Been an interesting winter at Jerry and Barbara's woodland edge garden at Silverdale . Highlights of our 13 visits have been the catching of 20 Great Spotted Woodpeckers compared with only 8 last winter with 8 visits. Nuthatch were 19 this winter compared to only 5 last winter. We have colour ringed all the Nuthatch and have had 524 sightings logged to the end of February. In total 13 individuals were visiting the well stocked feeders in February. will be interesting to see how many continue to visit as the breeding season approaches.
Following poor productivity last breeding season Blue Tits at 150 compared to 244 last year are well down, but Coal Tits are up, 111 compared to 47 last year. Only one Siskin has been caught. Its interesting to compare the catch at Mark's and Dave's gardens inland in NE Lancashire and close to the Bowland Fells. Up to mid March they had caught 288 Siskins and 185 Lesser Redpolls, but only 5 Nuthatch, 8 Great Spotted Woodpeckers and 54 Coal Tits.
John
