February 2012 - Grey Wagtail still here!

Saturday 16th: This morning, the Grey Wagtail arrived at 9:30am. Now that it getting lighter earlier, she is probably around earlier but as I don't tend to rise from bed until later at the weekends, of course I don't see her! Though not in the garden all the time every day, the Grey Wagtail is still around and visits the garden/back door for live mealworms two or three times a day, every day,spreading her wings and long tail in an effort to make herself bigger to deter her rivals when collecting mealworms. She has been a constant visitor since February 2nd. Now that the snow has gone and the pond is ice-free, she spends her time, while she is here, in and around the pond on the waterfall, in the water chute looking for marine life such as shrimps or on the house roof. We suspect that in the periods when she is away from the garden, she is scouting new territories in preparation for Spring.

The Wren is still a regular visitor each day also for live mealworms. This morning, it was giving that familiar high-pitched call that is usually heard in woodland. As usual a Robin is around and also visits the back door for live mealworms as do the House Sparrows and male Blackbird.

A Grey Squirrel got into the loft this week and couldn't find it's way out. For three days it was wandering around the loft chewing rafters and insulation. Mel got a rat trap and eventually managed to entice it in and trap it. Yesterday, she left the loft hatch open and the ladder down with the trap at the hatch and food at the base of the ladders. Believe it or not the squirrel actually climbed down the ladders into the study to eat food. Mel got to within a foot of it but the squirrel was too quick and jumped over her out-stretched hand racing up the ladder and back into the loft. Mel stood guard and 30 minutes later, the squirrel was heard again. With food in the trap, the squirrel entered and seemed relieved to be eating. Gently, Mel carried the trap from the loft. The squirrel calmly ate and drank lots of water. It was very thin with parts of its skeleton starting to show. For 15 minutes it stayed calmly in the trap eating and drinking. Mel carried the trap downstairs to the garden where she released it to familiar surroundings. This squirrel is a regular visitor to our garden and will always take monkey nuts from the back door when "SQUIRREL" is called!

Smaller creatures seen recently are the Varied Carpet Beetle (Anthenus verbasci), a very small rounded beetle approx 2 - 10mm in size as seen in these enlarged images below.

And the Silverfish (Lepisma saccharina) 0.5 - 2cm, is a creature that lived during the era of the Dinosaurs! Judging from this image, it  does look prehistoric!

February 2012 - Grey Wagtail has returned!

Saturday 4th: The Grey Wagtail is a female, and after a months' absence, came back to our garden last Thursday. This must be the same bird that was here last year. Thursday 2nd was the day that Melanie first saw the Wagtail since last December 19th. Where has it been all this time and why has it come back to our garden? Not that we are complaining, we are "chuffed-to-bits" that she is back. Mel was positively over the moon when she rang me at work to tell me the good news.

We have taken note of the fact that when she last spent time in our garden; on 28/11/11, 30/11/11, 2/12/11, 4/12/11, 12/12/11, 14/12/11 and 19/12/11, the weather was very cold and frosty. The Wagtail was not seen until 2/2/12 which coincided with a period of mild weather conditions. Then last Thursday, she was spotted in the garden by Mel. Now she has been here for three consecutive days and the weather has turned bitterly cold again, and this afternoon, a couple of inches of snow has fallen and settled.

Last Thursday, the Wagtail spent a little time in the garden but yesterday and today she had spent much of the day in and around the back garden. In fact, today, she didn't leave the garden until 4:30pm! The Wagtail has even taken to eating live meal worms and will come to the back door to get a snack. The Wren has taken to shadowing the Grey Wagtail around the pond to pick at anything edible that the Wagtail disregards! The Grey Wagtail has had to endure the occasional mobbing by the male Blackbird or a Starling when it gs a meal worm, but this harassment hasn't bothered the bird to any degree. So we suspect that as long as we have cold weather the Grey Wagtail will remain in our garden, eating meal worms and other bird food.

October 2011 - The Wren returns and a Treesparrow in the garden!

Sunday 16th: The Wren that has been visiting our garden each Autumn\Winter since 2008 has returned today. It surely must be the same bird as it comes to the bush at the back door and calls for mealworms. If it is not the same bird, then has it indicated to others about where to get an easy meal? This is an intriguing question. But if it is then it has clearly survived the harsh snows of December 2010\ January 2011! The bird seems to follow the same pattern in that it departs the garden in March and returns around October. This being the case for 2009, 2010 and now 2011.

It was at 2:20pm that I first saw the Wren picking through the undergrowth in the garden. Throwing some mealworms out,immediately caught its attention and it came to the backdoor to feast, closely followed by a dozen House Sparrows.

