Mystery bird - better pictures

The bird feeder was crowded with my little mystery birds this morning, so with only a little patience I have managed to get some improved pictures -

Notice how much smaller they are than the Great Tit that they are "seeing off".

I have decided that they are probably young Siskins. Here is a drawing of a female Siskin from the RSPB website....

... I presume the speckled brown on "my" birds will go more yellow as they mature. Anyone care to comment?

Drizzle and breezes

There is an interesting phenomenon on Skye called "weather".

In the summer months (that's the ones when it is daylight until midnight and then the sun rises again about at 3.30am), together with almost unbroken sunshine, we mostly get just drizzle or breezes.

Today, the "drizzle" is lashing horizontally at the windows as I write, but I know the wind is only blowing gently because Alistair the shorts-clad postman managed to shout "bit breezy today" through clenched teeth against the hurricane as he fought to prevent all of his letters being sucked out of his wee red van while he leapt out to deliver today's post to the Barn.

The good news is that all the recently dried up burns are gurgling gleefully again, and the waterfalls are back to their former glory.

And do we care about the wind...oops...breeze? Of course not. If we light the wood burner in the living room in the late afternoon, by 7.00pm the temperature is up to "full sauna" and we are throwing open doors and windows.

This is the Isle of Skye..... what a wonderful place!

Posted by Sue.....

.....A wild and windy Skye has been living up to its traditional reputation for changeable weather today... not the sort of day to put your washing out - that is unless you wanted it to appear draped across the nearest township minutes later! You can also get VERY wet, very quickly when its like this, but as every cloud has a silver lining, at least you are not bothered by swarms of the dreaded highland midge when the wind blows here! Midges are the curse of the Highlands and also often the curse of the unsuspecting tourist on the first day of their holiday. We have found to our cost that failing to use one of the numerous lotions or sprays that keep midges at bay can result in highly irritating red and unsightly lumps and bumps; yes, really most unpleasant. I am fortunate to be able to say I've only had two or three bites since arriving 7 weeks ago but Richard has not been so lucky. To say the midges 'see him coming' is an understatement....... not to mention how much the chemist rubs his hands with glee when he pops in for more 'Jungle Formula!.

Need to dash now; Richard and Basil are back from their afternoon walk. I need to get the towels and cocoa at the ready.... yes, Basil has a real taste for cocoa...!

Birds

One of the first things I did when moving here was to put up a bird box (made by my Dad, many years ago). Within days, the box was being visited by Blue Tits, and over the weeks we were delighted to see frenetic activity as the parents fed their brood, all of which subsequently fledged. There was just one unhatched egg left behind.

Now, we have a couple of feeders dangling in the tree outside the front door, and we have a constant stream of feathered visitors to the peanuts and fat balls, and also on the ground for the little bits that drop.

Being retired means I can spend time watching them....

Most birds are easy to identify - Cuckoos are common all around the area (and were "singing" constantly from about 4.00am a few weeks ago....) we have a robin and her babies, with their speckled brown fronts, plus blackbirds and chaffinches which are in the garden much of the time....

...Great Tits are frequent visitors, as well as Coal Tits, though we haven't seen much of our Blue Tit family since they left the nestbox.

Now we start getting to birds which we are less familiar with... Youngsters still wearing their baby feathers can make things confusing. We think these are greenfinches...


And this is certainly a Greenfinch with a baby which the adult was feeding (sorry - my photography is not up to Springwatch standards..)


We reckon this one is a Siskin - it just would not turn round...


But - who is this...???...and here he is again...

...and again...


Any suggestions welcome!

Now, this is just the birds in the garden... When we go for walks, there are many other birds seen which we do not recognise. There are many warblers, but what variety? Apparently, there are Blackcaps, though I'm not sure we've seen one. Buzzards soar overhead and sometimes perch on nearby fenceposts, Swallows swoop up and down our road, and we see an occasional Tawny Owl.

As for Eagles - we are told there are both Golden Eagles and Sea Eagles in this part of Skye, but we must keep looking in the wrong direction - we haven't spotted one yet!

Then there's all the waders and sea birds...