SPRING SUNSHINE LIGHTS UP MARCH

The glow of spring sunshine is becoming a frequent image when I look out of the car, house or office.

The warmth isn't quite there yet, although in sheltered spots with little wind you can get an idea of what it'll be like in a few weeks. The daffodils are loving it though

But the blossom on some of the trees is a beautiful light pink colour, reflected brilliantly be the low sun.

Birds are obviously getting excited about the arrival of spring, with the dawn chorus a cacophony of sounds claiming territories and demonstrations of masculinity by many of our male feathered friends.

My excitement levels have reached unprecedented levels this week, not because of the sunshine or dawn chorus tunes, but by the emergence of a new TV star in my house!

Two weeks ago I fitted the nestbox, that has been used every year since I put it up, with a tiny camera that feeds live images 24-7 into a channel on my TV.

With four nestboxes I've trusted that the one I've chosen will be used again this year and provide some great shots of a family of great or blue tits growing up.

It still needs adjustment to the focus and wiring route, but it works and, it's what I've waited patiently for since 2007.

I checked it every night for five days, then left it over a weekend. On Sunday night I sneaked a view while Sarah wasn't looking and mush to my amazement, a bird was snuggled up in there!

In the last week I've checked every night and the same looking bird has spent the night in the box, only once giving me a clue to its identity. I think it's a great tit, but will confirm soon.

I want to leave it and get it settled so it knows the nestbox is a safe place to bring up a family, then one day soon it might start building a nest.

In other news the dunnocks are busy flirting with their fluttery wings, while the robins seem to have established which parts of the area they'll be 'owning' this year, after seemingly sharing some parts during the cold, ice and snowy conditions.

The blue tits, blackbirds, chaffinches, goldfinches, tree sparrows, long tailed tits and wrens are all in our garden daily, with frequent visits from a great spotted woodpecker, jays, woodpigeons and the resident cock pheasant.

This weekend I'm making final checks on my nestboxes before keeping my fingers crossed at least three of the four are used.

The pond will also be given a makeover, to help any returning frogs to spawn.

SPRING IS COMING

With daffodils emerging and snowdrops appearing everywhere, we can only assume spring is in the air.

I know it was a bit cold last night, but frosts can be expected until April at least.

So my Blue Tit blog is starting again with an added extra - a bird box camera. My partner Sarah bought me the camera system for Christmas but it's taken me a while to have the time to set it up.

Only thing I'm now waiting for is the extension lead to fit the camera to the bird box that has been occupied since I put it up in January 2008.

In 2008 and 2009 a pair of blue tits brought up five and six youngsters respectively, whether it was the same pair I just don't know.

In 2010 the blue tits were usurped by the great tits, who brought up six chicks. The blue tits moved next door to a cavity in the wall left by an outlet pipe.

One amazing evening with golden sunlight lighting the garden, both sets of chicks started to fledge within minutes of me arriving home from work. Three hours later I'd watched them fledge, find their wings in the nearby trees and fly off with their parents.

I have four nest boxes now in the garden, and in 2010 a pair of robins nested in the open-fronted box hidden in the honeysuckle. Will they come back this year? I hope so.

I've kept the birds with food during the winter and now have the usual suspects of blue, great and long tailed tits, robins, blackbirds, dunnocks, tree sparrows, chaffinches and goldfinches along with the now regular jays and great spotted woodpeckers. The wrens are still around, but more irregular.

I'm checking the nestboxes for roosting activity next weekend, then clearing anything out ready for the 2011 spring and summer residents. Fingers crossed they arrive!

EXCITING UPDATE

With the snow and cold weather still affecting my tits and all the other birds that visit my garden, I'll be introducing a new way of monitoring activity in my nestboxes.

My partner, Sarah, bought my a wireless camera for Christmas, which means if one of my nestboxes is used this year, I'll have a separate TV channel to view their activity and any chicks they have.

This weekend I'll be fixing the camera up so stay tuned for the first pictures - if I can make it work!

In the meantime my feathered friends are busily eating through my supplies of fat balls, suet snacks, supreme bird seed and peanuts.

