Summary of August 2011
Weather
The month started started with very mixed weather, some days being very wet, others quite hot and humid. By the end of the first week it was raining every day and stayed that way for the second week of August. By the third week it was a little better but still not reliable and in the last week some sun was soon followed by rain. In general a very poor summer and a poor August.
Garden
Some signs that the local birds are coming out of hiding with the Blue Tits and Great Tits returning and the Dunnock being increasingly evident. On 7th August there was a very unusual sight in the garden when a large mixed flock of birds descended on the feeders. For more on this see the entry click here.
A slightly smaller version of the flock seen on 7th |August was seen once or twice again but without the Warbler and sometimes without the Long-tailed Tits. On 15th I saw a juvenile Goldfinch wing-quivering on the feeder whilst being fed by an adult ! This is surely much too late in the year for a new clutch – a late developer then ? On 20th I saw a Blackbird bathing in the bird bath for the first time in weeks but we continue to have cat problems. By the end of the month the feeders are visited by a good number of Goldfinches and Blue Tits and the window box attracts the Great Tits. By the end of the month I can expect to see two to four adult Goldfinches and six to ten juveniles or more. Althought there are signs of some of this year’s Goldfinches starting to develop some red plumage on their heads, equally it looks like some of the other Goldfinches are really not long out of the nest ! Also seen, a couple of Blue Tits common and one or two Great Tits and occasionally Coat Tits. I have started to see a Dunnock again and possibly a juvenile as well. Amazingly there is still no Robin to be seen in our garden and it has been like this for a couple of months at least. I don’t see the Chaffinch as much anymore and Blackbirds are rare too !
Days Out
On 3rd we went for a long walk to Tatton Park, on 4th we went to Martin Mere for the afternoon, Unfortunately around the 8th I started to get a dose of the flu and by the time I appeared to be getting over it (20th) Anne started getting it also so that put a bit of a damper on the month in general so we didn’t do much active birding. If there is a positive side it gave me a chance to read a couple of Lightroom 3 books (The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Book For Digital Photographers by Scott Kelby and The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Book : The Complete Guide for Photographers) I had been using Bridge and Camera Raw before but the output options in Lightroom are far superior so I thought I’d give it a go. So far it is proving to be better in almost every respect so I will be staying with Lightroom from now on. I also read Ellen and & Josh Annon’s book “Photoshop CS5 for Nature Photographers” and also re-read for the umpteenth time Colin Tudge’s book, “The Secret Life of Birds” and I also read the “RSPB British Birds of Prey” by Marianne Taylor for the first time. By the end of the month I still had remnants of the flu as did Anne. Hopefully next month will be better !