A garden first.................

Today was a good day for a little pond management cutting back around the edges and removing the leaves which had crept in under our net.  Other water plants were thinned in order to keep the pond open and more valuable to wildlife rather than a mass of tangled weeds and roots. During the work 5 frogs were found under the frog house and a single pond skater was enjoying the sunshine as it skitted about the pond surface.

With still conditions prevailing a net was put up in the bird garden with the hope of catching and ringing some.  The best bird caught was a female Firecrest, a new bird on the garden list, but a couple of Goldcrests were also caught and some Long-tailed tits, Blue Tits and a Chaffinch.  A male Sparrowhawk continued to visit the garden in late afternoon which put an end to the ringing. The Firecrest weighed 5.2 gms which is about the same as a bank credit card!

Firecrest

Firecrest -click once on picture to enlarge

 

Long-tailed Tit

Goldcrest

Chaffinch

Pond after a tidy-up!

Our second weather review of the previous week.  Temperatures dropped at the end of the week but very little rain and the wind eased considerably.

		TEMP	TEMP	WIND PARTICULARS m/s			RAIN MAX	PRESSURE
		°C  max	°C Min	SPEED	GUST	DIRECTION	mms	hPa
DATE	DAY
25-Nov	SUN	12.1	8.8	8.2	12.6	SE	4.2	1009
26-Nov	MON	9.5	6.2	4.8	6.5	SW	1.2	995
27-Nov	TUES	9.2	6	5.8	9.9	NWW	1.5	1008
28-Nov	WEDS	7.5	3.5	4.4	8.5	N	2.7	1012
29-Nov	THURS	9.1	0.7	2.7	3.4	N	0	1010
30-Nov	FRI	8.3	0.1	0.7	1.4	NW	0	1011
01-Dec	SAT	10.1	2.4	2.7	3.4	NWW	0	1014