The first week of February produced a Common Buzzard over the woods on the 2nd, and saw the long-awaited return of Long-tailed Tit visiting the nearby gardens on the 7th.
A pair of Collared Dove have become quite regular visitors towards the end of the month. They always visit in a pair and enjoy eating seed from the feeder tray, and have even sunbathed on it. They often perch on the fence by the tree, and will now come down onto the patio to feed on the seed fallen from the feeders.
Gull numbers have increased throughout the month with Black-headed Gull and Common Gull being daily sightings, probably roosting in the school fields nearby. Another increase came in the form of both Dunnock and Robin sightings, which have increased in frequency since their additions to the garden list last month.
This month has seen a marked decrease in finch visits to the garden, particularly Greenfinch, which have only been seen on the feeder once throughout the whole month. Goldfinch visits have been more frequent, but far less so than in previous months. However, I have discovered a regular Goldfinch roost in a nearby tree, which I can partially seen from the house. Typical numbers seen roosting were in the low teens, and the record of 16+ was on the 16th.
The most notable bird was the single Waxwing on the 25th, which was first seen at around 3pm in a distant tree with a group of Starlings. Ten seconds later it was gone. A single bird was at our local supermarket for over a week, but the last sighting was a week previous, so there was a reasonable chance. After scanning all the treetops (without success) trying to relocate it, I was about to give up. Just then it landed on the lamp post right outside my bedroom window and hungs around for about 15 minutes - a great day!
