Home thoughts

The back garden

It's a lot easier to see what's out in the garden now most of the leaves are fallen (and by the look of the weather forecast the rest will soon follow). The spadgers were out in force as per usual. They were busy on the new feeder, which gave a family of long-tailed tits the chance to get in on the fat blocks on the old feeder. The goldcrest was off like a shot into the conifers the moment I saw it. And a pair of goldfinches stayed up in the sycamore trees out of the way of the crowd.

• Black-headed Gull 1 overhead
• Blackbird 1
• Blue Tit 2
• Carrion Crow 1
• Goldcrest 1
• Goldfinch 3
• Great Tit 2
• House Sparrow 24
• Jackdaw 1
• Long-tailed Tit 5
• Magpie 1
• Robin 1
• Rook 1
• Starling 1

The year list is 193, which is pretty good given the first quarter was under lockdown so I missed a lot of the usual Winter fare. Looking at my records I've given most of Greater Manchester a going over, particularly the Salford mosses and the Mersey Valley. I'm pretty sure I won't be hitting 200 this year but I wouldn't have bet on 150 at the beginning of April.

There's still scope for a few additions to the list. There's always the possibility of a white-fronted goose or a tundra bean goose on the marshes in Southport or on Martin Mere. I'll have to go over to West Kirby and try to connect with the brent geese on the Dee Estuary. I keep missing out on the local Caspian gulls, I may strike lucky yet. And I haven't lost hope of seeing one, other or more species of owl. So I might nudge even closer to200.

I won't be spending the weekend looking for the belted kingfisher on the Ribble but it has reminded me that Brockholes is on my list of sites that should be easy by public transport. If I do go over for a visit I won't be counting on adding the kingfisher to the year list.