We walked up into Beinn Bhraggie woods this morning in bright sunshine, yet there was hardly a bird singing. This worried us as the BBC has a report about a bird flu outbreak in chickens in Orkney which is spreading - here - a report which includes a reference to....
....a goose being found near Golspie which subsequently tested positive for H5N8, possibly the goose we saw on the beach at Littleferry a couple of weeks ago. We have also seen a sparrow in our seed feeding area which looked listless, though it was eating some of the seed. The idea of a bird 'flu outbreak is depressing but then our spirits were lifted when we spotted....
....a male crossbill singing at the top of a fir tree. Whether it is the rarer Scottish crossbill or the inappropriately named common crossbill is impossible to tell. He's almost in his mating plumage but they do mate and rear their families very early, in February and March when there is a plentiful supply of the pine cones on which they feed. Unusually, he was alone: they usually move around in small flocks.
We walked up into Beinn Bhraggie woods this morning in bright sunshine, yet there was hardly a bird singing. This worried us as the BBC has a report about a bird flu outbreak in chickens in Orkney which is spreading - here - a report which includes a reference to....
No comments:
Post a Comment