A Mystery Solved

About five or six weeks ago while sitting at my computer I noticed a bird of the crow family that was sitting on the chimney stack of one of the houses that are at the back of me. There are two short terraces that run at a right angle from my back lane and the Jackdaws nest and roost in many of the chimneys. However this one that I saw had a red bill.

From my angle of view, I could not see the whole of the bird as if I could see red legs too then it had to be a Chough. But equally I was well aware that if it was then it was out of place, as they are not normally seen here. What's more I kept on getting fleeting glimpses of the bird but not enough to make a clear identification nor get a picture.

Also at the same time I was informed by one of the local farmers that they thought they had a Pine Martin on their land. They has seen a weasel like animal near their bird table and while they had not seen what was taking the Jam sandwiches they were putting out, there were paw prints of a stoat like critter near the bird table too.

Thus I have had my time divided between looking for a possible Pine Martin and a Possible Chough. Both are rare and I was determined to discover if the identification was correct. I have had plenty of opportunity to test my extreme weather clothing, as I sat out watching for the possible Pine Martin. I did not see the Pine Martin and I became convinced that it was in fact a stoat that had been seen. As it snowed last night, I was able to confirm this with the footprints and trail left.

However, that still did not explain who was taking and eating the jam sandwiches. Well I saw this morning that it is the Jackdaws. I am guessing that your ahead of me here, I saw several Jackdaws that had jam smeared on their beaks making them appear red.

This is where it was wise not to rush to judgement and to rely on good observation to establish what was really happening. I don't know if I will get a chance to try and film the Stoat before going up to Scotland, but I will try. And who knows if there is a Chough around then I may get a picture of it. But I may just get a picture of a messy sweet beaked Jackdaw.