Spotted Blackcaps and Fieldfares

Blackcaps have been spotted (February/March) on my bird feeder next to The Orchard in the park.

The Eurasian blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) usually known simply as the blackcap, is a common and widespread typical warbler.

The blackcap breeds in much of Europe, western Asia and northwestern Africa, and its preferred habitat is mature deciduous woodland. The male holds a territory when breeding, which is defended against garden warblers as well as other blackcaps. The nest is a neat cup, built low in brambles or scrub. The blackcap is a partial migrant; some German birds have adapted to spending the winter in gardens in Great Britain and Ireland. Insects are the main food in the breeding season, but, for the rest of the year, blackcaps survive primarily on small fruit.

Garden birds also eat bread, fat and peanuts in winter.

The male's song is a rich musical warbling, often ending in a loud high-pitched crescendo. It has been known to mimic other birds song including other warblers and the Nightingale. I thought I was listening to a Nightingale singing one evening last November but after listening to recordings of each I realise this was a Blackcap.

Some text extracts from Wikipedia.

A flock of Feildfares were also seen in the park on a snowy 3rd of March. Fieldfares are large, colourful thrushes, much like a mistle thrush in general size, shape and behaviour. They spend the winter in flocks of anything from a dozen or two to several hundred strong. These straggling, chuckling flocks which roam the UK's countryside are a delightful and attractive part of the winter scene.

My neighbour recalled that they had been in his garden a few days before and had stripped his holly of all it's berries within an hour.

Scientific name: Turdus pilaris

Photo courtesy of Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Author N p holmes