Wednesday, a day off from chasing pension stuff and outpatient hospital visits. Some of you will recall I recently had an embolism, plus Mrs PR still has ongoing physio after her op last October.
I returned to a nearby woodland Hay Wood, near Solihull, for a deeper investigation as to what is there, and yes, I need to go back and explore more I've yet to see.
However, it was good to get out, though a bit nippy, and once I got away from the main tracks, bird spotting became a bit easier. Not a lot though, the tree canopy is quite high, and because the general public frequent the place, I guess most birds stay high, but there was a lot of bird song. I could hear woodpeckers, blackbirds, robins, long tail tits, and many more, but alas, none to be seen
Not even robin came down low, but they did observe from above!
But I did get a couple of first for me.
Not a first, a male chaffie food hunting, and didn't seem too bothered about a well behaved but free running dog nearby.
This particular stretch of woodland was full of silver birch, though generally, there was a lot of silver birch, plus large areas of Scots Pines. The silver birch catkins were very abundant, and will be until the end of May.
Now this is a first for me, a siskin, which like the male chaffie, didn't seem too bothered about what was going on around.
and a fluffy plumage pic
I did get a little carried away and just kept the shutter depressed to make sure I grabbed at least one decent photo. I had grabbed lots of good photos, too many, but what I did manage to capture, was the siskin coming back down after a very small hop. If you look closely, you can see its little feet just above ground level!
While exploring the woodland, I came across a tree trunk on its side, with grass growing atop!
And you thought grass always grew around the base of the trunk didn't you?
Well, it does. It appears on closer inspection, the trunk had broken away from its roots, taking the grass with it.
Also another first for me, a chiffchaff, that kept an eye on me while I sat on a log and ate lunch. I did spend a good while trying to make sure it was a CC, and not a willow warbler. I opted for the CC based on the paler triangular bib on the neck, which the WW didn't seem to have, plus, a little help from another thread on here in the last 48 hours or so.....
Which then set out to serenade me while I ate lunch
And on my way back to the car, on one of many dead silver birch trees, Birch Polypore fungi
Stay safe folks, the hides will be opening again soon.
Mike
Flickr: Peak Rambler
Jez in Surrey said:Well the apps do their best Mike but as often as not there’s always room for improvement. The smart bird app takes a guess at the birdsong you want to identify and gives a percentage of likelihood, often flicking between multiple species but then you are able to select a certain bird, listen to it’s songs and see if you get a match. I do find I use it quite a lot when I’m out and about
I think to be fair, with the wide range of species available plus the changing habitats and for some species having to change their way of living to accommodate mankind (we're a selfish species aren't we), and to add to that, our perception of what we see/saw, it will reduce accurac.
And lets not forget hybrids!
Jez in Surrey said:Yes we are a selfish lot, always taking but not giving very much back. As for hybrids though, I’d never heard of inter breeding..?
I've seen a few hybrids over time, but I've no idea how commonplace it is, though I'm sure someone somewhere will have an idea, or even know.