This
blog has been a long time coming, apologies for the suspense, and I
haven't seen the Whinchat illustrated above, but I have seen
regularly on my travels across Hastings
Country Park
since lockdown
began, a number of birds from this family, notably the thrushes.
Indeed, a couple of our most familiar birds, and often seen in gardens
too, are the Robin and the Blackbird. These are mostly ground-dwelling
birds that find the majority of their food on the ground, and who
hasn't heard and seen Blackbirds regularly foraging in undergrowth?!?
Male Stonechat
The
Stonechat
is the only non-thrush of this group that I have seen during this period as far as I am
aware (who knows what I may miss among the fast flights across my
path and in the distance?), and I have quite taken to the
Stonechat too, once I knew what I was observing. Their orange-red
breast, and the male's black head and white half-collar, made them
stand out for me at first. They like heath and grasslands, and particularly
the gorse that grows at Firehills, openly perching and taking off
from the gorse and other vegetation there. Stonechats eat insects and
worms, and have a distinctive 'chak-chak' call with an added whistle
(YouTube).
Song Thrush
The
Song Thrush and Mistle Thrush have been enchanting to see and hear,
the Mistle Thrush being the slightly larger of the two. Both eat
berries, worms and insects, and the Song Thrush also eats snails, and
they both visit gardens as well as living in heaths, fields and
woodland. I observed them more in the earlier months during the
lockdown,
and was delighted to see and hear a Song Thrush singing loudly from on high (YouTube) during a specific visit to the old disused Sand Quarry at
Fairlight, what a beautiful sound!
Juvenile Robin
The
Blackbird, another wonderful singer, and the Robin, are well known to
us all, with songs written about them, and they are both great singers too,
perhaps the Blackbird's song being the best known as it sings so loudly
and clearly (YouTube). The habitat of both is widespread, and the
Robin eats mostly insects, whilst the Blackbird also eats worms and
berries. I have included an image of a juvenile Robin because I saw
one a few days ago, and it took me a while to realize just what I had
seen.
That's
enough today for this chapter of my bird observations, and the
next chapter of the book* is called Larks,
Swallows, Wagtails, Wrens, Dippers, Accentors and Allies,
consequently, the Birds
Part VI
blog will be called similar, although probably a shorter title, but please do watch out for it,
and many thanks for reading the blog.
*
John Gooders The Complete Birdwatcher's Guide.
All 3 photographs of individual birds are with many thanks to the RSPB, and specifically for the image of the Song Thrush singing with thanks to Chris Gomersall, and of
the young Robin to Andy Bright.
John
Gooders used to live in East Sussex before he died 10 years ago,
sadly, and had previously been Chair of Friends of Rye Harbour
Nature Reserve and the Mayor of Winchelsea.
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