NOT MUCH FESTIVE SPIRIT FROM THE LOCAL CATS

The Christmas apples left in the garden have been largely untouched, which means the local birds are either finding food not too hard to come by.

The fat snacks are going down quite well, but the ones in the garden are going much slower than the ones in the trees opposite the garden.

I have noticed a couple of cats skulking nearby recently and I think this is putting the birds of coming into the garden and feeding.

It’s time the cat scaring patrols were stepped up, because living in the countryside is all about immersing in the wildlife and way of life, not having too many local domestic cats ruining it for you and the wildlife.

My feeling on domestic cats are well known; I don’t hate them, but I hate what they do to our local wildlife.

In other news Christmas brought the garden a new abode – a ladybird hotel.

This has been located in one of the only available places in the garden that’s suitable and will hopefully provide a good place for ladybirds and other insects to shelter.

However, given the amount of wildlife friendly devices in the garden and the loitering cats reducing visits, I think it’s time I found a new bigger garden to maintain as a wildlife haven.

CHRISTMAS CALM?

As we head towards Christmas and festive celebrations, there’s been another exciting development for the garden wildlife.

There’s been another new bird seen flying through the garden, a quick flash of blue and it was gone – a kingfisher.

Now the pond (small that is was) has long gone, but there is a small stream next to the garden which has small fish in, plus a pond nearby.

Whether it’s fishing in either or both is unknown, but it must be in the area for some reason and feeding seems the reasonable explanation.

It’s only been seen once, so there will be numerous eyes watching over the coming weeks for a winter flash of blue flying by.

Not much else to report, apart from the garden birds making use of the free handouts, particularly in the recent really cold snap.

Will the mild weather continue over Christmas and into 2018, or will winter have a dastardly plan for the weather?

Time will tell, but the local birds, and small mammals will be well catered for as their winter food supplies remain sparse.

READY FOR WINTER?

In a couple of weeks’ time I’ll look back at the year in images, charting the garden and house through the seasons.

This is something that’s featured on this blog for a couple of years now and it’s interesting to see the differences between each year.

By the time the reflection post comes on, it may well include an image or two with snow in; highly doubtful given the low height above sea level the garden is.

There’s not been much activity around the garden, aside from the usual visitors of blue tits, robins, house sparrows and dunnocks.

Not many blackbirds have been seen and other birds are still to regularly visit the garden during this early period of winter.

However, one bird that has flirted with the garden is the redwing.

In flocks of less than 20, they’ve visited the areas around the garden on a couple of occasions, but stay mainly up the lane in bigger bushes and trees that offer more shelter and more berries!

One exciting development was earlier this week, with the brief sighting of a barn owl next to the garden.

It appeared against the light of next door’s outside light and is the first one I’ve seen in about seven or eight years.

This news takes into context the seemingly reduction on cats in neighbouring houses and, though while still too numerous, the sighting of the owl is hopefully a good sign about natural prey for the barn and tawny owls, which had not been seen or heard around the garden for a number of years.

Let’s hope the local little owl population comes back too!

THE ANNUAL NEST BOX CLEAN OUT

It’s the time of year when the seven nest boxes in the garden are cleaned in preparation for any winter roosting, and ahead of the breeding season next year.

This exercise also gives an opportunity to see exactly what has been constructed, in which nest boxes (only two have cameras) and what evidence can be found to suggest which birds occupied them.

As per usual the original nest box was occupied by blue tits (because they were seen fledging), and no leftover eggs or chicks were found, meaning all eggs successfully hatched and all chicks fledged.

In the other three single nest boxes, there hadn’t been any nesting carried out. Two are open fronted and are located in now dense honeysuckle and ivy.

The other has a camera and this has seemingly put any birds off nesting in there this year – however it’s the first year it was up so fingers crossed for 2018.

In the triple next box, all sections had nests. One was definitely used by house sparrows, however the other two had similar nests, but one more clue was a bit puzzling.

Two of the nests each had one egg, which appear to be blue tit eggs, as you can see below.

This leads to three potential theories.

1 – The house sparrows only occupied one box and blue tits nested in the other two – presumably after the house sparrows

2 – Blue tits nested on one box, laid an egg were put off by the house sparrows so moved next door, laid an egg, but moved out because of the house sparrows

3 – The blue tits nested after the house sparrows left, and either successfully fledged (with one egg being dud in each box) or parent(s) were killed by local cats/birds of prey

However, we’ll never know and can only hope that we’ll get to see some of this year’s fledglings back in the garden next year.

WINTER IS ON ITS WAY, AS AUTUMNAL FROSTS ARRIVE

The garden has already seen a couple of frosts this year, but the influx of birds has yet to appear.

The garden feeders are being utilised, mainly by a few blue tits, the odd robin and great tits. Other birds are appearing infrequently.

One exciting development recently has been the appearance of a male sparrowhawk.

It was spotted on top of an outbuilding next to the house, and it appeared to be gathering itself after a failed hunt.

It look inexperienced so likely one that was born this year, but there’s hope in the house that it’ll keep making appearances in the future.

Of course that might mean negative news for the smaller garden birds, however it does mean there is a depth to the food chain in the area, with the top predator not being cats!

The next job in the garden is to clean out the nest boxes and make them ready for winter roosting. Checking the cameras are still operating will also be part of the process.

The flora in the garden has gained a new lease of live, with a large lily flowering, along with the rose bush.

The rose bush flowered in every month last year, and has done the same this year, proving it can withstand the rigours of all seasons.

It also means there’s a food source for any insects still hanging around before winter, and for those that appear early in spring on warmer days.

Once again the signs of lack of food in the surrounding countryside is likely to be signalled by the arrival of long tailed tits at the garden feeders, although there’s sadly little hope for any waxwings, redwings or other winter visitors given the history of not appearing.