Saturday 30 April 2016

New nest

As the robins moved out the collared doves had a second viewing of the honeysuckle and over a couple of days moved their few thin twigs in. I thought they took it in turns to incubate but one (or other) has been sitting for a few days now and I have yet to see a change over. The honeysuckle is right over the pond, although it is a fairly dense shrub, and I will be on tenterhooks (and ready with a net) when those babies are moving around in there! As with the robins, the doves have chosen a busy place to nest. The honeysuckle is often used by the colony of sparrows that live in the hedge nearby. They dart in and out of the cover throughout the day. The garage roof just behind is often noisy with up to 9 or 10 jackdaws feeding and of course we are near the pond each day clearing iftof leaves and feeding the fish. The nest is almost in exactly the same place as blackbirds nested a few years ago, and it has a natural gap in the foliage that nicely for me faces out towards our back door.


Hand-feeding

The robins fledged earlier in the week, while I was out - isn't that always the way! I thought they would be in the garden somewhere but they were nowhere to be seen. I have to admit I thought the worst until both parents were back in the garden looking for food. I put some suet out and watched where the parents went - miraculously the babies must have made it across the gravel parking area at the back and through a hedge into the land at the back of our house as that's where both parents kept going directly back to.

As I fed and watched the robins go back and forth and take food from right next to me I thought I'd just have another go with my hand. The male (I think), who has a slight hook on the end of his beak (he is also in the photos on the earlier post and is the friendlier of the two), fluttered a few times near my hand then as quick as a flash went down and took some suet.  I was so chuffed! I tried it again and he came quicker this time. Not wanting to stress them too much I left them to it with the suet but the next day he was waiting as I got home so armed with the camera I had another go -






The babies fledged about 4 days ago and whilst the parents are not so frantically feeding they do still appear to be taking food back to the same area. I have been hand-feeding him each day and he will also now take from my daughter's hand. Such a special trust to be given.

Sunday 24 April 2016

Mistle thrush fledglings

We had a very chilly (where is Spring??) walk through the woods today and saw a pair of green woodpeckers and then a pair of jays. There was a lot of noise as the jays flew off and I thought it was baby jays calling their parents back. Looking into the trees for where the calling was coming from we found three fledglings sitting on separate branches. They were quite big but having got home and checked the photos, and asked on a website for advice, I think they are mistle thrushes. I have been told it is unlikely the jays would take them, unless the parents were nowhere around.



Friendly robin parents

The robins have been frantically feeding their young. I had a quick peek the other day and today the babies were on the edge of the ivy so I'm thinking they are going today or tomorrow. Hopefully they will stick around the garden for a few days and I can get some photos. In the meantime the parents, especially dad (I think) are getting tamer. He waits by the back door now, once coming into the conservatory, and has taken some suet from my hand resting on the table. I've also noticed another robin trying to venture in from a neighbour's garden - that's not going down at all well!




Other than the robins, the collared doves have been checking out the honeysuckle again, the blackbirds are also in the garden hunting for food so there must be a nest nearby, probably in the hedge above an old shed as last year. There have also been chaffinches, wood pigeons, great, blue and coal tits and hoards of sparrows in the garden this week. 

Sunday 10 April 2016

More robin news

So after discovering my robin babies this morning, I go to my parent's house for Sunday lunch and they have a family in their robin nest box. The box isn't particular hidden, just a few plants in front and it faces the house so they can watch it from the conservatory. There is definitely at least five babies, and they look to be a good few days further ahead than mine.





7 Spotted Ladybird

It was chilly in Cambridgeshire first thing this morning with definite frost but the sun is shining and it is warming up gradually. Very pleased to see the first 7 spotted ladybird (Coccinella 7-punctata) taking in some rays on my purple sage. I'm always reminded of a day trip to Hunstanton beach about 20 years ago, we took the children but couldn't get out of the car for clouds and clouds of ladybirds! Do these 'plagues' still happen?

7  Spotted Ladybird


Robin nest

Update on the robins' nest - having watched both robins going in and out of the ivy I had a quick look in the vicinity and found the nest. You would never know it's there and in fact it is near to where we found an old nest last year. The ivy is nice and thick here but it is the busiest part of our small garden being right near the gate, on the path, and directly opposite the shed door which is only a few feet away! I quickly saw a few yellow beaks peek up and some fluff but didn't want to disturb it too much so not sure how many babies but three at least.  I have a small window feeder on the conservatory and the robins are often waiting in a nearby shrub for it to be replenished so I'll have to be prompt at keeping it topped up now!

Wednesday 6 April 2016

Gardening buddy

This little robin will get very close to me now when I'm in the garden and will sit in a shrub near the back door calling for food if he sees someone moving around in the conservatory. I think he (or she, how do you tell?) is one of a pair nesting in the ivy that grows up the garage but it's too dense for me to see where without disturbing it.


