Saturday 25 December 2010

Merry Christmas


Happy Christmas to everyone.  We have just returned to England on Wednesday from a week in Tenerife where we saw a few new birds.  It was really warm with the Temperature never dropping below 22, apart from near the summit of Mount Teide (c 2,500m) which was really awesome with terrific winds and the car temp guage showing 2degrees with snow whipping around (shades of Northumberland).  Even though we returned to bloody awful weather it was great to head up to Big Waters although there was not exactly a lot there with the pond completely frozen and just a few Gulls standing on the ice.


The first bird I really noticed walking along the boardwalk was, of course, my favourite Robin


Inside the hide Alan J and John B had done their duty and filled all the feeders and were trying to keep their extremeties warm.  Didn't stay too long although quite a few Yellowhammers, Chaffinches, Tree Sparrows and a multitude of the normall occupants feeding away quite merrily.  When we walked out the Car Temp was now at -10c.  Went home and picked up Carole and did a quick shop for Christmas Provisions then went to St Marys.  We added a bit more feed to the ever increasing piles and watched at least 3 others also during the hour we were there.   Quite a variety of birds knocking around now and the following pics show most of them although couldn't get a good shot of the Lapland Buntings.






2 comments:

Lesley said...

Quite a contrast to the weather you had in Tenerife!

Happy Christmas to you and Carole. :)

HowdonBlogger said...

Lesley,

and a Happy Christmas to you and your family. Yes the weather is a bit of a contrast to say the least and Carole is still trying desperately to shake off a severe cold which she has had since our return.

John