4 & 20 blackbirds

No, not baked in a pie but all over the garden. Just been to make afternoon coffee (a little late in the day but hey it's Friday and in the CJS office that means furrowed brows and smoking keyboards) and looking out of the kitchen window the lawn is covered in blackbirds somewhere between 12 and 18 at a quick count. One brood have a very distinctive paler head, almost fawn on some of the females; another lot appear to be wearing collars. There's no difference in the food available, still nuts and a sunflower mix plus the off windfall plum although not too many because the Labradors hoover them up (and in Hebe's case pick them from the tree). Any ideas for the sudden flock?
Earlier this week the nuthatch put in it's first appearance for quite a while.
Brows are not quite so furrowed as CJS Weekly has now gone to print, a small seven sides, not bad after the Bank Holiday (and IT problems) there are 57 new paid posts, 39 direct to CJS.

Merlin on the moors

Today I've been down to Groves Bank (old CJS Office) to retrieve some bits out of the archive (Niall's deep litter filing system - works very well, he found the relevant pieces of paper remarkably quickly). The roads across the moors are madness, full of dawdling holiday makers it's only four miles but took over half an hour! Just to remind us not to grumble about visitors enjoying what we have all year long on the way down there flying alongside the car was a beautiful adult female merlin, she kept pace with us (at 30mph-ish) for a short distance then lifted up and over the car before flying ahead of us and dropping down into a disused quarry.
Some days are just magic.
(Picture from RSPB, click on it for more about merlins)

Friday at last

It's been a rather uneventful week which has made it seem very long.
On the wildlife watch we've had a pair of adult tree sparrows feeding a brood of three fledglings, one of the adults has even been coming to the nut feeder hanging outside the office window. We're hoping they're still here as yesterday a rather large female sparrowhawk came whizzing past the window into the hawthorn hedge and then bounced out into an ash tree. Perhaps she also scared a visiting yellowhammer which has not been seen since.
CJS Weekly is now printing, this week it's eight pages with 66 new paid posts of which 40 came direct to CJS.
Today is also Amy's last day before she goes on maternity leave. During her absence Helen is stepping up to cover Amy's main roles.
We wish Amy, Nev and their 'Bean' all the very best and look forward to her return next year.

Tree Sparrow family

Picture from RSPB

This morning on the apple trees outside the office window an adult Tree Sparrow was feeding a brood of fledglings! Wonderful.

For more about Tree Sparrows and why we're so excited read their profile on the RPSB website at: http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/t/treesparrow/index.asp

Birding news

Although there a were few around the feeders over the winter we thought they'd moved on and left us but there (right now) is a tree sparrow hopping around the Norway spruce in the garden just across the lawn from the CJS office window. And not content with one unusual (for us) sighting whilst looking at the tree sparrow we saw climbing up the trunk was a tree creeper.

Counting birds

We did our bird count over the weekend - did you?

It was a real finch-fest! When we got to 26 chaffinches we stopped counting and trying to keep track, they just won't sit still long enough! And greenfinches are very good at merging into the vegetation so we gave up on them at 21. We also counted 5 goldfinches and 6 siskins. Nearly all the tit family put in an apperance with 3 blue tits, 2 each of great tits and coal tits and a family of 9 long tails. Only one of our nuthatches visited during the count but two robins (we sometimes have three if they don't notice each other). Our noisy sparrows obviously found somewhere else for breakfast on Sunday as only four house sparrows came to feed, the tree sparrows are shy and stayed away but three hedge spuggies (or dunnocks) hopped about in between three blackbirds (one male and two female). Two collared doves come for a drink and to drive off the three wood pigeons. There were also some starlings about, we could hear them but not see them, and a small squadron of gulls (herring and black heads) flew over.

This is a wonderful way to survey, sitting in a warm kitchen with a pot of tea, slabs of cake and listening to Desert Island Discs on the radio. If only all surveying could be this easy! Rather than out at crack of sparrow in the cold, dark and drizzle to search the last known locations of plants last recorded over a decade ago - ah well sometimes computer bashing has its advantages.

Results are due at the end of March / early April.

CJS Weekly

We're all prepared for the Big Garden Birdwatch this weekend. Feeders cleaned and refilled but although it has rained pretty much non-stop all week it's been really quite mild (until today when it snowed) so not many birds int he garden or at the feeders. Perhaps another chilly snap will bring them in just in time for the count.
Monday's edition is almost printed and we're about to start putting it in the envelopes ready for the Postie tomorrow morning. This week it's 13 sides long containing 120 new apid posts of which 84 came direct to CJS. Talking of post our has been a bit hit and miss this week (our regular postie is on holiday), we can't beleive that there have been only ten letter for us all week. So if you've sent something by post and not had a response don't worry - yet - I'm sure it will reach us eventually.

More Birds and a Weekly.

