full set!