Sunday 3 April 2016

Egyptian Geese

One of our regular walking places is West Stow Country Park in Suffolk. It has lots of different habitats - the river Lark, heathland, woodland, and lakes. Today when we walked along the river two Egyptian geese flew up onto a dead tree. We have seen these geese on the lake before but never on the river and never up a tree! They are stunning looking birds with their 'cleopatra' eyeliner, bronze and green plumage, flashes of white feathers and pink feet, and they are noisy!

So why are such strange looking birds on the lake? Well according to the RSPB website the Egyptian Goose (Alopochen aegyptiacus) was introduced here from Africa in the 17th century for ornamental ponds, they struggled to survive the colder UK climate but recently have begun to grow in numbers, probably due to milder winters, and are now resident, mostly in East Anglia but are starting to spread further.

Egyptian Geese, West Stow, Suffolk

Egyptian Geese, West Stow, Suffolk

Egyptian Geese, West Stow, Suffolk

Insect hotel

As the bird table had all but fallen apart I decided to take the top off and turn it into an insect home.  It is quite rotten at the bottom so already has lots of nooks and crannies for bugs but on our walk today near Thetford Forest we collected some pine cones and I added some old bamboo canes cut down. It needs something else to fill out the top but all in all I'm pretty pleased with it.


Friday 1 April 2016

Spotted in the garden recently...

Wood pigeon; collared dove; blackbird; jackdaw; robin; house sparrow; chaffinch; starling; greenfinch; goldfinch; great tit; blue tit; long-tailed tit

Courtship feeding

We had a robin's nest last year in the ivy that covers the garage. I am pretty sure we might have another this year as I've noticed them flying in and out the last few days. Today I saw something I've never seen before - a robin feeding another. This was not fledgling feeding - both had red breasts so I am pretty sure it's courtship feeding. The male will feed the female to woo her and a few days before she lays eggs right through incubation. Watch this space!

Greenfinch

A few years ago we had a couple of pairs of Greenfinches feeding in the garden but last year I didn’t notice them at all.  Today though, doing battle with the wind of Storm Katie I spotted the streak of yellow land on our old patio table we use to feed the birds on and was really pleased to see this male. He fed for a while and then just sat on the edge of a planter catching the breeze. Hopefully there is a female around somewhere too.




Welcome to my garden

This is my patch. My 'small' garden. How small is small? Well I will maybe get around to measuring it sometime but the actual size is not really the point. It isn't huge, it hasn't got its own lake. There is no river at the bottom, no old barns or other such wildlife sanctuaries.  It is just a run of the mill back yard. We also have a shared gravel parking area and driveway and a south facing front garden given over mostly to gravel at the moment but with huge lavender bushes and a clematis.


It faces North so for much of the year it is cold and damp.  If you imagine an A4 piece of paper portrait and folded in 4 and unfolded again then the garage takes up a one quarter. We have had to house an oil tank and outside boiler. There is lawn, borders, a patio area, shed and a tree.

Oh and there is a pond!  We had to replace a lot of the garden about 7 years ago due to an oil leak and added a raised pond then.  It isn't as wildlife friendly as perhaps a more easily accessible ground level pond but we now have a small grand-daughter so I don't feel as compelled to fill it in for safety.


The tree is an ornamental almond and we use to to hang the bird feeders.  They are missing from the photos as we'd taken them down as Storm Katie arrived last night.  The bird table has seen better days and needs replacing.


There is another challenge my garden faces on being wildlife friendly - my husband! It's not that he dislikes wildlife, he's just not so keen on the 'wild' part. Whilst I am untidy and like the garden full and overflowing, he prefers a neat lawn and weedless borders. We constantly do battle over the summer as I squeeze in another bee-friendly plant and he cuts things back regardless of the time of year! He has come round to the bird feeders and the mess that they, and the bird visitors, can produce, and as he can't access the back of the oil tank this is my untidy and hopefully hedgehog friendly area. It remains to be seen what he makes of the insect hotel I hope to add!

Small garden wildlife

I saw a fabulous feature on Countryfile last night about a woman who has camera traps set up in her garden. She had captured footage of all sorts of wildlife from kingfishers to harvest mice. It was an impressive garden and a very impressive (and probably expensive) technical set up.  I was totally jealous of both as I stood in my spare bedroom looking out of the window down onto my own small garden wondering how I could ever get anywhere near the sort of film and photographs shown on the programme.

I can never hope to compete. Much as I often dream of a much larger garden we are happy in the home we have had for over 30 years and so I have to work with what I've got!  I hope therefore this blog will also serve as a diary of the wildlife seen on my patch and I hope it will in time be proof that you don't need lots of land or lots of money to attract, help and watch wildlife.

Collared dove nest in our almond tree, 2015