THE SUMMER QUIET HITS THE GARDEN

As usual at this time of year the garden is really quiet at the moment, with most birds hiding around the hedgerows, fields and trees while the adults moult.

In the last week there has been some visitors, with the odd blue tit (both adults and this year’s young), while the magpies are constantly around and making plenty of noise.

The other birds starting to come back in the garden are the robins, indeed the robin family that fledged a few weeks ago.

The youngsters are starting to show signs of the red breast, while the adults seem to be getting more and more comfortable with us in the garden, mainly while we’re working.

With the youngsters still learning about life, they are always making nervous warning sounds whenever they are around the garden and we’re in there.

They still come around the seats and tables, often underneath picking up crumbs from the floor, so cleaning up for us at the same time.

The weather hasn’t been summer-like, but it has been mild and moist at night.

This led to a surprise visitor in the kitchen one evening as a toad came to visit.

We were able to show it back out again, but it was a lively one and seemed to be smaller than the one I found last year.

Finally, the hedgehog seems to still be around as I’ve found droppings around the small pond and in a couple of other parts of the garden.

I think it lives under one of the sheds, although I do wonder if it has a bolt hole under the logs near the pond.

I’ll hopefully be able to spend a bit of time in the garden in the next couple of weekends and see what I can detect.

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.

TYPICAL SPRING WEATHER?

It’s turning into proper early spring weather, with stormy conditions followed by calm and sunny weather, with cold nights.

Many days recently have had the dawn chorus become louder, varied and earlier, as birds anticipate the start of the breeding season.

This was particularly noticeable at the weekend, when songs from the usual suspects of blackbird, robin, blue tit, great tit, dunnock, house sparrow and more became evident.

There’s also been magpies appearing to nest in nearby trees, although I’m slightly concerned this will impact the garden birds and their nesting.

The lane has recently become a meeting place for a number of frogs, with them seemingly happy to place themselves in the path of traffic (ok not much traffic goes down the lane), in the hope of finding a mate.

The pond isn’t quite ready for them yet, and I only managed to get one oxygenating plant from a water world garden centre, as many others aren’t ready.

I will make another attempt this week, although one thing I did manage to get was some water snails, hidden in the plant.

I’ll make another attempt to get plants this week, at another garden centre that has said they ‘have loads’, but hopefully the pond will look good ahead of when we’ll experience lighter nights and warmer spring weather.

I doubt the frogs will use it this year, but I just want it to be established first.

I’ve not been able to fully check the nest box cameras, so it might end up being something I save for when we move house – that will be a sad day leaving here.

Until then it’ll be all about enjoying the wildlife in the small garden wildlife oasis we have.

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.