A TYPICALLY QUIET AUGUST MADE EXCITED BY A NEW NEST DISCOVERY

With much of the wildlife still seemingly hiding away, it’s been left to a few of the stars of the garden this year to make the headlines, and also one big surprise.

First, the big surprise and it was the discovery of new nest in the garden just last week; a nest from a bird I’ve seen around the garden and lane, but never thought it would nest near the house.

The bird in question is a goldfinch, which has nested near the top of a small bush/tree, about eight feet from the ground and in a fairly precarious place.

I’d been hearing a lot of calling from the goldfinches around the garden in recent weeks, particularly in the last week or so, and looking at the state of the nest I suspect the young had recently fledged.

It’s brilliant that a small garden can provide the right environment for birds to nest, so now the goldfinch can be added to the list of nesting birds in the garden, alongside blue tits, great tits, robins, house sparrows, tree sparrows and blackbirds.

The robin family now appears to be in dispute with one another, as one of the youngsters is seemingly trying to win our garden as part of its territory over one of its parents – I suspect the male.

They have both been seen often in the garden in recent weeks and it would seem it’s quite a good place to have.

Who will triumph in the end? I don’t know but both are quite feisty and friendly in similar doses – friendly to the humans who live here.

Another now regular visitor is the hedgehog, who can be seen, and often heard, most nights.

The hedgehog is leaving regular deposits of poo around the garden too, but is also getting around the neighbours’ houses and is also being provided some food by them.

It looks like the hedgehog has found somewhere it likes, and if collectively we continue to provide the right environment for it, then it’ll hopefully stay.

One of the most important things is allowing free and easy access to all the gardens and making sure the cats and dogs stay away from it.

I think most of the neighbours are excited to see a hedgehog, so hopefully it’ll stick around.

STORM CIARA CLAIMS GARDEN VICTIMS

Storm Ciara, the most ferocious storm to hit the UK in almost a decade took a swipe at the nest boxes, ripping the triple sparrow one from the wall.

It’s not nice seeing things that you’ve taken time and money on, being destroyed so brutally.

However, I think it might be nature’s way of saying that nest box isn’t working for the birds and needs to be moved.

Where it needs to be moved to is another thing, perhaps I’ll wait until we move to a different house – in however many years that is!

The only major other news was that a large tree was blown over in a neighbouring garden, taking out the phone lines and removing the internet and the ability to upload this blog post! The irony.

The long tailed tits are now regulars in the garden, feasting on the peanuts and fat snacks.

I even managed to get within four feet of them to grab this image – it shows that even a bird with various colours can still be well hidden in the garden!

There are three birds in this image, but only one is really visible to the position of the other two.

The blossom on the trees is starting to come out, slightly ahead of last year, but I suspect it’ll be hit hard if (and it’s a big if) we see a cold snap and freezing conditions.

The birds are thinking it’s spring, because there’s plenty of singing going on, and it’ll be interesting to see if they choose one of the nest boxes in the garden.

With the camera systems not working properly, and little time to fix them, I’ll use eyesight to detect presence – which worked ok before cameras were fitted.

WINTER WEATHER INCREASING USE OF GARDEN FEEDERS

Hard frosts and cold days have resulted in the garden birds spending more time around the feeders in the garden.

Long tailed tits are now frequenting the garden, suggesting the natural food source is running low.

A flock of around 15-20 house sparrows spent about 30 minutes hoovering up from underneath a feeder, thankfully without any of the local cats noticing.

A pair of blackbirds has been feasting on the apples; with three down and one to go.

The male and female visit separately, but can spend up to an hour (without any disturbance) eating and digesting the fruit.

I do wonder if the fermenting fruit does make them slightly tipsy!

I’ve not checked the nest box cameras since before Christmas but, with the cold weather likely to be around for a while, January is a good time to check in on them and see if any winter roosting is taking place.

Coming back to the feeders around the garden, it’s interesting to see that the peanut seed feeders are finished first, while the fat balls and snacks feeders seem to have much less attention.

This could be down to the fact the former two are easier to pick food up from and move to a place of security, while the fat snacks need them to stick around a feeder for a time.

I could conduct research into this, but unfortunately work and family leave me no time.

NOT MUCH FESTIVE SPIRIT FROM THE LOCAL CATS

The Christmas apples left in the garden have been largely untouched, which means the local birds are either finding food not too hard to come by.

The fat snacks are going down quite well, but the ones in the garden are going much slower than the ones in the trees opposite the garden.

I have noticed a couple of cats skulking nearby recently and I think this is putting the birds of coming into the garden and feeding.

It’s time the cat scaring patrols were stepped up, because living in the countryside is all about immersing in the wildlife and way of life, not having too many local domestic cats ruining it for you and the wildlife.

My feeling on domestic cats are well known; I don’t hate them, but I hate what they do to our local wildlife.

In other news Christmas brought the garden a new abode – a ladybird hotel.

This has been located in one of the only available places in the garden that’s suitable and will hopefully provide a good place for ladybirds and other insects to shelter.

However, given the amount of wildlife friendly devices in the garden and the loitering cats reducing visits, I think it’s time I found a new bigger garden to maintain as a wildlife haven.