Scanning the House Sparrows, one caught my attention. It looked oddly out of place. Looking closer I could see that it was a Tree Sparrow. Now as can be seen (image below) Tree Sparrows have a white cheek with black spot and an all brown head. Whereas House Sparrows (image above) don't have white cheeks or an all brown head. Above, the male House Sparrow is on the left and the female is on the right. It's very unusual for Tree Sparrows to visit a garden, that is unless your garden is the countryside! This one may just have been passing through, on its way somewhere. Both Tree Sparrows and House Sparrows will freely associate as flocks and can live side-by-side. Only the one Tree Sparrow was seen in our garden but I now scan the large flock of resident House Sparrows...just in case!

January 2011 - RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch

Saturday 29th: This was an hour of watching the birds in our back garden. Both Melanie and I recorded the different types of birds that would spend time in the garden. The usual suspects were about; House Sparrows (32), Starlings (11), Wood Pigeons (3) & Collard Doves (12). By far, House Sparrows and Starlings are the most numerous of birds in our garden. Though we shouldn't complain, we do yearn for more of a variety of garden birds, both House Sparrows and Starlings are on the RSPBs RED list of conservation concern. Luckily some interlopers visited within the hour; two Great Tits! Now I'm not sure if they were a pair but they are infrequent visitors to our garden. Also the Wren (who currently stays most of the day every day to feast on live mealworms), along with the Robin and another pair of Blackbirds were included in the count. I also briefly saw a male Greenfinch fly-off from the garden. I guess he got lost on his way to that other place! So well down on numbers this year!

The Government has announced plans to sell-off the 18% of England's woodlands and forests currently run by the Forestry Commission. There is a public consultation in progress until the 21st April after which, the Government will review and then make known it's decision. You can read all about it at the link above. Read what the National Trust has to say on the proposals. If you wish, sign the petition at the campaign group 38 Degrees website.

November 2010 - Another visit by the Wren

Monday 22nd: I posted last week that the Wren made it first return visit for mealworms after a Summer vacation. Well, today he/she came into the kitchen to help him/herself to mealworms! Now tell me that this Wren is not the same Wren that visited all last Winter! Wrens are very flighty birds and it's inconceivable that a bird on it's second visit would hop into the kitchen to eat! It took this Wren, last winter, several nervous visits to the back door before it would come in. Even the Blackbirds took half a dozen days and numerous visits to the back door before they comfortable in entering the kitchen to perch on the side and eat mealworms.

Saturday night was the last time we saw all three Hedghogs. Tonight is the second night that the Hedgehogs have not stirred from their hibernation houses. Last night they never appeared nor ate any food. So we believe that this could be the start of the hibernation period.

November 2010 - A long-missed friend returns!

Tuesday 16th: A visit from a very noisy Wren at the back door this afternoon signalled the return of an old friend from last Winter. We had a Wren paying regular visits to our kitchen and take some live mealworms from last December 2009 to March this year. The Wren then disappeared, we assume to pair-off and raise a brood. So imagine Mel's delight when this bird re-appeared at the kitchen door! We are both convinced that it is the same bird from last Winter as it knew exactly where to go and where the mealworms were, it even announced it's arrival with the usual calling, until fed by Mel and not at all nervous at Mel's close proximity! let's hope that it again decides to stay for the duration of this coming winter.

March 2010 - Tawny Owl in garden last night!

Sunday 7th: At 11pm last night Melanie opened the back-door only to glimpse an owl perched on a feeder bar! She saw enough of it before it silently took flight. After discussing the shape, size,colour and ID-ing the raptor from the Internet, we are 99% sure it was a Tawny Owl. I believe this is not unusual as a few years ago I too also saw an Owl perched on the feeders in the garden and that was while I was doing some astronomy and operating the telescope. I suspect that Owls pay regular visits to our garden and others during the course of the night. Unfortunately no photo was obtained of last night's apparition. But we will get one sooner or later!


The Robin pair were again sighted in the garden this morning by Mel and it looks like they are setting-up a nest near to last years' nest.






Our friendly Wren has again been around all day and never seems to go far from the back-door. Yesterday I saw him (not sure if it is a Him or Her), go into the kitchen on two separate occasions as I was working outside, to get some mealworms. Today, the Wren has paid regular visits to the kitchen and on one occasion a female Blackbird stood over the bowl of mealworms so he had to wait.

This female Blackbird is the familiar "Nice Misses" as we have called her. See earlier posts about her raising broods last year in the garden. She paid at least two visits that I saw and possibly others that I didn't see.

February 2010 - Wren in the house!!

