A really fine day at Dove Stone with terrific mid-afternoon light.
At Binn Green we've had recent sightings of plenty of Coal, Great and Blue tits to be seen as well as Nuthatch, Treecreeper and Great Spotted Woodpecker. Nuthatch are also still visiting the feeding station at Dove Stone’s main car park, along with Goldfinch and Greenfinch.
Also around and about is Britain’s smallest bird. Yep, it’s the Goldcrest, aka regulus regulus. Look out for the bright patch on its crown – orange on males and more of a yellow on females; no crest and it’s a juvenile – amongst the conifer woodlands ( specifically Scots pine ) around Dove Stone. Being outside of the breeding season now you might see Goldcrest in flocks with other small birds such as tits. There’s a chance that some migrating birds from Scandanavia, Russia and Poland might have reached Britain through October so there’s a possibility that you might see increased groups due to this.
Goldcrests are one of the species whose numbers are thought to have been considerably affected by the hard winter of last year. This year’s Big Garden Birdwatch survey did indicate a big decline in garden Goldcrests. Because Goldcrests are so small – just 9cm (3.5in) long – they run a higher risk of becoming chilled. In addition Goldcrests aren’t able to carry much in the way of food reserves and are vulnerable to starvation.
More soon...