After being spoilt by the Spoonbills and Avocets yesterday at Audenshaw it was back to garden bird entertainment this afternoon.

There have been no new lockdown birds however lots of the regulars, House Sparrows and their youngsters are increasing each day, Blue Tits have also been active  and a Coal Tit has been collecting food and flying off then returning almost straight away so likely there is a nest close by. After a short absence one Dunnock is back but only the one.

An interesting observation already mentioned elsewhere on the forum has been House Sparrows climbing up the brickwork and taking insects, in our case they climb/cling to the garage wall, eight is the most we have seen do this. My suspicion is that they were taking grit, we have observed them doing this over the years and we now leave grit sand out for them which they visit fairly regular.

We also have a male Blackbird which thinks he is a Hummingbird! He takes off almost vertically to reach a suet block and literally hovers for a split second before pecking at the block. He performs this several times before he gets tired, ten efforts on the trot is the most witnessed and he will do this most days or he did as we have now run out of the blocks and fat balls can't entice him to perform the same action.

Today we have had the first two juvenile Starlings arrive, being fed by adults as well as foraging and watering on their own.

The novelty Pheasant is still here.

A very interesting day in more ways than one.  Firstly, we can now move around a little bit more and visit some of our favourite sites.

Secondly, from around 11 am we had a very unusual visitor to the garden in the form of a juvenile, male Lady Amherst's Pheasant.  We are not aware of any bird collections in the immediate area.  The bird was still here until 7.40 pm then it suddenly made a short flight.  We are not sure where it has gone.  It is good to know that it can fly as we have a resident fox and numerous cats that visit the garden so it's survival through the night was not guaranteed.  

It fed around the garden for a long time and visited next doors garden.  A very unusual but welcome addition to the lockdown list.

No new birds to report but some nice observations, a male Blackbird has almost taken over the bird bath with water being splashed all over the paving.

The two young Robins are still being fed by an adult and one young House Sparrow has now joined the flock being fed by its mum !

Regarding House Sparrows a pair have been taking flies above an ornamental plum tree and they are totally adept feeding on the wing magnificent to watch today for nearly two hours on and off.

Finally Swift numbers rose to four today with the most welcome screeching and screaming breaking the eerie silence, even my non birding neighbour commented on the noise.

There are no new birds to report but we have had two juvenile Robins turn up this evening with an adult close by.

A female Sparrowhawk came through and disrupted things which went quiet for a few minutes on the feeders.

The vixen visits every evening but no evidence of cubs.

House Sparrow numbers up to 20 in the last few days and a lone Collared Dove continues to visit the garden plus our usuals.

The fox comes right down towards the patio just twenty foot from sofa, this is now becoming a regular event.

A species of mining bee is burrowing into the lawn both the fox and Magpies  are taking an interest in the holes made.

Today a new butterfly came into the garden and almost flew into us, a most welcome Speckled Wood.

No new birds so still at 22.

Whilst working at a local garden last week a Robin found a small caterpillar on my trousers ran up and picked it off just above my boot. Later in the day I came across a sleeping Hedgehog a very eventful day, not bad being a gardener.

House Sparrows active most of the afternoon, visiting the feeders on a regular basis.

Most of the observation however has been directed towards two Coal Tits that have been almost non stop since 17.00 on the feeders, they have really put in a real shift.

It is noticeable that the main feed being consumed is seed based along with mealworms, fat balls and suet blocks remain untouched as do the apples.

Butterflies have absent today and who can blame them in that cold NE wind.

Thursday 9th:

A good start with the female Sparrowhawk flying low over the hawthorn hedge left to right at 08.15.

Rest of the afternoon nothing new to report.

In the evening the pipistrelles turned up along with the fox.

Friday 10th;

A quiet day all in all until mid afternoon when a Lesser Black Backed Gull flew over making number 22.

An hour later a pristine Collared Dove was feeding on the lawn under the feeders.

Pipistrelles made usual appearance.

For tomorrow can't find justification for a long walk to Hazel Grove looking for a Green Hairstreak but working down there on Monday

Same as yesterday here, no new birds. Our usual visitors keeping us entertained though.

Heron flew over twice this morning was which much appreciated. Its flight looks so prehistoric, Pterodactyl springs to mind.

Peacock and comma butterflies active around the garden.

A fox turned up at around 18.00, a little early  but nice to see it in better light conditions as its normally just before dark when it shows up.

Two pipistrelles  above the leylandii then disappeared.

No new birds in the garden today however we knew we would bottom out at around 20 which is where we are at. One bird we can depend on though is the Feral Pigeon not sure where they are though as not one has turned up yet.

A lone Peacock butterfly was around for an hour or so, always welcome.

The longest time all week I have spent at home for the net result of one Herring Gull at 19.22 for bird 19 of lockdown.

Tried last night for the Common Scoter but my tinnitus is so frustrating.

What did happen yesterday was that just after 20.00 the whole Wood Pigeon roost took off when our road starting the NHS clap.

The morning started very well with a drumming Great Spotted Woodpecker somewhere in front of the house across the road.

This afternoon lock down bird number 18 in the form of a Carrion Crow was struggling to balance itself in the top of the Silver Birch at the bottom of the garden.  

The four Goldfinch continued to show. 

As we sit here typing a fox is looking in through the window.

After ending on the high of the Sparrowhawk yesterday not a lot of expectation existed.

Work took me to Marple, why didn't I call in at Etherow a few weeks ago for the Marsh Tit? That would have been a new GM sighting, ah well.

Afternoon saw me again working in our garden.  All was very quiet apart from the wood pigeon, magpie, jackdaw, house sparrows and usual tit species.  After finishing work in the garden I sat down looking out of the window and bird number 15 appeared - a lovely dunnock foraging under the feeders at around 3 pm. 

A few hours later at around about 6 pm, flying over from the front of the house to the back, a large silhouette appeared.  The unmistakable shape of a descending grey heron appearing to be landing in the far neighbours garden.  We were unaware that there was a pond there.  This may need a little investigation.  This gave us bird number 16.

All in all, today seemed to be a very quiet day.  

Omitted from yesterday two Comma butterflies.

No sign of the female Blackcap since Monday 23rd, this is about a week earlier than last year when they left us in April.

Much cooler today with a fresh breeze from the NE most of the day with the odd drop of rain.

Most House Sparrow seen today got to around 15

Species garden lockdown count now 12:

 Number 9, Collared Dove

10,  Goldfinch ( not a regular so nice to see two of them together several times during the afternoon)

11, Long Tailed Tit

12, Great Tit ( this is now the four tit species we have on a regular basis)

One frog disturbed in the compost heap.

2020 bird total for GM is 54, UK is 75