June 2010 - Hand-rearing Hoglets!

Wednesday 30th: Unfortunately the Hedgehog either abandoned or orphaned the four Hoglets. As of last Thursday evening, Melanie has been hand-rearing these tiny Hedgehogs. When we checked on them late that afternoon, they were almost blue in colour with cold and looking like they had been left alone most of the previous night (as Hedgehogs hunt at night and can roam 2 to 3 kilometers) and all day.

They were obviously in some distress so the decision was made to take them in, warm them as a priority and then feed them. This necessitated me dashing down the road to the local Supermarket and buying a couple of cartons of Kitten's-milk.

Judging by the growth and firmness of the spines, we suspect that the Hoglets were born sometime last Monday 21st, so were initially suckled by the now absent Mother. As you can imagine with new-born animals, they require feeding every 2 or 3 hours and initially toileting. All credit to Melanie as she has risen to the challenge by following religiously a course of feeding through the day and night!

Various sources on the Internet have been checked-out for information on how to raise them. But alas last Saturday, the weakest and most underweight, passed-away. So we have three Hoglets: one male and two females. They are putting on 2 grammes of weight each day and as of yesterday weighed 30, 32 and 34 grammes.

Their eyes are not open yet and so are still blind We estimate that they will not open for another week. The Hoglets don't appear to require toileting now as they can go for themselves. So with fingers crossed and with Melanie's resolve we hope to rear these fine animals.

June 2010 - Hedgehog with hoglets in the Garden!

Wednesday 23d: Tonight Melanie discovered where the Hedgehog had nested...quite by accident. Let me recount the story...Last Sunday night, she found a rather large Hedgehog in the garden. We gave it some food and water and left it too it's own devices not thinking that we would ever see it again! Mel surmised that it was a pregnant female...Very astute of her because as it turns out, this Hedgehog has given birth to 4 Hoglets! The nest is in our garden and safe...well as safe as things can be. The spikes on the Hoglets are firm and the eyes on all 4 are still closed. So between last Sunday night and today, the Hoglets were born. Needless to say, we will be keeping a close watch on mother and babies.

June 2010 - Iberian Chiffchaff...at Potteric Carr YWT

Thursday 17th: In the birding fraternity, something that is termed "A MEGA" is considered an extremely rare visitor to the British Isles. Well on May 11th, an Iberian Chiffchaff took up residence at Potteric Carr YWT in Doncaster. This rather shabby-looking male has since staked out a territory and continually sings for a mate. Unfortunately, it is very unlikely that he will get one, though there is another Iberian Chiffchaff that has taken up residence, but that is in Gwent, South Wales!

There have been only about 25 recorded instances of this Warbler in this country and this is only the 2nd ever in South Yorkshire! Well, late Thursday afternoon I finally got the chance to see this bird. Finishing work at 4pm, I crossed the road to the nature reserve. At that time of day it is always quiet as the site closes it's doors at 5pm. A good 20 minute trek to St. Catherine's Field where the bird has it's territory on a warm and sunny day.

As I approached the area, the Iberian Chiffchaff was conspicuous by it's song. Straightaway I saw the bird high up, atop a small tree but not so high that it was indistinguishable. Glad I carted my scope and tripod with me so that I could get some good close views of this once-in-a-lifetime visitor! Though binoculars served just as well. I was the only person there and had the Chiffchaff all to myself! It soon became apparent that the bird had a routine that it followed and by this I could take photos and alternate to either visual with or without the scope/binoculars.

For an hour and a half, I spent time in the company of the Iberian Chiffchaff, taking photos and just watching as it continued to sing. I could even hear it sing from some trees on the other side of the field although it was lost to view during it's set routine. The constant rumble of Motorway traffic close by was not a worry to it at all.

But as I said before, the bird had a set routine and I knew that after 10 minutes at the far-end of the field, it would be back. and of course it was. The best views were while the bird was perched singing in the small Hawthorn tree just a few meters away. These photos are taken while he was in that tree.

The song is, as you would expect different to the Common Chiffchaff that are Summer visitors to the British Isles and sometimes resident. Below is a short video of the Iberian Chiffchaff in song.

June 2010 - Hand-feeding a Blackbird!

Wednesday 9th: Early evening and as usual, the 3 resident Blackbirds have been in and out of the kitchen all day...closely followed by half a dozen House Sparrows. Now these Sparrows have become very bold in their actions. They will also fly into the kitchen to grab a mealworm and in some instances, hassle and rob the Blackbirds while they are collecting mealworms! In an effort to scare off the marauding Sparrows, the Blackbirds snap at the House Sparrows with their beaks but mostly, the Sparrows ignore the threats. So in an effort to make sure that this Blackbird got a mealworm, I decided to see how trusting she was, after all, the Blackbirds allow us to get very close to them and in most circumstances within 2 feet!

As you can see the Blackbird does take one mealworm from the palm of my hand but is very aware of the Sparrow watching it. She takes the mealworm and then jumps up onto the bench to take the rest (out of shot) of the mealworms from the bowl!

June 2010 - Drama in the garden!

Friday 4th: A usual working-day morning - came down to breakfast at 7:15am, put the kettle on, but no sooner had I made and was about to take a bite of toast, topped with strawberry jam, I was stopped in mid bite. A rapid wing beat from a large bird startled me. Grabbing my camera, I rushed outside expecting that the local Sparrowhawk had caught something! Imagine my suprise when I was presented with the scene as shown in this photo; a Wood Pigeon hanging upside down, wings splayed and motionless. All the other birds; Sparrows, Starlings and the Feral Pigeons just ignored it and calmly went about their business.

The unfortunate Wood Pigeon was trapped by it's leg and would never have freed itself from this predicament! The bird was surprisingly calm and motionless, it was not even struggling to free itself! Having a look, it was just a matter of gently folding the birds' wings, holding it with both hands and lifting the bird free and in an instant...it had flown. Shaken by it's ordeal, it nethertheless was in one piece and with no breakages, flew off to eat somewhere else.

Usually, this bird and other Wood Pigeons tend to perch on the fatball holder as it's just the right height from the sunflower feeder and they can eat fairly comfortably. On this occasion, the Wood Pigeon must have slipped and put it's leg through the gap between the two metal rods that hold the fatball feeder to the pole. As it's leg went through the gap, the bird went over the side, immobilising it! Fortunately the leg did not appear to be damaged in any way. One lucky Pigeon!