CJS Weekly
Monday 13 October is now printing. This week it is 8 pages with 55 new paid posts of which 38 came direct to CJS.

More birds
The siskins arrived over the weekend, not in great numbers yet but several different individuals. We've had a few visiting bramblings joining the general finch flock too. Another returning species, but new for this year's list is a willow/marsh tit (I can never tell tother from which unless they're side by side!). Our brave little tree sparrow has been and told his family about the wonderful food available at The Moorlands and we've had three together all happily munching.

The CJS Garden bird watch has started.

It's that time of year, at the weekend the nest boxes were cleaned out and the winter feeders (which were cleaned a month or more ago) were refilled. Although there's been some food available all summer, mostly peanuts and some lower energy seed mixes in a few scattered feeders around the garden the arrival of the winter feeders brought the birds out. As usual the feeders went out a couple of weeks ago for the birds to get used to them again, on Friday there was a little cole tit investigating every port on the sunflower feeder. A clear indication that it's time to get some 'real' food out there. Over the weekend new sacks of nuts, sunflower hearts, hi-energy feed and niger seed were opened and their contents used to fill the various feeders. Since then the garden has been full of birdlife and the feeders need refilling every other day or less, I can see that we'll have to invest in some bigger ones – and some stronger brackets too! We're trying wax worms again but so far no takers, the robin seems perfectly happy with sunflowers.
Our species lists for visitors to the feeders so far is: cole tit (in greater numbers than blue & great), blue tit, great tit, chaffinch, greenfinch, goldfinch (more numerous than the other finches), song thrush, blackbird, collared dove, wood pigeon, nuthatch (at least two, possibly three), robin, dunnock, house sparrow, tree sparrow (on the nut feeder less than a foot outside the office window, brilliant!), greater spotted woodpecker (very confused). We have also seen wrens and gold crests in the garden but not on the feeders. The long tailed tits have been heard but seen. Siskins are conspicuous in the absence, they'll arrive later, we hope. The winter migratory geese have been flying over head in huge skeins heading south, one numbering about 150 – 200.
Stop Press: we can add a female yellowhammer to the list os species visiting the feeders.

birds and no 'leccy

The siskins returned today, two males and one female so far. All the poor birds are looking very bedraggled and fed up with this seemingly never ending rain. Our lovely new path is now covered in a sea of mud created by the rebuilding of the drystone wall. A brush and some buckets of water will fix that – once it stops raining!!

An advance warning – tomorrow (Thursday 22 November) our electricity supplier is carrying out their pre-winter line checks and maintenance which means we will be without electricity for most of the day. Back to the battery powered laptop and an old fashioned phone with a wire! We'll soldier on and hopefully you'll never notice.

It's been a busy week.

It looks like it might be good news on the postal front with RM & CWU having reached a provisional agreement and this week's strikes being called off – let's hope that's an end to it. Well CJS Weekly is now printing, this week it's 12 sides with 113 new paid posts of which 27 came direct to CJS including a small splurge from the Environment Agency. It's been a busy week and AN has been on holiday; just after sending out a tranche of Special Edition letters resulting in lots of enquiries!

Our latest round of recruitment was not successful – how hard can it be to find one slightly mad, computer literate, doggie person? Apparently in this corner of the country extremely! So here we go again, new ad, new approach and everything crossed.

The local peregrines have been across a couple of times this week scattering all the garden birds but the falcon was just passing though not actively hunting. Hebe (the new puppy who's almost 5 months old now!) is claiming slave labour, that it's not right for a such a young personage to have to work such long hours – I couldn't agree more but how else is she to earn her bonios? She got rather upset last Saturday at around 9.30pm when her people (or Beans as she refers to us) got rather excited at events in Paris. We already on tenterhooks today so heaven help her tomorrow…..

Owls, post and CJS Weekly.

The young owl has been on the wires next door today, it was here when we started work and stayed for most of the morning it had gone by lunch time but returned by the end of the day (which is round about nowish!)

By now you should all have received last week's edition of CJS. This week's is now printing and we will post it out as normal – however there is to be a series of strikes by CWU members which will severely affect deliveries. If your copy doesn’t turn up do please contact us for the temporary access details to download the missing editions from the website. Monday 15 October edition is nine pages containing 55 new paid posts of which 27 were sent direct to CJS. We're working on the results from your surveys and hope to have some answers for you soon.

Bill, stones and jobs...

Lucky old Bill – he's got a get well card from his cousin in New Zealand, now not every collie can say that!!

There have been strange goings on in the district – last week a series of mysterious stone heads appeared in the village and now they've been sighted elsewhere too, read all about it in the Whitby Gazette – click here.

