Sunday 25 October 2015

A SLOW START TO AUTUMN


It’s definitely autumn, but someone might remind the season itself as the usually autumnal weather isn’t really taking affect.

The worms in the garden are finding the leaves blown to the ground, on the odd windy day, quite useful, but we’re nearly in November and the traditional conditions of strong winds and heavy rain have stayed away.

It does mean that while the summer visitors (swifts, swallows and house martins etc.) have long gone, the autumnal migrants – both to the UK and the garden – are not exactly here in big numbers.

Perhaps the new series of BBC’s Autumnwatch will herald the arrival of normal autumnal weather.

The garden is looking fairly bare in terms of bird numbers and variety; even the blackbirds, robins and tits (great and blue) are infrequently seen.

The house and tree sparrows are hardly in the garden at all, which has all meant the bird feeders do not have to be topped up very often.

Snow and ice are ‘predicted’ by some weather forecasters, but this seems to be the case every year.

If it does come true (that’s a very big IF) then the garden and the feeders could see the odd unusual visitor.

Three birds are on the list to be seen this winter – long tailed tit, redwing and fieldfare. The former usually visits in flocks every winter, but the other two have never been seen in the garden.

They have been spotted nearby, so this year there will be some keen eyes focused on the red berries and fat snacks, just in case.

Finally, Spike the hedgehog has still not been spotted, although it’s too early to put up ‘dead or alive’ posters.

Sunday 11 October 2015

IS AUTUMN REMINISCING ABOUT SUMMER?

The swifts, swallows and house martins have all gone long since, but autumn appears to be still holding a candle for summer; well it certainly feels like that with the recent warm weather

Ok, so the sunny days have been replaced by the occasional cool night, but it’s still good to see the sun, rather than the wind and rain we usually associate with autumn.

I know, it’ll be wet and windy soon enough, but for now let’s be happy with the current conditions.

In the garden it’s a similar theme, with birds stalling in their feeding habits, preferring the open countryside and hedgerows, to the comforts of garden hand-outs.

The garden has mainly seen small flocks of house sparrows, with the occasional tree sparrow, great tit, blue tit and dunnock present at the fat snack and peanut feeder.

But in general these visits are frequent or for very long, with robins, blackbirds and magpies hardly ever seen.

The garden will only become a ‘real’ food station when it is visited by a flock of long tailed tits, and not one had been seen since very early in the year.

The food supplies are now stocked up, so when colder weather does hit and the birds come calling, there will be plenty to go around.

Until then I’m sure everyone is happy with the current climate.

Saturday 3 October 2015

SUNSHINE IS BACK, BUT WITH IT COOL MISTY MORNINGS

If only this sunny and settled weather had happened a few weeks ago we’d have all been basking in some late summer warmth, instead we’re left with cool and misty mornings, warm(ish) days and cool nights.

The sort in Indian summer has meant visitors to the garden have been rare this week, as the small birds seem to be finding plenty of food out in the countryside.

I have seen small flocks of house sparrows, the odd tree sparrow and some great tits and blue tits, but not much else.

They are taking some of the food I’m leaving out, but not much.

The explosion of crane flies has seemingly come to an end, as I’ve not seen any for quite a few days.

But what has exploded has been the number of very large house spiders shooting across the floor, seemingly chasing each other.

I know this happens most years, but this year there seems to be a huge amount of them and they all seem very amorous!

The cooler nights has obviously indicated to them that the best chance of creating the next generation is to congregate in the warmth of our house.

When one landed on my shoulder after jumping 15ft from the ceiling, it was the last straw and that night saw ‘evictions’ of these spiders reach double figures.

I had hoped the masses of bright red berries on the pyracantha would attract fieldfares and redwing, but no such luck so far, and I expect that my wait might not be rewarded this year.

Perhaps next year when the bush has grown in size again it’ll help provide a bigger attraction for passing migrants.