WILL THE WINTER VISITORS NOW FLOCK IN TO THE GARDEN?

Now that winter has started to show it can bring cold weather, there is an increased hope that a few traditional birds will visit the garden feeders and berries still present on the pyracantha bush

While the garden hasn’t seen any frost or snow, the general temperature has been noticeably dropping in the last couple of days and it won’t be long before a carpet of whiteness will layer the land.

It will hopefully bring more birds, and perhaps mammals, to the food on offer and with it potential closer encounters with the local predators – kestrel, sparrowhawk and even the peregrine falcons that live nearby.

Due to unforeseen circumstances the new nest box was unable to be erected, but it will be in the next couple of weeks.

And because of the increased roof space it’ll be able to better accommodate the second camera that has been putting off nesting birds in the triple sparrow nest box.

It is definitely putting off nesting birds because the other two boxes have been used in the two summers it’s been erected.

I knew one was used in the summer last year, but while cleaning them in the last couple of days I found the two without a camera had been used (see below).

Sadly the bird box that has been used by house sparrows, blue tits, great tits and tree sparrows, had five dead sparrows in it (see below).

The positive news was that it was the sixth brood from last summer so between 20 and 30 new house sparrows were brought in to the local population from that nest box.

In the eight years since it was put up there have been an estimated 150+ birds fledging from that nest box, something which is not bad for a small(ish) rural garden.

BIRDS ARE NOW USING THE GARDEN FEEDERS

There has been a rise in the number of small birds visiting the garden and this must be down to a combination of cooler weather and the decreasing amount of natural food resources left in the countryside.

Of course it’s still very wet, but colder overnight temperatures mean the need to conserve energy by locating a good food source and staying close to it.

Unfortunately the weather isn’t cold enough to see some of the more infrequent visitors to the garden – so no long tailed tits, redwing, fieldfare etc.

Instead it’s the more year round visitors in house sparrows, tree sparrows, blue tits, great tits, blackbirds, robins and dunnocks.

It’s great to see these birds in the garden and I hope some will once again utilise the nest boxes in the garden or even the natural resources.

I’d just finished writing this post when a family of long tailed tits flew into the garden, spending about 20 minutes feeding and chattering. A lovely winter (or any other time) sight in the garden.

One of the jobs during winter is to clean out the nest boxes to make them a lot more hygienic for the birds – and provide them with something they can build something in rather than have a ready built nest from last year which is likely to contact bugs and even parasites.

It also gives a chance to look at how well the nests have been made and see just how many have been occupied.

In 2014 it was the tree and house sparrows that dominated the boxes, but this year I’m hoping to see at least one pair of blue tits or great tits nesting in the garden nest boxes.

The biggest clue will be when the winter overnight roosting takes place, which will need the weather to get a bit colder.

Until then the feeders will need to be topped up and wait for winter to bring its worst. I hope that’s soon so the midges and little flies that are plaguing the garden will be put out of action.