TO FLEDGE AND HATCH OR NOT?

The house sparrow families are still growing, albeit at different rates, with one almost ready to fledge and the other schedule to hatch.

I suspect the fledging family are reluctant to go away from the relative safety of the nestbox given the recent stormy, if warm, weather.

Perhaps when this weekend’s weather calms a little will we see the nest empty, although whether it’ll soon be a hive of activity again with egg laying, is another question.

The camera nestbox family, which has already fledged two house sparrow chicks, has three eggs being incubated by the parents – mainly the female.

I suspect we’ll see fledging and hatching from the two families with 24-36 hours of each other, so stay tuned to my twitter account for updates.

In other news the poppies, sunflowers and other flora are contributing to a large number of bees and butterflies visiting the garden to feed on the variety of nectar rich flowers.

This is really good news after the poor weather conditions in 2012 that had negative effects on both populations.

Some of the usual suspect garden birds are now showing up, complete with at least some of the chicks they have fledged.

This particularly applies to the blue tit and great tit families, although yesterday I saw my first fledgling robin of 2013, complete with a breast that had hints of orange/red to it. This bird was probably hatched and fledged earlier in the year and is now independent from its parents.

I’m expecting more of this years’ fledglings to start visiting the garden again now their parents have had chance to change their worn out ‘clothes’ for a set of new feathers.

How many will we see during autumn and winter? Let’s make the most of the rest of summer before we start to find out!

HOUSE SPARROWS MAKING THEMSELVES AT HOME

So the house sparrows’ mating seems to have worked as there are now three new eggs in the camera nestbox.

I’m delighted that there has now been three clutches of eggs in my camera nestbox this year, and from two different birds.

If all the current eggs hatch and the chicks fledge, then a total of 13 chicks will have entered the wildlife world thanks to my nestbox.

But that won’t be all the chicks that fledge from my garden, because in the new ‘terraced’ house sparrow nestbox that I put up in March has at least one of the three nestboxes occupied by house sparrow chicks.

As I don’t have a camera in there I can’t tell how many, but I suspect three or four judging by the sounds coming from there.

I’m pleased that so many house sparrow chicks are being brought in to the world in my garden and it is providing a good home to a declining UK species.

The flora and wildlife homes in my garden have been the culmination of five years of introducing different species to the garden and also providing a regular food source for the birds.

Talking of flora, two new flowers have emerged from this years’ seed plantations, two poppies and a sunflower (teddy bear variety).

 

They are adding more colour and scents to the garden and attracting plenty of insects, particularly bees and an increasing number of butterflies.

 

Finally with the hot weather due to end with thunderstorms and rain in the coming days, I think it can only help increase the flora in my garden and add even more colours and scents.

Perhaps after the rain we’ll have even more sun and at least two fledgings!

Oh and before I forget I took delivery of a new bird box cctv camera from SpyCameraCCTV

 , which I ‘won’ during a Facebook competition.

Thanks to the guys at SpyCameraCCTV, I’m hoping to have two nestboxes covered by cameras next year!

SURELY NOT ANOTHER CLUTCH OF EGGS???

The big news this week is the house sparrows returning to re-feather the nest and mate in the shrubbery around the garden.

This behaviour has obviously worked because the camera nestbox now has one small egg in it.

 

 

I suspect the reason why one of the parent birds isn’t there, is because of the summer heat we’re experiencing.

I’ll now be keeping an eye on the camera, while it still works, to see if any progress on one egg takes place – in other words more laying of eggs.

The house sparrow nestbox still has birds around it, but I’m not sure if a nest, eggs, or even chicks are in existence there – again I’ll keep an eye on the situation.

No other bird news to report, apart from the usual evening aerobatic displays by the swallows and swifts, the latter being the small number of the two.

The bees and butterflies are enjoying the nectar harvest, and with more and more flowers opening up the garden is awash with colour and all the nectar-loving insects.

Fingers crossed for more egg-citing news in the next post, along with a return of the usual garden bird suspects.

THE SECOND FLEDGING FROM THE SAME NESTBOX

Last Sunday the house sparrow chicks departed early in the day, albeit a day ro so later than I expected. 

The two chicks had been testing their wings out for a couple of days, but I suspect the rain and cool weather delayed their departure.

Then all of a sudden they fledged before my eyes and flew off with their parents to explore the giant world outside of the nestbox.

Here’s the sequence of how they left, starting with Saturday night.

 

Sunday morning

 

One has fledged

 

They’ve both gone

 

The fledging happened in a matter of minutes and it was just luck that I was able to watch it, both on timing and that the camera was still working!

It’s such a shame that the camera wasn’t working when the blue tit chicks were in the nest, or when they fledged, but the most important thing is they fledged.

I will inspect the nestbox and nesting ‘arrangements’ later this summer, before clearing out the nestbox ready for next year.

I’ve not seen much of other birds recently, although the chattering of house sparrows does often mark the arrival of dawn.

I have heard the calls of blue tits, goldfinches, magpies and swallows, but only the swallows are regularly seen.

The swallows have gone a little quiet so I suspect they are on a second clutch of eggs – well given that we’re about to experience a summer I don’t blame them!

Given that the weather is going to warm, if not hot, up I’m going to make sure the birds have a water supply, as this will become increasingly important for them, the longer rain doesn’t fall.

Finally the bee numbers are increasing every time I’m in the garden, and I’ve spotted at least five different types, which is very pleasing.

So let’s all enjoy this upcoming real summer and hope the wildlife can too.