Thursday 25th: Not content with waiting outside for his fix of mealworms, our local friendly Wren has now taken it upon himself to come into the kitchen for a bite to eat. Though unsure of himself: he cautiously looks around, grabs a mealworm and then off he goes. We suspect that he has watched a female Blackbird coming into the kitchen to get some mealworms and learnt from her! This short video was taken by Melanie at 11am last Thursday.



The videos below show the female Blackbird who we suspect the Wren has been watching. She has been coming to the kitchen for over a year now and has raised at least 2 broods in the garden. We know it is the same female as she has a distinctive hump on her back of feathers that she developed last year while raising her broods. We believe that she comes into the kitchen to avoid rival Blackbirds as they tend not to come in and she can eat all the mealworms she wants without getting mobbed. Melanie also captured these videos.

February 2010 - The Wren joins the mealworm Crew

SNOW FELL AGAIN LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND THE WEATHER HAS TURNED COLD AGAIN SO PLEASE REMEMBER TO KEEP FEEDING THE BIRDS

Wednesday 3rd: For sometime now, we have had a solitary Wren patrolling the garden. Now, since last Thursday, the Wren has been coming to the back door and taking mealworms. It takes one then flys to a nearby perch and devours the morsel, returning soon after for another. In fact the Wren is proving to be a serious rival to the Robin! Both are usually waiting at the door first thing in the morning and both seem to call for our attention...demanding mealworms!

As you can see from the above photos, both the Robin and Wren use the same perch close to the door when they call for mealworms. They have almost come to blows over their rivalry. Meanwhile, the Blackbirds have not totally departed the scene. There is still a female from who reared a couple of broods in the garden who visits when she can much to the annoyance of a male Blackbird who is trying to mark-out his own territory. A younger female will also take mealworms. We believe that she is the offspring from one of the five broods raised in the garden last year. A small group of House Sparrows also hang around for mealworms, not to mention a lone and very persistent Starling!

January 2010 - Fieldfare returns!

Thursday 14th: Is this the same Fieldfare seen last weekend and earlier this week? Well it seems to me that for one bird to be in the same place as previous days and be a totally different individual is just too much of an improbability for me to accept. This is the SAME bird as with previous days. But what intrigues me is the lack of any other Fieldfares in the vicinity. These are usually flocking birds and with the Pyracantha berries on view, its strange that only one individual is feeding on them!Still the Fieldfare is a fine looking bird!

Meanwhile, out in the back garden, the Wren, who is almost a daily visitor, was out and about amongst the rapidly thawing snow in the pursuit of tasty morsels. This photo was taken as the Wren raced through the plants, it's eye on the prize.

Blast from the past - Wren savages Caterpillar!

January 2008, Melanie saw a Wren bobbing about in the garden. Grabbing her video camera she hurriedly filmed the action in all its gory glory. This must be quite a rare event to witness, after all, Wrens can be very secretive birds. But if one makes your garden its territory then you could be witness to some incredible events such as this. Hard to believe that the humble Wren can be such a ruthless predator!

JANUARY 2009

A solitary visit by a Greenfinch to the seed feeders in the early part of the month was most unusual. The middle of the month saw the continued visits by a Wren. It seems to have taken up residence nearby and is often seen in the garden, rooting about in the leaf-foliage. We captured video footage of the Wren killing a Caterpillar and then devouring the large pupae.

The two male Blackbirds are still around and will perform a ritual scuffle at the back door for mealworms. The two females, tend to stay out of the way but grab a few mealworms when the males are preoccupied with each other!

The Robins are very regular visitors in the kitchen, flying in for a feast of mealworms. There are three of them, though we are unsure of what sex they are – two males, one female – two females, one male – three females or three males? How do you tell the difference? We have noticed that they have distinct shapes and indentations of their red breasts. Taking note of this we have found that one particular Robin will take four mealworms at one ‘sitting’ while another will take four. The third Robin tends to stay out of the kitchen and only eat seed, oats etc.

On the 29th, there was a surprise visit by a female Sparrowhawk to the garden. She landed on top of a garden arch and stayed for about 20 minutes. As you would expect, the resident bird population took to cover for the duration. She departed without catching anything – in fact she didn’t even try!

The Squirrels were always in the garden but the birds seem fairly used to them now. How this will affect egg-laying in the Spring – we shall see? My Wife did manage to tempt one of the Squirrels to the back door for some peanuts. We have remarkable video footage of this!

At Potteric Carr, several Pintails were seen on one of the marshes. This was a FIRST for me. Quite a neat duck! Three Bulfinches were also noted at the Nature Reserve.