So December is upon us again so soon, time just zooms past when you're having fun and fun is the name of the game here at Feathers. It seems amazing that I haven't appeared to age at all over the past twelve months, I guess if you're born with great looks they tend to stay with you.

Anyway, enough about me... Here are the top two questions I have been asked by customers over this year:

(1) "Allan, what exactly do you do here? It seems Joe always appears to be doing all the work".
My normal reply is - "What is your point?”

(2) "Where have all the birds gone?"
Now this has been a sort of strange year for garden birds, in the first few months all the feeders were very busy but since about August things appeared to have got very quiet. Altho' this doesn't apply to everyone most customers have reported a decline in birds visiting their feeders. The weather of course is the major reason for this, birds would normally come onto our feeders when there is little natural food available but as the insects and seeds lasted much longer due to the fine climate this simply meant the birds got their nourishment elsewhere. Over the next few weeks I expect the temperatures to plummet so we really need to (a) get out our thermals and (b) make sure our feeders are clean, full and ready. Our garden birds will need to eat as much as they can in the shorter daylight hours just to enable them to get through the icy cold nights.

Now if you are gonna feed the birds a little extra over the winter period you cannot do better than to come to us, we are doing some great deals through December; nest boxes, feeders and some food has been reduced to help entice you into the shop, just check the website to find the deals. If you haven't already - have a look at the binoculars, there are some super deals for Christmas presents.

Unfortunately Fennella insists we go off for a bit of sun, good husbands are hard to come by so she has agreed to take me to Africa for the next two weeks, this does of course give you the opportunity to come to Feathers without having to put up with me, Joe and his apparently *squeaky chair* will take good care of you.

I thank the Rick bloke for this... "If at first you don't succeed then bungee jumping is not for you".

I wish you all a very happy Christmas and look forward to, with you, a prosperous new year.

Allan

Leading on nicely from Allans 'top two questions', here are my 'top two':

(1) "Where is he then? Surely not on holiday again?"
Normally it's just his day off but his reputation of enjoying holidays now precedes him.

(2) "Joe, what exactly does Allan do here? It seems you always appear to be doing all the work."

Back to the normal Birds of a Feather bit.

Most months now pass by without adding a new species to the birdy list, hitting 80 was a huge achievement but new ones are hard to come by nowadays. This month, however, saw our list increase to 81!

Early in the month there was some excitement when my brother, who many of you now know as being an incredibly lucky birder, spotted and photographed a potential Mealy Redpoll in our Nature Area. The Mealy is a cousin of the smaller, darker and more common Lesser Redpoll. These two species have only been split in recent years from what used to be just the Common Redpoll. Confused? So am I, but after much deliberation from higher authorities the general conclusion was the bird was a pale Lesser Redpoll. Though this meant it wasn't a new species for us, this was only the second time we've seen a Lesser Redpoll at Feathers so an important sighting none-the-less!

Our new species this month, however, is possibly the rarest visitor we've ever had, a single Tree Sparrow.

I was sitting in the hide with Martyn, who volunteers at Rye Harbour Nature Reserve, when something caught my eye as it flew in. I'm not really sure what made me look but I pulled up my bins and knew straight away it was a Tree Sparrow - the black cheek patches and chestnut crown differentiate it from the common House Sparrow. Martyn pressed me for its whereabouts but in my excitement I could do nothing but stutter and photograph empty branches. Once I had calmed down enough to manage a clear ID shot I rushed back to the shop to tell Allan, who promptly whipped on his brand new Adidas Supernova Sequence 3 Running Shoes and jogged over.

Both of us were more than pleased to see it visit us here, as in the past 40 years the numbers of this once common farmland bird have declined by almost 95%. Nowadays in the south of England they are very few and far between, with places like Dungeness hosting small numbers but nothing significant. Further north, in Lincolnshire for example, a few strongholds still exist and action is being taken to try to help the struggling population.

Other notable sightings this month, some of which you may be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of on a visit here, include Ravens, Barn Owl, Lawping, Goldcrest, Grey Wagtail (Pictured with Pied Wagtail), Mistle Thrush, Fieldfare and Redwing.

And finally just a quick mention of our Christmas Opening Times just to prove Allan's not always on holiday... The man himself will be here during normal hours apart from Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day - how about that for devotion?!

Joe