Thursday 12 February 2015

WINTER HOLDING ON AS WEATHER STAGNATES

No major news from the garden wildlife this week as the winter weather takes a rather mundane turn.

Fog has gripped the garden for a couple of nights and the day time temperatures have struggled to rise above a few degrees Celsius.

This has led to a flurry of visitors and the large flock of sparrows making an increased number of appearances.

A pair of blue tits has been spotted getting cosy with each other, with other notable pairings of robin, great tit and dunnock also showing signs of togetherness ahead of the spring breeding season.

The female house sparrow is still roosting in the original tit nest box and has added a little bit of material (mainly dried grass) to the bottom of the nest box.

Nest building is definitely on hold, but at least the extra few bits give a little more insulation against the cold.

Unfortunately with the huge increase in cats in the area, mainly thanks to two small houses having eight cats between them, the birds are regularly heard giving out warning calls.

I’ve had to chase a cat out of our garden at least once a day recently, although I’m hoping my scare tactics will soon deter them from coming in our garden, stalking the feeders and defecating in the borders.

If I wanted that to happen I’d get a cat! Rant over and back to watching the wildlife flourish when spring arrives and seeing new arrivals on the nest box cameras.

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