The start of 2019 has been just a little different to last year. The 2018 Beast From the East gave us one of the coldest Februaries in recent years, whilst in 2019 we saw the hottest on record!

Although a mild start to the year is welcome for the farmers here planting our alliums, this vast change in temperature seems to have changed our bird sighting for 2019.

We're missing the Lapwings and and Tufted Ducks that 2018 brought us. Instead, we managed to snap a wonderful pair of Great Crested Grebes doing a display dance in our reservoir.

You can see from our picture in the gallery that they've not quite reached their deep, bright orange summer plumage yet but the display was a spectacle to watch regardless.

 

Rare visitors

Another very exciting spot this year has been the Mistle Thrush. In late February we were lucky enough to catch sight of a solitary thrush from outside of our office window, of all places!

It's been about 2 years since we've had one here so it was a very surprising visit and hopefully one that this lovely little bird makes again.

Robins are always a-plenty here on the farm, as are Wrens, but the English (or Grey) Partridge was a lovely new sighting for spring 2019. Whilst not uncommon in the UK it's been a little while since we've seen one bobbing around.

Although they're mostly seaside residents, Oystercatchers love to take up home inland near our reservoir. We often spot their piercing orange eyes flying around whilst on walks around our farm.

We're lucky to see them most of the year round but are still blown away when we see their large black and white wings soaring over the water.

We have a wide range of wild bird food available to you can attract some of these beautiful birds, too!

 

For Robins: 

Robins are mostly ground feeding birds, and will eat a good variety of seeds, nuts, fruit and insects. For an all-in-one solution you can try our My Robin & Me Seed Mix. It's packed with mealworms, sunflower hearts, raisins, peanuts suet pellets to give a great balance of healthy fat and oil.

If you prefer to mix your own then you can pick up any of these individual seeds and worms that are loved by the Robins we have on the farm: Dried Mealworms, Premium Sunflower Heart Chips, Peanut Granules and Insect & Mealworm Suet Pellets.

 

For Thrushes, Blackbirds, Fieldfare, Wagtails and Wrens:

These birds LOVE bugs! Like Robins, they are all predominantly ground feeding birds that peck out bugs, insects and worms from the ground so our Dried Mealworms are a great food. You can soak them in warm water for a few hours before offering them add for some extra hydration and easier digestion.