Among the visitors to my garden are blue tit, great tit, blackbird, robin, great spotted woodpecker, jay, dunnock, long tailed tit, chaffinch, woodpigeon, starling, wren and tree sparrow.

A SURPRISE VISITOR

So we did have a summer this year, it was in May and June. July and August must be the new autumn!

The warm weather helped to give some wildlife better conditions to raise their young, but it then became too dry as all wildlife need water.

One of the major worries was the pond behind our house. It’s been home to coots, moorhens, reed beds with various insects, fish and a number of ducks. This is despite its relatively small size.

Unfortunately the farmer who owns the pond used almost all of its water to spray on his crops. While this is understandable, the system that was used had more leaks than a Wales farmer’s market or all the country’s water firms put together!

I noticed on a number of occasions the birds floating on what was left of the pond looking very confused with what had happened.

Since the rain started the pond has filled up thanks to an incoming small stream, but is now almost breaching the ‘dam’ wall at one end. It’s at the highest level I’ve seen in three years.

Unfortunately most of the wildlife will have either perished or found somewhere else to live/breed.

My pond is still teeming with life as the number of frogs increasing and tadpoles decrease. I’m not sure how many will survive the first year of life but I hope some will return to spawn when the time is right.

The garden is now in full bloom after and very well watered. The flowers and various plants, bushes and crops have attracted all sorts of insects, butterflies, and moths.

It’s fantastic to see so many of these creatures making our garden sufficiently interesting for them to visit, feed and breed.

This of course attracts birds and we’ve had frequent visits from the blue tits and great tits youngsters born in and around the garden.

One noticeable sight is the amount of goldfinches, swallows and swifts flying overhead or nearby feeding on the wing or in the surrounding fields and bushes.

But, the most exciting moment came when I noticed a bird I’ve never seen before was spotted nearby. It must live within 200m of our house as I’ve spotted it on numerous occasions observing the scene from the same lookout post.

The bird in questions is a little owl and we feel extremely grateful to be able to share our neighbourhood with us.

I first noticed it when a blackbird was issuing an alarm call in a field adjacent to our house. As it was still light I investigated what was bothering it and watched a similar sized bird fly up to a telegraph pole. I then noticed it on the same pole in the subsequent days and was able to identify it.

With a new arrival in our house due any day, updates may become infrequent as Sarah and I become enthusiastic parents! Hopefully we’ll do as well as our local wildlife.

THE CHICKS ARE BACK

I say the chicks (blue tits) are back, but obviously not in the nestbox, just visiting the garden for the titbits on offer.

I'm hoping they take a liking to any insects that eat any of my vegetables or roses!

It's been a quiet few weeks since the blue tit, great tit and blackbird chicks fledged, but the skies have been taken over by the swallow fledglings, with their enchanting summer song both on the wing and at rest on the telephone wires.

When they first fledged the swallow youngsters would sit on the edge of our roof calling for the parents to feed them.

But in the last few days the birds have been through their moult and are starting to return to the garden for food and maybe a glimpse of where they grew up.

The pond has suffered with the hot dry weather and I've been forced to add water to it. Luckily many of the tadpoles are now little frogs and are often seen resting on the edge of the pond and even exploring the surrounding rockery.

I'm hoping they utilise the pond from now on when required, especially as the big pond behind the house is almost empty after the farmer has continually drained it to feed crops.

What's most concerning about this pond is it's been designated a wildlife conservation area. So the draining of it makes a mockery of what it is there for in the first place.

THE MIRACLE OF FLEDGING

As spring turns into summer (not judging by the weather!), the circle of life is once again asking for auditions to join the big wide world.

The first from our garden to join was the robin family. I've not seen the chicks since their fledging in April/May, but I'm hopeful they'll be back soon after exploring the local neighbourhood.

I've been leaving the birds mealworms since April, to help supplement the diet of caterpillars and other tit bits provided to their young.

The main benefits have been the great tits in our garden and the blue tits in next doors. I still feel the blue tits are our family, as they only moved next door after the great tits took over 'their' nestbox.

Anyway the blue tit and great tit chicks were flapping their wings and chirping away for over a week, leading me to think they didn't want to leave the nest.

