Yup, I am still convinced that I scared the swans (and herons) away from the pond. Not anyone else who walks past this place. Not the people who own it, but me. The scare-crone.
On my run, I saw the sparrowhawk I have regularly seen in these fields. He flew very decidedly toward another raptor - a buzzard I thought but it was a long way away. The two birds almost came together then separated with the hawk staying close by. I don't know it this was a territorial dispute; if the buzzard was a buzzard or maybe another hawk (though it was flying, or gliding, like a buzzard or a kite, not like a hawk); or if the hawk thought the buzzard had seen some potential prey and was out to nab it first.
In my garden I have now twice seen someone new. It looks like a small (from great tit to robin sized - hard to tell without someone to size him up against) grey bird with a black cap. The first time I saw him, I thought he was a great tit - but no, the rest of his body seemed plain, mainly grey.
I looked in the book and saw this. Blackcap. Makes sense.
he would have been the male one. But I wasn't sure... the bird I saw was running up stalks rather than perching. So I kept on looking and saw these.
It says the Northern form is greyer... maybe...
Again, the Northern form is greyer - and bigger. And I had thought my bird was a tit at first.
Yet, the bird I saw looked more just grey and maybe sleeker. My Dad says blackcap is more likely. So, I started to investigate. Turns out blackcaps usually winter in a warmer place but, what with global warming some are deciding to over-winter here - and they are speciating! I could have seen either a newly returned blackcap or one that hadn't bothered to go. See this article - the photo does look like the bird I saw.
That seemed very exciting - but then I read that the coal tit is a common visitor to feeders and I started to wonder if in fact my bird was one of these.
To be honest, unless he comes up to me and tells me, I have no chance of finding out for sure.
Read both articles. Very interesting that the blackcap appears to be at the beginning of speciating. In North America our chickadees are in the same family as the UK tits (I'm think!) and there's always black under the beak/throat. The blackcaps don't seem to have black there ...