Wednesday 2 December 2015

Coppicing between the storms

The weather has been a bit stormy recently, with wind and rain making working in the woods at best unattractive and at worst risky, but there have been a few glimpses of the sun in between.

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I've been making reasonable progress on the coppicing, considering how little time I've actually been up there cutting:
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There was even a bit of frost one morning!
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Back over near our camp, we've started filling the bird feeder regularly again. The birds empty it over the course of 48 hours, so when they notice me arrive they usually turn up and wait for me to fill it:
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Then as soon as I'm done they get in there as fast as they can...
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The visitors included Coal tits...
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Great tits...
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Blue tits...
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and sometimes several of them at once!
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Of course, the small birds spill some of the seeds, which provides food for the Pheasants. A male and female turned up, and given how tame they were I suspect they may have been around last winter as well.
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Finally, over near where I was coppicing, Tracy and I spotted a Buzzard down in a field, possibly finishing off a meal:
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It was quite a long way off, and I tried getting closer for a better shot...
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but sadly was noticed...
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Anyway, I'm hoping to get some more Buzzard photos, as they've been around the woods a lot more over the past few months, and I've seen a pair of them soaring overhead.

Hoping for some drier weather in the coming weeks to get back up there to do some more work and photography...

Mike

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi Mike,

I suspect your buzzard was worm hunting, like the one in the following link:
http://www.cheshirewildlife.co.uk/Buzzard/index.htm

Best wishes,
Pat

Mike Pepler said...

Interesting, I didn't know they ate worms! They should learn the Herring Gull's trick of 'dancing' to make the worms think it's raining, so they come to the surface: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0jc_vm9J-0

Grayhen Tor said...

Great photos, and what a handsome robin.

Mike Pepler said...

Thanks, glad you like them!