Country Corner
THE past week has been surprising cold accompanied by strong winds.
The bird life visiting my garden were obviously hungry and cleaned me out of bird food.
A visit to the supermarket is required to replenish the stocks.
Last Thursday morning the sunflower hearts feeder pulled in 10 siskin and several goldfinch and later in the day a couple of lesser redpolls.
As the feeder was quickly emptied most of the siskin have moved on.
This is normal at this time of the year as many of these little green finches move northwards to their usual breeding sites.
A few years ago, it was mainly peanut feeders that were used in my garden and it was noticed that a number of the siskins were ringed.
The rings number on one bird was read and sent off to the BTO and it turned out that this bird had been ringed in Carlisle 16 days before turning up in Tweedbank.
Reading rings on birds coming to my garden took patience and a good telescope set up in my living room. The feeders were on a pole in my back garden so that close focussing on the legs of the birds was possible.
A number of rings were read and showed that these little green finches came from various sites in England.
On my patch walk there was little activity on the river section as several workers spent a few days the river bank below Galafoot felling trees, cutting up the trunks and shredding their branches trees.
This has altered the appearance of the river bank with piles cut up bark and larger sections of timber stacked up.
If there is a high water all of that material will be swept away and end up washed up somewhere down stream.
In my younger days it was possible to walk from Galafoot to Ellwyn Glen along a riverside path but the section between the railway bridge and Ellwyn has been washed away in by a number of floods over the years.
Erosion of the riverbank can also be seen downstream of Lowood House and the original path down that side of the river has slowly disappeared but access is still possible and for safety some parts the current riverbank has been roped off.
Chiffchaffs are now singing in the Tweedbank area but these are the only migrants that have
made their presence known.
Blackcaps should be the next to arrival and have been listening for their song but maybe the cold conditions have affected their arrival. Sand martins have been reported and even a swallow but not on my local patch although they should be arriving any day.
Even though it was cold last week the first of the bumblebees have been on the wing prospecting amongst the vegetation for a suitable site to build their bulbous like comb.
Two small tortoise shell butterflies were on the wing near Peebles on one of the sunny days last week.
The mute swans on the loch at Tweedbank continue to excite photographs with numerous photographs posted on the Tweedbank Facebook page.
It looks like a pair are preparing a nest on the island which will also assist in
maintaining the interest in the wildlife of the loch.
A pair of Canada geese were noted last Sunday sitting on the island and it has been several months since the last visit of black and white goose.
Another photographer that submits his photographs of the loch’s wildfowl recently posted some close-ups of the goosander that have been on the loch for over a fortnight.
These fish-eating ducks have taken a liking to the bread handed out by residents.
Last week they even climbed out onto the footpath to ensure they received their fair share.
On the warmer days grey squirrels have been out prospecting and repairing drays. A few days ago, a black labrador passed me on the riverside walk and had a less fortunate squirrel firmly clasped in its mouth. One less will not be missed!