If you are familiar with my website, you will know that I live stream from two feeding stations in my garden… from my Hub Feeders and my Patio feeders. With the weather particularly cold again today, the feeders have been really busy.
Most mornings, the first thing I do is check the footage from the night before both here and at Yew View to see if anything exciting has happened over night. The cameras at both sites are connected to icatcher Console, which monitors all the activity on the cameras, recording whenever there is movement. This means we never miss a moment of action!
As I stood in my PJs, with a cup of tea, I was delighted to see a stunning male Blackcap appear on my Hub feeders. I had a female a month or so ago, but have not seen the male all winter. These birds look like the business men of the bird world, in a smart suit and immaculately manicured! I just love them! I was also really pleased to see a couple of Greenfinches make a reappearance. For the first time ever, I have had a long period, where I have had no Greenfinches visiting my feeders.
I captured a short video clip of this great trio…..
Another fantastic visitor in the last week or so, has been a male and female bullfinch. The male was showing well today on the Hub feeders…
He is quite aggressive and does not really like sharing with anyone!
At times today, my feeders were just so busy! I captured this 2 minute clip to try to show the variety of species you can see just by watching for a few minutes…. how many species can you spot?
The weather deteriorated pretty quickly today, with squally, sleet showers and a bitter wind blowing. I returned to my desk to get some work done. All my cameras are displayed on monitors next to my desk.
A movement caught my eye on my Hub feeders and I could not believe what I was seeing! A male Sparrowhawk was sitting on the feeder tray! It is at times like this you hope you have set the camera feed to record! I had and was able to lift some stills and a video of this wonderful visitor. He didn’t catch anything this time, but I have seen him bombing up the lane below these feeders and doing a surprise ambush from underneath. What incredible hunters and a true privilege to have been able to capture a few seconds of footage!
You can watch my feeders live on my website. If you do see anything exciting whilst you are watching them, drop me a tweet or an email and let me know!