Sunday 26 February 2012

SPRING IS IN THE AIR

The warmth of this week has brought many things out, including buds on trees, green shoots on seemingly dead plants and me into our garden to start a spring clean and planting session.

The wildlife has also been abundant with a family of long tailed tits paying more visits to the feeders this week, than the whole of winter.

I'm guessing the natural food source has run dry and spring is yet to provide sufficient supplies.

The great tit is still roosting in the nestbox with the camera but, I'm having a few technical problems so the camera is not always working.

Next weekend the pond will become a boggy area filled with nectar rich flowers and plants for the bees and butterflies, but today it was the honeysuckle that had a sever trim, to encourage it to grow with the fence rather than away from it and cover the patio.


The robin/blackbird nextbox was exposed, but I'm hoping to create a more enticing home for raising chicks as it has only been used once in four years.


In other news the blossom on the fruit tree has already started to show, which is two weeks earlier than 2011 according to my blog.

It's great to hear the morning bird song at the moment as it shows the birds can almost taste spring and the riches it brings.

Territories are being confirmed and pairs are looking for nest sites to raise a brood. It all brings an exciting air to the house, garden and local area, though winter could always come back with a sting in the tail.

The winter rose has blossomed recently and has been joined by some early eager daffodils. How long before others show their colours?



Finally I've planted my firsts seeds of the year, so I'm hoping to see some rewards for my early endeavours. Four tomato seedling pots are on the window ledge and waiting for the right time to emerge as green shoots.

Saturday 11 February 2012

RETURN OF THE TIT CAM

So winter has finally arrived, although only some of the country has seen snow. Yes I'm jealous that my garden has not seen a single snowflake.

Since the start of the proper cold spell, I've noticed that my nestbox camera has been filming something other than the inside of the box.

It coincided with the camera actually working after it stopped emitting images for most of January.

For the last week a great tit has been roosting in the nextbox and I'm hoping it continues to use the nestbox in a similar pattern to 2011.

That's when a great tit roosted from February until it and its mate started nest building int April and the produced eight eggs, before raising and fledging eight chicks.

I doubt if all have survived as the local sparrowhawk can often be seen down the lanes, but I do hope a few have made it to this breeding season.

One thing I do wonder is if this great tit is the same one as last year, though I guess I'll never find out.

I'll be updating this blog more regularly now and hopefully it'll continued to focus on the nestbox camera.

In other news the garden has seen hardly any of the usual visitors, with great tits, blue tits, blackbirds, robins, dunnocks, tree sparrows and house sparrows continuing to visit the garden and my winter handouts of fat balls and peanuts.

Only in the recent cold weather have a witnessed a family of long tailed tits along with a few chaffinches and goldfinches.

Last winter the long tailed tits, greater spotted woodpeckers and jays were commonly seen in my garden, but this year the mild weather has meant natural food supplies are still in stock meaning many birds are not requiring the hand outs from gardens.

Currently the great tit is getting more sleep in one night (14 hours) than I do in two! Luckily I know this will diminish to about five hours per night if chicks are produced.

I love winter, but do enjoy the live and wildlife activity of spring, which is handy because it'll soon be the season of breeding.