Chaff and Chaffinches

One of the first things this morning that stood out was just how much the Red Oak next to the Field Centre had increased its autumnal colour over the last few days.  Even in poor light and drizzle, it certainly stood out against the background of green Willow leaves.

After checking to see how Lark and Taurus were doing, the first part of the morning was spent inspecting inlets to ponds, bird hides, Mink traps and Mink rafts - the normal routine on a Monday morning.  With the arrival of some new bags, we can now crack on with bagging the chaff delivered just over a week ago and get it taken down to the main Seed Store .  The new bags are slightly bigger than the other ones we use, so it didn't take long to fill the trailer.

This was then taken down to the store this afternoon where the bags were stacked, keeping all of this year's bags on the left hand side.  The bags stacked against the right wall are the remnants of the delivery from last year.  Someone asked what we do with this, and so they went round with me to check bird feeders and the hoppers, which were filled by Michelle, one of our weekend Managers, over the last two days.  These are ideal for birds that are not so happy using the feeders and are particularly liked by Bullfinches and Chaffinches as they provide seed and some shelter at the same time.

Despite the drizzle, we have had a few visitors today including two ladies who, despite living in Bedale for the last 20 years, had never been to Foxglove before.  Another couple spent time watching the birds on the feeders in the Field Centre garden, marvelling at how quickly they disappeared when a Sparrowhawk dashed through.  Had they been there a little later, they would have seen the male bird return but this tiime successfully as it managed to take a young Chaffinch that had come out from the shelter of the hopper.