Just as a follow up, here's a recording of a large group of Meadow Pipits
feeding in the fields not far from our house:
http://www.pterodaktyl.co.uk/2010/12/21/in-the-bleak-midwinter/
All the best,
Tom
On 20 December 2010 17:47, Tom Williams <> wrote:
> Hi David,
>
> Just the same here on the south coast in Dawlish. Our front windows look
> onto a small park, and all day a large flock of Redwing, with a few
> Fieldfare mixed in, have been searching for food in the few patches of
> ground which are free of snow. On Saturday my wife and I saw Waxwings for
> the first time in our lives, feeding on fallen fruit in another part of the
> park. I've seen several groups of Lapwings passing over heading further
> west.
>
> Our small suburban garden is a little quieter - when we moved here a few
> years ago it had a Leylandii hedge, a large cypress and a eucalyptus tree.
> Sadly all of them were way too large for the garden and had to come out.
> We've replanted with native hedge and tree species, but these haven't yet
> grown large enough to provide adequate bird cover so we don't get many
> visitors. Today however I was able to add Meadow Pipit to our garden list,
> and get a close-up view of it snacking on a heap of grain we'd put out.
>
> The cold and snow may be hard on wildlife and commuters, but it's wonderful
> to spend a few days living so much closer to some of the scarcer and more
> elusive species!
>
> All the best,
>
> Tom
>
>
> On 20 December 2010 17:17, Avocet <> wrote:
>
>> We don't do snow very well in the UK, mainly because it's cheaper to
>> be optimistic and it's other people's fault if they get stuck in snow,
>> like when there's no road grit. Anyway, for the second time in 10
>> years I'm snowed in so what better chance to take advantage with a bit
>> of recording. BTW I'm a "snowfooter", a strange lot who revel in close
>> contact with nature and I've been complaining about the lack of snow
>> in Devon, but that's another Yahoo group.
>>
>> The first cold spell, everything went quiet except the stream. I
>> recorded daytime and nightime and got plenty of nothing and that deer
>> I've got doubts about. Plenty of gunfire - it's like the Somme some
>> evenings. Good wildlife is dead wildlife around these parts. Then on
>> Friday came six inches of white and everyhing went quiet except a few
>> very distant birds. However, on Thursday I had bought a bird table but
>> nothing seemed to use it.
>>
>> That was then and it's now avian Hyde Park Corner. I've set up my
>> stereo pair a few metres from the bird table looking on into the
>> woods. I shifted the SQN mixer arrangement into my bedroom and I can
>> now lie in bed recording the evening and dawn chorus, listening on
>> speakers, and thumbing through my bird book. I'm slowly learning how
>> many different calls a blackbird can make. I thought one call was a
>> squirrel, but squirrels don't fly - not here at least. I've also set
>> up a small video camera to help me identify species, and so far I've
>> id'd Blue, Great and Coal tits, the resident Robin, at least one LBJ,
>> several Blackbirds and a Pied woodpecker trying to demolish the nut
>> feeder. In the woods across the car park there are Tawny owls, Rooks,
>> Jackdaws, Crows and a Raven at least. No finches so far, but plenty in
>> the summer.
>>
>> I previously followed the principle of leaving nature to its own
>> devices, but there's nothing like a bit of bribery to bring it all
>> close. One Blackbird sits at the base of the table while I stock it up
>> with suet pellets. If this snow doesn't melt soon, I'll be out of
>> pellets. When I've sorted and catalogued the recordings I'll put some
>> up, but in the meantime I've got birds' wingbeats flying around my
>> bedroom. Never realised they could be so noisy.
>>
>> David
>>
>> David Brinicombe
>> North Devon, UK
>> Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum - Ambrose Bierce
>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------------
>>
>> "While a picture is worth a thousand words, a
>> sound is worth a thousand pictures." R. Murray Schafer via Bernie Krause.
>>
>> Yahoo! Groups Links
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
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