This morning we had the worst spring blizzard in more than fifty years. Several inches of snow fell, with drifting in the hills, and even at noon the temperature was still below 3°C. It will be a disaster for all the wading birds that breed in the Pennine hills with only the Dunlin not yet incubating eggs.

The bonus in the garden is that all those birds featured in last weeks blog were still present but this time in more arctic conditions. The highlight being a male Redpoll with superb crimson plumage.

The abiding memory of this mornings blizzard was watching two Swallows as they struggled to fly into the driving falling snow – did they survive? click here

The cool and sometimes snowy weather of the last few weeks has brought a big influx of birds into the garden. We have had 35 House Sparrows, 36 Goldfinches and new records of 16 Redpolls, 5 Siskins and 6 Reed Buntings. For the first time this winter we have had more than 20 species each day with the best being 21. I have spent some time filming them on Teasel and drinking from a pool. Whilst doing this a Redpoll flew in with a ring on its leg. An unusual visitor was a Lesser Black Backed Gull that took scraps off the garage roof. Click here
On the 22nd April I had the best spring bird locally for some time when a male Whinchat was present. His colours were superb and its a great pity that they no longer breed on our neighbouring moors.

The ultimate challenge in springtime is to find a Woodcock incubating eggs. The camouflage when it lays them amongst leaves and bracken is superb as is shown by this weeks sitting  female. She laid her eggs on or about the 20th March which is exceptionally early and means she had to sit through two periods of snow! In more than fifty years of searching for Woodcock nests this nest is only the 13th that I have seen – it is the greatest Pennine challenge in springtime and becomes harder each year as the Woodcock has declined by more than fifty percent in the last twenty years.
Since last weeks blog on Goosanders ten were present on our local canal three days ago and this is certainly a local record.

During the last fifty years Goosanders have increased in number and are now seen almost daily on our local canal. The female lays up to a dozen eggs in hollow trees and only leaves them to feed twice a day, usually in the company of the male. Her eggs take four weeks to hatch and the first young are normally seen in early May. As this years breeding season is generally a late one you can imagine the surprise of finding a female on a Lancashire river with a dozen young on the 20th March. click here
Most of our summer visitors are now here with Redstart and Pied Flycatcher arriving in Lancashire yesterday(with snow overnight!). Whether we see or hear any Cuckoos remains to be seen.

Today is the last day of March and snow has only just cleared from the Pennine hills. The heaviest fall of snow this winter was on the 4th March when five inches fell in less than four hours. I was in the unique position of being able to observe roosting Long Eared Owls and how they coped with a severe blizzard. The snow would accumulate on their backs and heads and then every few minutes they would shake it off vigorously and then wait for it to accumulate again. Todays photo illustrates the terrible conditions that they had to endure. If you look carefully you can even see the ice on the ear tuft making it wilt. The gallery includes other photos taken during the blizzard. click here

There is little doubt that the most exquisite nest of any British bird is that of the Long Tailed Tit. In early March the dome of the nest is constructed and then by the end of March the search is on for feathers to line it. It takes up to ten days to line the nest with as many as two thousand feathers. They particularly like white feathers and some distance is covered during their search for these feathers. I have found five nests this week and the blog and gallery photos rate from one of these pairs. click here

On the 14th March the sunshine brought out of hibernation my first male Adder of the year. During the last week i have seen flocks of Fieldfares and Redwings but only thirty of each which makes it the poorest season ever for these traditional winter migrants.