I came home about 8pm from work one night this week and witnessed a chick fledging bonanza. Two blue tit chicks were in the garden calling for food from their parents, while the great tit chicks were playing hide and seek with me in the hole of the nestbox - see video below.

With several cats lurking I managed to rescue both blue tit chicks and put them in the relative safety of the honeysuckle bush, while also watching the great tit chicks take it in turns to fledge or stay in the nestbox.

I watched from the lounge window as the blue tit parents then fed the youngsters, but grew anxious as the smaller chick failed to follow the others into a nearby tree.

With my mealworm handouts the parents of both blue and great tit chicks fed their fledglings in the same tree, while I waited to see if the smaller one's chirps would be heard and rewarded with a feed.

After a while it was obvious I had to intervene, so with careful hands I scooped the blue tit chick and placed it as high as possible in the tree its siblings were being fed in. With Springwatch on record, I was able to watch as the parents eventually recognised their offspring and began feeding it.

Meanwhile the great tit chicks had eventually all fledged (6 in all), although a little help from the parents tempting them with food was required.

I continued to watch the blue tits feeding their chicks, while the great tits seemed to have flown to another tree in the field next door to our house. Just as dusk was falling the rescued blue tit chick tried to fly further up but didn't quite make it, landing on the ground nearby.

This was when fate intervened in a way I find very unkind. One of the lurking cats must have been watching this fledging and feeding frenzy from closer than I thought, and pounced on the chick before rushing off.

I immediately raced after it and was joined in my pursuit by two blackbirds, a blue tit parent and several tree sparrows. Goodness knows what the neighbours thought!

Unfortunately the cat escaped my clutches and the blue tit parents had lost one of their offspring. I cruel blow after such tenacious and hard work bringing them to fledge.

While I accept nature will also pick off the old and weak, I don't accept domestic cats and their indiscriminate killings of wildlife.

The next morning the dawn chorus including the blue tit and great tit chicks calling for food, so I'm hopeful of them returning to our garden later in the summer.

I was amazed both sets of chicks chose to fledge at the same time, and at the precise moment I came home. It was as if they waited for their 'grandparent' to come home before saying bye and thank you for the food and accommodation.

Last year the blue tits did a similar fledging, waiting for a Saturday and me to be in the garden. I'm really pleased our garden seems to be a favourable place to nest and bring up chicks.

We've been here for three years and have seen two blue tit families, a great tit family and a robin family all successfully bring up chicks in those years. This year was the first time two families were raised on our garden, next year I'm hoping the blue tits come back and we make it three!

Now I must hope the blackbird chicks fledge soon, safely and with wonderful summer weather in which to explore the neighbourhood.

On a final note the tadpoles are now developing legs and should be hopping off in a few weeks time.

TO FLEDGE OR NOT TO FLEDGE?

After my predictions in the last post about the great tit and blue tit chicks fledging, it appears they like the comfort of their nextboxes too much!

Even with my regular mealworm handouts the chicks appear reluctant to enter the big wide world around our house.

The parents appear grateful of the handouts, as do the blackbird parents, while the robin makes occasional visits. The robins and their fledglings are probably busy exploring the neighbourhood so are rarely seen at the moment.

We're now able to eat, sit and work in the garden without causing any disturbance to the birds. We can be within two feet of the birds and nestboxes without any problem.

Indeed within seconds of me putting mealworms out both great tit and blue tit parents are feeding away.

The garden is now blooming lovely, no pun intended, and I'll be providing images of this in my next blog.

Dunnock and goldfinch parents are regularly seen feeding in our garden, while the dunnock chicks appear to have just fledged and making trips too, begging their parents for food!

The pond is thriving, along with the tadpoles, snails and other creatures living in and around it.

Only a few tadpoles appear to be growing legs, but those are in the early stages. I'm hoping to see fully formed frogs in early July.

Today I'll be carrying out a survey to see how many types of wildlife come into our garden for the RSPB. It only takes an hour and the results can be filled in online. Go to www.rspb.org.uk/naturecount to do yours.

Finally I was away from my office at Connect PR yesterday when news came through of a fledgling great tit flying through an open window. My colleagues donned their wildlife caps and ensured the bird was soon free and exploring outside the building, rather than tweeting with everyone.