Who's been eating my apples?

When the apples I put out for the birds last winter were disappearing overnight I put out a trail camera to see what was happening.  The culprit then was a hedgehog which had forgotten to hibernate and I ended up feeding it all winter.

The same thing started happening again in the last week.  Fearing that the hedgehog had woken up early despite the cold weather I put out another camera.  And the thief this time is:

I didn't know foxes would eat apples but apparently they'll eat almost anything.  This video shows the fox running off with the last apple.  It looks a bit lame as it runs away  The video isn't the clearest, being recorded on a rainy night but you can see what the fox is up to.  The video should run on most things but not on iPads.

So has this fox turned vegetarian?  Don't count your chickens.  On second thoughts perhaps you should.

Bird of the week - Willow tit

The willow tit was my bird of the week last March but I thought it would be good to share some photos from this week. These two were feeding alongside a flock of great tits and blue tits.

Poecile montanus (also montana) seems an odd name for a bird of damp woodland.  Look at the maps below and you can see that it doesn't live in mountains.

Willow tit numbers are in decline and the bird is on the UK red list.  The total UK population is only around 3000 pairs.

The BTO Bird Atlas maps of change in distribution show a disastrous decline in the southern and eastern parts of the UK.

The causes of the population decline are not clear but may include habitat loss and increased nest predation (by great spotted woodpeckers).  You can read a review of research into the decline in willow tit numbers published in British Birds here.  You can listen to a willow tit call here and watch a video of Mitchell Butel singing "Tit-Willow" in Gilbert & Sullivan's The Mikado here.

Red deer

I was in Glen Etive last week for a landscape photography workshop so I had only a moment for a couple of snapshots out of the window as we drove by.  I'll be back for more.

Why woodpeckers don't fall out of trees

Five gold rings

I wrote before about using photos to decipher the numbers on ringed bullfinches in July 2014 and July 2015.  Both birds had been ringed about 2 km from here - one two years before and one four years before.  One good thing about finches is that they stay on the feeder for a minute or two which makes it easier to get the photos, especially if the ring is loose and moves around.  I have noticed several rings on goldfinches recently but they are more difficult than bullfinches as they turn up a dozen or two at a time.  

The first one I worked out was D981283 and I reported it to Euring.  It was ringed at West Moor, about 3km from here, on 01 November 2015 as a first year bird.

I then worked out D981106 (ringed in the same place on 11 October 2014 at least one year old).

And then D981261 (ringed in the same place again on 7th October 2015 as a first year bird) so they all go around in the same gang.

I am still working on Y*73908 and D9**288.

Bird of the week - Crested tit

I had never seen a crested tit before this week and then three came along all at once.  They were in Abernethy Forest near Loch Garten.

The three I saw were in close company with lots of coal tits which are about the same size and have similar colouring.

Previously known as Parus cristatus, this is now Lophophanes cristatus, lophophanes meaning light crest.

In the UK this is a bird of the ancient Caledonian forest of Inverness and Strathspey.

That we don't see it more widely seems puzzling when you look at its European distribution map.

"Lophophanes cristatus distribution map" by Viktor Kravtchenko - Own work based on the following data:. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lophophanes_cristatus_distribution_map.png#/media/File:Lophophanes_cristatus_distribution_map.png

Listen to the BBC Radio 4 Tweet of the day on crested tit here and you will hear its wonderful call.

Winter chiffchaff

I was very surprised to see what I thought was a summer visitor still here in January.  It was out and about with a flock of coal tits and great tits.  It turns out to be unusual but not all that rare.