Baby Bullfinch

One of at least seven Juvenile Bullfinches seen from our house this morning, along with the adult male and female.

Oughtonhead Common

We walked from Bedford Road (near Ickleford) to Hitchin Road (near Pirton) this afternoon and found a great number of butterflies and a new species of bird for our year list. We saw three new species of butterfly - Ringlet, Meadow Brown and Marbled White and heard a Quail calling from the crops.

Ringlet Butterfly

Grey Wagtail in Hitchin

This photo is of a Grey Wagtail on the stream between Portmill Road and Hermitage Road in Hitchin. It was only the second time I had seen the bird this year.

Reed Warbler at RSPB Fowlmere

Great-Spotted Woodpecker story

In 2010, a male and female Great-Spotted Woodpecker visited our garden on a regular basis, getting food for their young. This photo is of a very scruffy looking adult female.

We did not find the nest site, but we we're lucky enough to find a few young Great-Spotted Woodpeckers on our feeders in early July. We saw two juveniles on our feeders at one time. This photo shows one of the baby woodpeckers on our nut feeder. The obvious difference between adult and juvenile is the peach colour on the lower body and the red cap on its head.  

This year (2011), the adult male and female returned in April and started taking food off to their nest in early May. However, after a while, the female appeared to be the only bird still feeding the young. We have not seen the male again to this date (31/05/2011), so the female was left to do double the work. This photo is of the male bird (with the red marking on the back of it's head). Hopefully, it went off to another nest to help raise more young.

I followed the flight path of the female Woodpecker from our feeders into a wooded area by the river across the road from our house and a few days later, we located a whole in a tree with a noisy young Woodpecker calling inside. The following morning, Dad and I went back and sat down with our bins and my camera and saw the female woodpecker feed it's young a number of times.

Video of the adult female feeding it's young,  then flying back to our garden for food.

The chicks have fledged!

First two are Juvenile Great Tits and the next four at Juvenile Long-Tailed Tits. All photos have been taken in my garden

Oughtonhead Common

Long-Tailed Tit

Long-Tailed Tits in snow

Taken in my garden

Waxwing in Stevenage

One of many Waxwings in snow-covered trees in Stevenage. It was so cold that, after a while, I was unable to press the button on my camera to take the photo!

Great-Spotted Woodpecker

Female just outside my garden

Goldfinches

Taken in my garden