A REVIEW OF 2019 - PART 4/4

At this time every year I take a look back at how the garden changed during the year.

This is the final of four posts that have chartered the changing view of the garden; October to December, as winter approaches.

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER

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.

SNOW AT CHRISTMAS?

It would appear the title of this blog post would seem unlikely, particularly given the mild start to December.

Of course, things can change in the coldest season, but I suspect the white stuff will stay away until deeper into winter.

The birds have stayed away from the garden mainly, with just the odd visit from a blue or great tit, while the sparrows are visiting quite often to feed on the fat snack or peanuts.

I’ve checked the bird boxes this weekend and surprisingly found only two nests. One in the nest box that’s had nests in it for 11 consecutive springs, while one was also located in the box under the honeysuckle.

The regularly used nest box had blue tits in, and this is, it on the right.

This one was used by a robin family once since 2008, and a robin family used it again this summer. This is how hidden it was in the honeysuckle and here’s the nest in the box itself. The nest outside the box is above, next to the robin one.

I’d noted this earlier on this year, with the local robin pairing spending quite a bit of time in the garden, to recce two of the most unused nest boxes.

The first one they looked at wasn’t used this year and hasn’t been used apart from by a small wasp colony a few years ago.

The surprising find was the triple and new single nest box weren’t used at all, despite the triple one being used for every previous year it has been up.

So, they’ve all had a pre-spring clean, ready for any winter roosting, although with the cameras still not working it might be another bit of guesswork as to whether they will be used as roosting sites.

I do hope the robins use the nest box again this year; and there has been a noticeable presence from one robin recently, including some territory-setting tunes.

With the worst of winter yet to appear, I’m sure the garden will soon start filling up with birds, including the usual winter visiting family of long tailed tits.

HAS SPRING ALREADY SPRUNG? SOME FLORA THINKS SO

Winter continues to be mild, with near record temperatures for December days and nights being recorded across the UK.

The warmth is seemingly keeping many birds away from the garden and the free handouts, because natural food – including insects – is still in plentiful supply.

And the unseasonably mild weather isn’t just affecting the birds, the flora is also confused and seems to think it’s spring already.

The garden is already seeing spring bulbs emerge, while some trees nearby are already starting to blossom. The wild strawberry plant is even producing strawberries and the rose bush has fresh flowers emerging.

Can it continue? The likely answer is no because January and February are the traditional cold months of the year and for the good of nature it’s also good to have a few weeks of really cold weather.

There had been hope of the odd sighting of a fieldfare or redwing in the garden, but even the blue and great tits are not seen as often as usual.

The forecast is for the conditions to be fairly similar over at least the next week, so perhaps it’ll be 2016 before cold (and snow) starts to come to the garden.

Next on the agenda is cleaning out the nest boxes, so when the cold weather does arrive there will be a clean(ish) place for the local small birds to roost in.

In previous years the camera has witnessed roosting blue tits, great tits and house sparrows as early as December, but not this year!

Have a great Christmas and hopefully the next blog will have images of roosting winter birds.

IS WINTER COMING THIS YEAR?

December is already upon us, but we’re yet to see any really cold weather engulf the country.

There is promised to be a short spell of cold weather, not very cold, this weekend, although that is not expected to last too long.

So what affect will this mild-ish start to winter have on our flora and fauna?

Last weekend I saw flowers emerging from one of the garden bushes, which is highly unusual, and I’m wondering if my horse manure and leaf covered borders and rockery will simply give all the bulbs I planted a false warning about spring.

The rose bush that forms a hedge to one part of the garden has also produced flowers in the last week and while most of the trees have dropped their leaves, I do think some of our plants could be hit by the bitter coldness of winter just when they think it’s spring.

This isn’t something I’m concerned about with the birds, although they still aren’t coming in to the garden in large numbers despite plenty of food for them.

The odd blue tit, great tit, robin and blackbird have been seen feeding, but it’s still mainly the house and tree sparrows making use of my feeders.

I’ll soon know when it’s tough for them because the long tailed tits will visit the garden that is when I really know the natural food supply is in short stock.

One bird I’ve seen a lot of recently, although at a distancer in the field next to my garden, is a whimbrel - at least I think it is. I’ve seen it feeding in groups of up to ten for about a week now and intend to get some pictures when I’m here in the daytime and have more time to use the diminishing daylight to get some snaps. I'll also be taking my binoculars to make sure my thoughts are correct.

Until then I’ll keep an eye on the weather forecast and see how long it takes the small birds to flock to my feeders.