During the milder weather recently, the sunshine has given the bird a
new lease of life; gone was the days of simply foraging for food to survive and
in came looking for a mate and potential nest site.
I watched as both a pair of blue tits and great tits spent time looking
at the camera nestbox from various angles and tried different flight patterns
from vantage points towards the nestbox.
I haven’t seen any bird actually fly in to or around the nestbox, but I
think there has been one bird, or more, roosting in there. If I was to guess I
would say it would be a great tit; that’s based on what I noted when the camera
was working.
The warm sunshine has brought the dawn chorus to life, with plenty of
song in the last couple of days, plus plenty of birds hanging around my garden
and surrounding area.
It now appears that the song thrush I’ve seen and heard a lot recently
has found either a mate or foe. Judging by the way one was chasing after the
other for about ten minutes in the bushes and trees suggest to me that it will
be a mate and a breeding pair could set up a nest near the garden.
I’ll be keeping my eye out for them both in case of nesting activity and
new chicks.
Talking of chicks I thought I saw a fledgling blackbird recently, but
put it down to a slightly differently coloured female.
My thoughts changed when I saw said female in the garden, and it was
joined by a definite female and they reacted to one another like they knew each
other.
Has anyone ever known blackbirds to breed in winter?
Feeding the birds regularly can be quite exciting as three recent
examples show.
Firstly I filled the seed feeder and two fat snack feeders and as I approached
the trees that I regularly hang them in (different locations each time), there
was a sudden burst of noise coming from the surrounding bushes and trees and I
saw a small flock of house sparrows, joined by various species including
chaffinch, great tit and blue tit, along with a couple of robins.
They all had appeared to be welcoming me and the food I was bringing
and within seconds of me hanging them out, the small birds were taking their
turn on the feeders.
Secondly a robin, which appears every time I’m working in the garden or
hanging out feeder, has been hovering in flight trying to get at a fat snack in
hanging feeder. The hover doesn’t last for long, but he/she is getting much
more accomplished at getting food.
Finally the long tailed tits are still making regular visits to the
garden, particularly the peanut feeder and as I spend more and more time in the
garden, I can sometimes hear the flock coming.
It’s these interactions with nature that ensures I’ll always be a fan
and friend of wildlife.
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