West to East continued ......................................................... David & Margie Carter

David & Margie Carter A Blackcap checking out the new pond!

West to East continued…

It has now been 21 months since we moved from Brettenham into the outskirts of Stowmarket. The new garden planting is starting to get established and we have created a small pond; whereas at Brettenham we had a large, natural pond, approximately 12m x 4m, the new one came in the post! We had a fairly quiet winter on the bird front, although we did see up to five Little Egrets together on the meadows adjacent to the River Rat and both Woodcock and Common Snipe were flushed from the damp areas of the copse, making welcome additions to the “seen from the garden” list. Wintering Blackcaps were attracted to the feeders, but we only had one visit from a Siskin and no sightings of any Lesser Redpolls. Pied Wagtails are nesting nearby under the solar panels on a neighbour’s roof. Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Mistle Thrushes, Blackbirds, Treecreepers and Starlings appear to have bred successfully locally, however our Blue Tit nest failed, probably due to the cold weather in early May. A recent notable garden sighting was our first House Sparrow, taking our new list up to 70 species.