A REVIEW OF 2019 - PART 1/4

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

This is the first of four posts that will charter the changing view of the garden, starting with January to March.

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

MARCH

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.

WINTER STORMS BLAST THROUGH THE GARDEN

In the last post it mentioned ‘non-stormy winter’, well that certainly isn’t true now! A pretty ferocious storm has passed and another one, with less ferociousness, is currently running across most of the UK.

The first one had a big impact on the garden and surrounding area, with trees down, bushes bent over and one of the birds feeders being blown into oblivion – never to be seen again.

Three others survived in situ and have been a welcome supply of food for the birds after they had to spend many hours hunkered down away from the wind and rain.

The two nest box cameras are working, albeit only one is able to translate night images, but both have revealed no activity at all, which is very unusual for this late in February.

One nest box designed for tits, which has never been used, has been redesigned to suit robins, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that one of the locally resident birds use it.

It’s been semi covered with rose and ivy, so time will tell if that’s enough cover for them.

The blossom on the trees that emerged last week following the mild weather has been scattered over a wide area, so it may mean a depleted crop of fruit this year.

Cats are still a big problem and I wonder if them being in our garden is making the birds nervous and causing them to look for nest sites elsewhere.

The cat patrol has been stepped up and all cats near the garden are being firmly chased away.

Will it work? The birds will benefit if it does.

WINTER SHOWING ITS TEETH

This week has been cold, mainly overcast, with the odd small snow flurry. Typical February really, allowing winter to demonstrate it’s his season and warmth is something that only March can start to have.

The good thing for wildlife watchers is it gives you chance to attract wildlife by providing food, then sitting back and enjoying the show.

My fat snacks, peanuts and seed mix have all been enjoyed by a wide variety of small birds during the day, while I’m sure the local vole and mice population has taken the free hand-outs dropped by the birds during the hours of darkness.

Once again the main birds on show have been the three tits – great, blue and long tailed – while the flock of house sparrows has been joined by a small one of chaffinches.

The blackbirds and robins have also been making the most of the food, while a few dunnocks are also about regularly.

I’ve not seen many magpies or jays, so can only assume I’ve either missed them or they come when I’m not at home.

What I did see today was the greater spotted woodpecker, which is good news as I thought the resident one had long gone. It scared the other little birds from one of the fat snack feeders and gorged for a few minutes before one of the many resident cats spooked it and other birds to flee.

As the nights become lighter I’m looking forward to seeing more action around the garden, although it looks increasingly like I won’t be seeing anything inside one of my nest boxes.

I’ve been trying to fix the problem – and find it – for a few weeks now and I think it’s a problem with the antenna from the camera to my remote receiver by the TV.

The final chance is if an engineer at the place it was bought will be able to help when I call later this week.

Keep your fingers crossed there is a solution and we can all see some nest box action this spring.