CHRISTMAS LOCKDOWN MEANT LESS VIEWING TIME FOR WILDLIFE

So, Christmas 2020 and the start of 2021 went well didn’t it…

With all plans out of the window and the focus on making sure the family and kids had fun, it meant time writing the blog took a back seat for a few weeks.

Introducing a video element will take place, but only when we’re in a new pattern for the current lockdown.

Before Christmas, I finally put up a bat box on the side of the house, in probably the only space not occupied by a bird box – more on the latter shortly.

While we do have bats down the lane and sometimes seen around the house, I’m not sure it’ll be an instant hit or even be found by the bats.

Perhaps nearer the summer this year will give a proper indication as to whether it’s useful or not.

I took a thirty minute window between Christmas and New Year to remove any old nests from the nest boxes, to see how many nests were built in the garden and how successful they were.

I knew the robins were successful at the third attempt, the great tits had one nest fledge and the goldfinches too, but was there any surprises?

Well yes and no. The robin nests were discovered, well the two nests that weren’t attacked and robbed by the magpies.

They did use the next box in the ivy, but I don’t know if this was the one that was unsuccessful around the start of the first Lockdown at the start of April, or whether it was the third and successful nest in the ivy.

As there were no eggs or ‘unfledged’ dead chicks in the nest found in the nest box, I can only say with 50% certainty that the nest box was successfully used.

The higher up single nest box in the ivy also had a nest in, but I can’t say again for certain if this was used fully or successfully.

The nest wasn’t really fully formed and if it was used then it can only have been by the robins.

The usual nest box was used by great tits and successfully, albeit one chick didn’t make it; you can see the skeletal remains if you look closely at the nest.

As the cameras are now definitely not working, I’m looking at investing in a new camera for one nest box although the uncertainty of the current lockdown might put that investment back a couple of weeks.

One final note is the return of the blackbirds to the garden, primarily because of the apple cores and other fruit left out for them.

They have demolished an apple a day over the last week, so their doctor must be happy!

AUTUMN STARTS AND THE NIGHTS DRAW IN, BUT IS THE WILDLIFE UNDER COVID-19 RESTRICTIONS?

Not much action in the last couple of weeks in the garden, as we head to the end of British Summer Time. 

A few garden birds are spending a little time in the garden, but only to make use of the fat snacks and peanuts on offer. 

House sparrows, blue tits and great tits are seen most days, with robins were seen and heard a couple of times a week. 

The weather was getting much cooler, but a warm spell this week encouraged plenty of insects to be out and about, albeit without any sightings of bats in the quickly darkening evenings. 

The hedgehogs haven’t been sighted for a couple of weeks, while there’s been plenty of sightings of slugs and snails around the garden, particularly in the evenings. 

Late at night and overnight, with windows open, the sounds of foxes, badgers and owls have been heard. 

While not very often it does show that these animals are still active around the area, even if it’s not as often as previously. 

With the nights closing in fast, we’re once again on fox and badger watch, when returning with the girls from evening gymnastics training sessions. 

One day they’ll see one, even if the times I’ve seen them at night, which has been few times in the last few years, they’ve either been asleep or not in the car. 

So, with summertime ending and Covid-19 restrictions in place, I hope the wildlife can bring us all some joy and be active around the garden more often than in previous years. 

It’ll definitely be helpful during what is likely to be a digital Christmas and we are confined to our home throughout the holiday period.

ARE THE NEST BOXES BECOMING UNHOMELY?

I carried out the annual nest box clean up last weekend, which gives me a chance to confirm which nest boxes were used and see the intricate constructions made by the garden birds.

However, this year only one of the nest boxes was used, with six others left alone.

The triple sparrow box had no signs of nesting at all, even though we did have lots of house sparrows around and they did nest in the area, just not using man-made boxes.

They have used the triple nest box before, but maybe something spooked them, so they decided on a different venue.

The house sparrows are still spending time in the garden, gathering food from the feeders, so perhaps they’ll nest this year.

The two open nest boxes, located about five feet off the floor and in dense foliage, were unoccupied too, but the robins have been territorially signing since before Christmas, so perhaps they’ll nest again in those boxes.

The recently introduced small bird one wasn’t used again, so I’ve changed the front on it, with a smaller blue tit sized hole, to see if that makes a difference.

The original nest box, ‘old faithful’ was once again used, this time by a pair of blue tits who created this nest.

I think this was the twelfth consecutive year it’s been used, by a wide variety of birds, and it’s never been unused since I put it up on 2008.

The camera in it isn’t working, so and investment in a new camera is looking likely.

Away from the nest boxes the local flock of long tailed tits has started to make daily visits to the garden, so food around the area must be scarce.

I always love to see them visiting, even if the regular blue tits, great tits and house sparrows aren’t always as impressed.

This time ten years ago we had lots of snow, but I very much doubt we’ll see any this year, or even a hard frost of two.

Indeed the fruit tree is already showing buds, which might be a problem if we get a cold snap – and we definitely need a cold snap to ensure breeding season isn’t affected by too many germs knocking around.

CHRISTMAS CHILL CAME NOT THIS YEAR

Christmas has come and gone, and I missed the opportunity to update this blog due to work, pre-Christmas activity and then being struck down by flu.

I do, however, still manage to ensure the birds were fed, as often as possible, although they probably didn’t need as much support compared to previous Christmas’, mainly due to it being fairly mild.

So mild in some parts of the UK that we in Scotland it reached a low of almost 17c, AT NIGHT. While it’s not unusual for us to get the temperature in December, it’s certainly unusual for it to happen at night, as this BBC report explains.

Nothing much has happened in the garden over the last few weeks, although the relatively benign conditions are probably one of the reasons why the flu bug is has been creating havoc!

The wildlife has benefited in that natural death rates at night will be low and food will be fairly easy to find, with water also not a problem.

I’ll be clearing out the nest boxes in the next week or so, before I decide whether to hook up new cameras – I might just get one new one for the original nest box.

Over the first few weeks of 2020, I’ll reflect on 2019 and how the garden changes, so be prepared for some images.

It’ll give the weather time to get cold and bring us some snow, good for killing bugs and helping the next breeding season avoid too much death through little bugs.

FROSTS BITE HARD AS WINTER DARKNESS CLOSES IN

The first hard frosts since February hit the garden recently, although one bird has been very vocal during the cold spell.

Walking around the garden and down the lanes around the house, I’ve listened and seen a number of robins defending their territories.

The robin, whose territory includes my garden, has been very vocal recently, and it only needs me to be in the garden for a matter of minutes before he’s close by, hoping to catch a quick and easy meal via my presence.

Life in the garden is definitely tough at the moment; the leaves have fallen from the trees (apart from the evergreens), the ivy has stopped growing and the food in the bird feeders is reducing quicker than any time in the last eight months.

I’ve spent some time walking up and down the lane recently, and there’s often a flock of redwings and fieldfares knocking around, sometimes with blackbirds on the outskirts of the group.

It’s great to see birds that are not around in the summer, the winter equivalent of our summer swallows – albeit I slightly favour the swallows!

One thing that has surprised me is the strawberry plant producing fruit (only two though) in the last week.

Each strawberry was not quite fully red, and didn’t look particularly appetising or edible, but it shows the capacity of the plant to produce in the colder months.

As we head towards Christmas, the darkest days of the year approach, so the wildlife will be paying particular focus on the weather conditions, as will us humans.