WINTER SHOWING ITS TEETH

This week has been cold, mainly overcast, with the odd small snow flurry. Typical February really, allowing winter to demonstrate it’s his season and warmth is something that only March can start to have.

The good thing for wildlife watchers is it gives you chance to attract wildlife by providing food, then sitting back and enjoying the show.

My fat snacks, peanuts and seed mix have all been enjoyed by a wide variety of small birds during the day, while I’m sure the local vole and mice population has taken the free hand-outs dropped by the birds during the hours of darkness.

Once again the main birds on show have been the three tits – great, blue and long tailed – while the flock of house sparrows has been joined by a small one of chaffinches.

The blackbirds and robins have also been making the most of the food, while a few dunnocks are also about regularly.

I’ve not seen many magpies or jays, so can only assume I’ve either missed them or they come when I’m not at home.

What I did see today was the greater spotted woodpecker, which is good news as I thought the resident one had long gone. It scared the other little birds from one of the fat snack feeders and gorged for a few minutes before one of the many resident cats spooked it and other birds to flee.

As the nights become lighter I’m looking forward to seeing more action around the garden, although it looks increasingly like I won’t be seeing anything inside one of my nest boxes.

I’ve been trying to fix the problem – and find it – for a few weeks now and I think it’s a problem with the antenna from the camera to my remote receiver by the TV.

The final chance is if an engineer at the place it was bought will be able to help when I call later this week.

Keep your fingers crossed there is a solution and we can all see some nest box action this spring.

IS SPRING AROUND THE CORNER?

I’ve been working for the last few days to fix the nestbox camera, but with no success. I’m going to give it one more go next weekend and then leave it for another year.

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.

SONG THRUSH SONGS BRIGHTEN UP ANY WINTER DAY

As winter keeps us on our toes with bouts of cold weather and potential snow, the wildlife seems to be more and more attracted to my garden.

In the last week the flock of long tailed tits has visited at least once a day, often more than once, with one or two jays – I think it may be a pair – now feeding confidently in the garden; well as confident as this shy bird can be!

My favourite piece of recent news is the arrival of a song thrush to the garden, which appears to have taken up residence in and around the garden.

It has been singing from various high points in the trees in the last ten days, sometimes for hours on end.

The very latest on the song thrush is that it now appears there are two of them – I’m hoping the singing has been performed by the male and he has attracted a female.

I hope they have found a place to nest and that it is close by. The songs have been beautiful and I must have heard at least 20 different ones over the last week or so.

The flocks of smaller birds are getting bigger, with the blue tits, great tits, tree sparrows, house sparrows and chaffinches often joined by robins, blackbirds and the odd wren in the garden.

They’re all enjoying the fat snacks, peanuts and seeds I’m putting out for them and when I refill the feeders, the birds seem to know what I’m doing and I can hear them excitedly chattering and gathering close to where I put them in the trees.

I haven’t heard the wailing of mating foxes this year, although I know they’re about. To many people the sound is very distressing as it’s often in the middle of the night and does sound like a baby crying from a lot of pain.

The tawny owls have not been heard for a few weeks, although I’m sure they’ve taken refuge further towards the woods for greater protection from the weather conditions; I hope to hear them again soon.

Until then, let’s hope the promised cold weather and snow won’t have too negative effect on the wildlife and the birds benefit from my handouts.