January wildlife sightings from a garden in Annan

The weather hasn't really been an awful lot better over the last month. Strong wind and rain have been the norm with only an occasional bright spell of sunshine. The birds have been doing the same as most humans - only going out if they have to! The only thing to applaud is the slight lengthening of the days.

30th/31st January was the weekend of the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch. This is the time to count the birds visiting your garden and record other wildlife that have visited your garden over the year. We have completed this survey every year for several years now and always hope to see something exciting to add to our list. Sunday 31st was the chosen day for us this year and we watched from 10-11am. Our list of birds included blackbird - 2, blue tit - 2, carrion crow - 1, chaffinch - 6, coal tit - 1, collared dove - 2, dunnock - 1, great tit - 2, house sparrow -10, jackdaw - 1, robin - 1, starling - 15, woodpigeon - 1 and yellowhammer - 5. We were really chuffed to see the yellowhammers as we have only ever seen 1 in the garden before! Unfortunately we didn't have any other wildlife to record - the 1 hedgehog we have previously seen in the garden hasn't put in an appearance in the last 12 months.

 

photo courtesy of www.arkive.org

Our monthly max of birds seen in the garden throughout January is as follows:-

Blackbird - 1 male 1 female

Blue tit - 5

Carrion crow - 2

Chaffinch - 3 male 3 female

Coal tit - 1

Collared dove - 2

Dunnock - 2
Geese - 150 flying over

Great tit - 2

House sparrow - 20 male 12 female

Jackdaw - 2

Robin - 1
Rook - 2

Starling - 15

Woodpigeon - 2

Wren - 1

Yellowhammer - 5

 

DGERC have issued their next "species to look out for" bulletin. This month they are looking for frogs and badgers.

Common frog Rana temporaria

Common frogs are the only species of frog native to Scotland and though they occur throughout D & G there are still many areas from which they have not yet been recorded.In mild weather the first spawn will be seen any time from January onwards. They are not fussy about where they spawn and will do so in any ditch or puddle and are commonly found in garden ponds.The spawn is laid in clumps which may contain up to 400 jelly-like eggs with dark embryos. As they mature the tadpoles develop a speckled colour unlike toads which remain black.

Frogs are smaller than toads with a more pointed snout when viewed from above. They also have a distinctive dark patch behind the eye.

 

 

Badger  Meles meles

Badgers are our largest carnivore and are unmistakeable with their distinctive markings. They are related to otters, stoats, weasels and pine martens. They live in social groups and give birth in February, although the cubs may not emerge from their sett until April. During Feb/Mar adult badgers become much more active, which often results in road casualties.

Badgers are a protected species and it is an offence to kill, injure or disturb them in their setts, or to damage or destroy their setts. Because of the persecution they still suffer DGERC are careful with records of setts and access to their records is restricted. Receiving records of road casualties is valuable and useful information.

 

 

Thanks to DGERC for photos and info. Remember you can send records of any wildlife you see to Mark at DGERC.  See dgerc.org.uk for more details about record keeping.