End of year favourites - My garden

It has been another fascinating year watching the wildlife in my garden.  I have spent much less time photographing the common birds, even though I still keep a close eye on them.  The undoubted highlight has been the two sparrowhawks at either end of the year.  The adult male was here on and off for weeks at the start of the year and the youngster, possibly his son, has been entertaining me recently.  The greatest surprise was the oystercatchers that turned up to hunt for worms outside the kitchen window, sometimes coming too close to get a photo.  I am sure they were nesting on the roof of a haulage depot across the road and they may well return next year.  The biggest disappointment was the failure of the woodpeckers to nest after excavating two holes close to the house.  The first was taken over by starlings before it was even finished (but was eventually occupied by tree sparrows) and the female was killed by a sparrowhawk before they could make use of the second.  The foxes are now regulars and come to the back door every night, before 6pm at this time of year.  I think I am spoiling them.

Here then are a few highlights.  I am already looking forward to next year.

Mistle thrushes

I was pleased to see a handsome pair of mistle thrushes on the lawn.  I expect they have a nest nearby.

Bird of the week - Mistle thrush

An appropriate choice for Christmas time, the mistle thrush is Turdus viscivorus, or mistletoe-eating thrush.  So if you couldn't find any mistletoe you know who to blame.  Mistle thrushes are very obvious at this time of year as they plunder berry-bearing trees and shrubs.  One bird is noisily trying to defend the berries on the holly tree outside my front door.

This one was in a mixed gang of blackbirds, redwings and a solitary waxwing.

Mistle thrushes numbers are falling, along with those of other thrushes, and they have just been moved from the amber to the red list in the UK.

They are also in decline as garden birds.  These are BTO Garden BirdWatch data from the UK

and from the North East.  So I'm lucky to have one.

However, they are still found in many of the lowland areas of the British Isles.

Listen to Sir David Attenborough's BBC Radio 4 Tweet of the Day on mistle thrush here.  Read more about mistle thrushes here.  Watch a BTO video on mistle thrush here,