In the midst of the spookiness the equinox storms have been raging (well, grumbling a bit) but the newly repaired roof is holding up well and once it stops raining the last bits of painting and tidying up will be finished too. This week we've seen the first flock of long-tailed tits flying through so we must clean the big feeders and get them out so the birds can get used to them again before they really need them. And through it all CJS keeps rumbling on, CJS Weekly is now printing, this week it's 15 sides containing details of 124 vacancies, 43 of which were sent direct to CJS.

St David's Day

It may be St David's Day but there are no signs of any daffodils around the CJS office, quite a lot of foliage but no flower – yet. It's been a quiet week, and we've just been plodding on as usual; saving ourselves for the mad rush that is the CJS Monthly next week. After a couple of mild days the temperature dropped today and the winds have got quite fierce which has brought the birds back in to the garden, the feeders are once again covered in finches including the bramblings and siskins. We're concerned about one rather drab little greenfinch, we think he must be from one of the last broods of last year, he's all fluffed up and has taken up residence in the Perspex window bird table (you know the sort - stuck to the window with suckers).

Siskins!

They're back. First thing this morning there was one male on the sunflower seeds, by lunch time he had two female friends and now there's a small mixed flock joining in with the other finches which today includes a brambling. A couple of weeks ago, after the RSPB bird count, we went out and bought a cheap red peanut feeder, perhaps that's what brought them back or maybe it's just coincidence.

Picture of Adult Male Siskin from RSPB, to read more about Siskins click here.

The lull before the storm?

After a busy few days (perhaps that should be weeks) it's finally beginning to slow down and we've had time to think. We're using the lull to catch up on a few things and to start planning a few new features.

Yesterday we published the first Special Edition of 2007, it features Seasonal and Volunteer work and is packed full of useful information and loads of adverts. So have a read.

The outlook on the owl box is not looking good, the proposed tree is too straight which means the box would be vertical and the branches are all at nearly 90º to the trunk so on these limbs it would be horizontal not at all want a homeless Tawny want. Our next plan of campaign is to try work out a way to fix the box at an angle, with perhaps a wedge between the back of the box and the trunk.

The weather has been balmy, once again you could almost believe it's spring – but last time we said that it snowed for a week. On one of the intake fields a large flock of lapwing has been seen wheeling in the wind and crying out across the moor fringes, but so far no curlew, once they arrive we know the seasons really have turned the corner.

We're off to eat pancakes now - don't forget the lemon juice!

It's a vulture!

According to our local paper (The Whitby Gazette) an African white-backed vulture has been sighted in the area but unfortunately not by the CJS staff. It was first seen in Robin Hood's Bay just down the coast from us and then more recently in Grosmont, the next village down the valley from us, less than a mile away.
To read the report click here or for more about African white-backed vultures click here.

Valentine's day.

Folklore has it that today's the day when the birds choose a mate, it's also the launch of Nestbox week see The Wildlife Trusts Home Tweet Home
With this in mind we've been looking at the nesting sites around the CJS Office, there are several artificial house martin nests under the eaves and a couple of traditional nest boxes which despite being a moved a couple of times have yet to attract that first time buyer. The garden and surrounding countryside obviously has sufficient suitable sites. We know that blackbirds nest in the ivy climbing up the fence, house sparrows in the climbers especially the clematis and both wrens and blue tits must nest close by as we see the newly fledged young later in the year. However just across the lane during the winter five mature deciduous trees including a beautiful horse chestnut, plus several more shrubby ones such as alders, were felled for safety reasons and now there is large gap. Which raises concerns for our owls, of which there are many mostly vociferous ones. So we're looking for a suitable site for a tawny owl tube, there are a couple under consideration. We'll let know which if either proves acceptable.

It must be spring.

Goathland is bathed in warm sunshine, the dawn chorus is getting in full swing and the tawny owls are hooting at full volume all night. The green shoots of many bulbs are poking above the soil and the first snowdrops are nodding gently in the breeze but don't be lulled into a false sense of security, next week's weather forecast predicts turning colder again.

CJS Weekly out as usual, this week fifteen pages containing 118 new paid posts of which 62 came to CJS direct from the employer.

More jobs and even more birds.

A flurry of jobs to start the week, see Daily Online for the latest.

We did the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch yesterday, gave ourselves headaches trying to count the chaffinches. But anyway here's what we saw – Blackbird 4; Blue Tit 2; Brambling 1; Carrion crow 3; Collard Dove 2; Dunnock 1; Goldfinch 4; Great tit 2; Greenfinch 11; House sparrow 3; Jackdaw 2; Robin 1; Song thrush 1; Woodpigeon 1; Wren 1. Just before we started our hour's counting a family of 7 long-tailed tits visited but they didn't return and during the hour we heard but did not see a Tawny owl. But it got us to thinking, we've not seen any siskins this year, last year we had flocks of them but not a one this year – although the red nut feeder fell apart to be replaced by a green one so perhaps that's why.

Advance warning, on Wednesday (31/1/07) we've having some essential work done to our server so we'll be offline, probably all day. Apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.