THE NESTBOX CAMERA IS BACK - WITH EXCITING NEWS

The cold weather looks like abating after this weekend, with milder conditions set to take hold.

It’s good news for the wildlife that has survived the cold snap, but I’m sure there’ll be a few more before winter it out.

Before I get on to the big news from my garden, the signs of spring are certainly showing with numerous bulbs showing.

I’ll use images to showcase the change in one area of the garden’s flowerbed, to see which bulbs come up first and how quickly they do so.

OK, the nestbox camera that was cut off just as the first nest was being built last year, IS BACK.

I fitted a new cable this week and already there has been some action. When I inspected the nestbox last week it had bird droppings in it, so I knew some roosting had been occurring.

When the camera went live a female house sparrow roosted in for the night and today, just two days after it went live again, it started nest building with a male house sparrow.

 

 

 

I also noticed that a pair of tree sparrows is now paying close attention to one of the three boxes in the sparrow nestbox, but nothing has gone into the one with the camera in it.

 

There appears to have been something occurring inside the nestbox during the winter, but I’m not confident that a nest will appear.

Perhaps we’ll have a nearly completed nest by next week, which will be much earlier than last year.

Finally, today I took part in the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch. Nothing too unusual although the female great spotted woodpecker did put in an appearance.

 

BIG GARDEN BIRDWATCH

This weekend has been the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch and once again my garden birds have put in an appearance all in one go.

It was an early start and as I’d filled the peanut, fat snack and seed bird feeders the previous night the birds flocked in.

Blackbirds, robins and dunnocks were early visitors, while the great spotted woodpecker did cause a few birds to depart quickly when he arrived at the peanut feeder.

As they are a rather skittish bird he wasn’t around for long and soon the blue tits, great tits and others started to feed again.

Then came in the long tailed tits, a group of over 12, who enjoyed feasting on the fat snacks and peanuts. At one point the fat snack feeder was covered with six, before a robin came along and bossed them off it.

I checked with last year and the amount of birds I spotted was about the same, which is good news for the local population. Whether it’s the same for the rest of the country is something the RSPB will hopefully be able to show thank to people taking part in this survey.

In other news the garage robin is now confident enough to venture all the way into the garage and to the back where I have all my bird food. He/she was feeding from the fat snack feeder that I’d just filled and placed within a foot of me.

I think one day soon I’ll be able to feed this bird from my hand.

I’ve still not fixed the bird camera to the sparrow nestbox, but hopefully I’ll get time next week.

The current nestbox camera hasn’t revealed overnight roosting for any birds just yet, but with cold weather forecast in the coming weeks, it might not be too long before it welcomes a guest or two.

BIRDWATCH 2013 BRING SURPRISE VISITOR

After the wildlife in and around my garden spent the last few weeks dealing with the cold, frosty and often snowy weather, this weekend brought a whole new set of meteorological setting for them.

The snow melt and heavy rain has led to lots of flooding, but also an opportunity as temperatures rise and a host of flying insects took to the air.

Looking at the week ahead would suggest that the weather will be windy and fairly wet, offering not much comfort for those insects. The good news is those insects are about and hiding when the weather is cold.

I carried out the RSPB’s 2013 Birdwatch survey this weekend and it was good to see plenty of the birds I usually see coming along for me to officially count.

Three types of tits – great, blue and long-tailed – along with jays, blackbirds, wrens, tree and house sparrows, dunnocks, chaffinches, robins and a lovely surprise in a female bullfinch.

This survey is important and I had help from my young daughter who was very excited seeing the robins and blackbirds.

The blackbirds are a couple and she now calls them Mr and Mrs, well after I’d tried to tell her the colouring differences between male and female. Perhaps I’ll leave that again for another day!

Watching the female bullfinch was a nice surprise and while I’ve seen bullfinches before in my garden, their visits are rare.

One sight that is rare in the summer and not much more common in the other seasons is the long tailed tit.

In winter I often see a flock of them hanging from all sorts of angles in the trees, chattering to each other before one, and then the rest descend on my feeders – mainly the peanut ones.

The flock numbers about ten and during the last few days they’ve been seen every day.

So will the change in weather bring any more exciting visitors, or perhaps more indications that thoughts of the birds and other wildlife are turning to the breeding season.

I’m now going to try and fix the nestbox camera and see which if the tits will be first to claim it for their own this year.

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.