A coal tit: Periparus ater.
Coal tits are small passerines, very similar in appearance to their close relatives, great tits, bluetits and marsh tits, also resident in the reserve. Coal tits have a distinctive white patch on the nape of their neck and a longer bill than most other Paridae.
A pair has been seen near the main entrance. Hopefully they are raising a nestful of chicks in a hole in one of the big oak trees at that end of the reserve.
Did you know that all domesticated pigeons and doves are descended from a single species: Columba livia, the rock dove?
No? Neither did we. But all those rollers, racers and dovecote occupants with fluffy feet. curly feathers and fan-tails are domesticated versions of the one species. And, apparently, the process of domestication began more than 10,000 years ago.
Header Image: rock dove (CC0) pixabay.com
From house hunting to the first egg.
Has any body heard a cuckoo yet?
The rhyme is a traditional nursery rhyme
Recently, one of our readers messaged to ask us where all the chaffinches have gone. We have been making enquiries.
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Eurasian blackcap migratory patterns are changing: before 1970 very few blackcaps spent the winter in the UK but they are now common winter visitors.
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We don’t often see ducks on our big pond. These are male mallards perhaps pausing in the reserve on their way to wider waters on either the Avon or the Biss.
Pictures by Cheryl Cronnie
Cheryl Cronnie, who has been monitoring a blue tit nest hole in one of the the reserve’s veteran oaks, has discovered and photographed an interloper, a possible nest thief: a great tit.
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Bluetit factoid
Most birds can’t create pigments, other than melanin, on their own. This bluetit, high in the park’s canopy, can’t produce the pigment, carotene, that makes his tummy yellow; it comes from pigments in the green caterpillars he eats. The more caterpillars he eats and the brighter his tummy, the more likely he is to attract a mate.
Header picture by DKG; others CC0 from pixabay
Regular contributor Cheryl Cronnie sent in two lovely pictures of a pair of house hunting blue tits looking around a nest hole in one of our veteran oak trees.
Continue reading “Des res”
The sound of spring.
Regular contributor Cheryl Cronnie has sent a beautiful picture of a bullfinch.
Continue reading “Bullfinch”
There are all sorts of things that shriek in our woods and the Eurasian Jay (Garrulus glandarius) is just one of them.
Jay (Garrulus glandarius) audio by Bodo Sonnenburg ( CC -BY-SA) xeno-canto.org
Our songbirds are tuning up for the spring. Here are ten things you may not have known about birdsong.
The reserve’s song bird are tuning up for spring
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Simon Knight, our in-house wildlife photographer has sent a picture of a goldcrest, of which he says:
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Clive Knight has spotted a little egret in Village Green this week. There is a nesting colony in the woods between Trowbridge and Bradford on Avon and egrets regularly visit the reserve, particularly at this time of year as they make their way back from their winter travels for the breeding season.
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There are tawny owls in the park. Here are some tawny owl facts:
click here for tawny owl facts
Of the five species of Britain’s black corvids, four have been seen in Southwick Country Park Nature Reserve: crow (Corvus corone), rook (Corvus frugilegus), jackdaw (Corvus monedula) and raven (Corvus corax).
Continue reading “How to tell corvids apart”
By Simon Knight
The weather has certainly been changeable over the past few days! The temperature dropped pretty quickly Monday night and combined with clear skies, it ensured that Tuesday saw the reserve carpeted in frost. It wasn’t a heavy frost, but it was certainly a welcome change after seeing the park flooded just a few days ago.
Continue reading “From flooded to frozen”
During all that rain, Ian spotted a goldcrest by the wooden footbridge into Village Green. Goldcrests are Britain’s smallest bird; a tiny flash of yellow against the dark green of a pine tree.
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Our chiffchaffs will already have started the long journey back to their breeding sites in the reserve.
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Southwick Country Park Nature Reserve 