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.

SUMMER LIFE IN THE GARDEN CAN BE QUIETER

Life in and around the garden has become a lot quieter in recent days, with the newly fledged blue tits, great tits, robins and house sparrows all seemingly off to find adventure (and food) in the surrounding countryside.

The magpie family are still very audible around the garden, particularly in the morning when the youngsters are often heard cackling, often a few hours before anyone’s alarm has gone off!

They are also fairly noisy in the evenings, although this isn’t too bad as we’re still awake. The reason for their noise is often down to the increasing number of cats around, which is really annoying for everyone.

I intercepted two cats with voles in their mouths, which is so frustrating that they’re catching prey that could feed owls or kestrels, or even foxes. Instead the cats are clearing up and we don’t get to see those animals in the countryside setting we’re in.

The robin family, which successfully fledged a brood at the third attempt, had spent a couple of weeks around the garden, but have not been seen for a couple of days.

There are four youngsters and they seemed to enjoy spending time around the garden and could often be found literally under our feet.

 

  

While it’s sad to see them move on from the garden, it’s so pleasing to see the parents have chicks after two tragic attempts at previous broods.

We’re seeing a few more glimpses of the swallows, which can be put down to the adults teaching the newly fledged chicks the best fly catching methods.

They’re starting to learn to swoop lower and lower around the gardens and it’s a great sight to see.

It’s a shame they’ll be leaving in a matter of weeks, although the squawking swifts, which are still sometimes venturing over the garden in the evening, will depart much sooner.

NEW SURPRISING VISITOR TO THE GARDEN

Five years ago we provided a home to a young hedgehog that had spent time recuperating in a local rescue centre.

‘Spikey’, as he was called by my eldest daughter, was set free in our garden in June 2015, and he seemed to enjoy his new surroundings.

A few sniffs and he was off exploring, so after a few minutes watching him we left him alone and thought we’d see him over the next few days, weeks, months and years.

However, the days, weeks, months and years passed by without even one sighting of Spikey and we thought that was it.

The girls were disappointed, particularly my youngest as she was just one when Spikey was released so had never seen a hedgehog.

But lockdown has been very strange in many ways and one evening while eating my dinner in the garden, with darkness falling and one or two bats already sighted, there was a rustling noise coming from one side of the garden.

At first, I thought it was birds moving about in the ivy, finding the perfect spot to roost for the evening, but the noise kept on happening even after darkness had fallen.

I eventually decided to investigate and as I got closer realise that the noise was not coming from the ivy or hedge, but from the undergrowth.

The light of my phone was switched on and suddenly a movement at the bottom of the ivy made the noise I’d been hearing.

As I tried to make out what it was, the animal moved and revealed itself to be a hedgehog!

I must admit I was a little excited and immediately wondered if it was Spikey, although I later realised that if it was Spikey he would have been pretty old for a hedgehog.

Instead it could be one of his offspring, but either way a hedgehog in the garden was something we had only seen when we released Spike five years ago.

I feed the birds mealworms during the breeding season and sprinkle some over part of the lawn, and it was the leftovers that the hedgehog was feasting on.

He (I say he because it’s quite a big animal and the males are traditionally bigger) came back for a number of nights afterwards, and my daughters were able to see him and it added to their knowledge and excitement about wildlife, something I’m keen for them to continue learning.

We’ve not seen it for a few days now but given the warmer weather I’m now setting out dog food and have cut the underneath of a couple of fence panels to allow it to come in without hinderance.

In other news the robins were indeed on a nest of eggs which successfully hatched. The mealworm feast I was giving them seemed to work and they successfully fledged last week.

The parents have been coming into the garden for food every day and feeding them in the thick bushes near the house and garden.

The great tits and neighbouring blue tits have not been heard around for a week or so, which is not unusual as they spend time away exploring with their parents and finding the best places for food.

The house sparrows have laid eggs again in the garage roof and in the last couple of days are seemingly feeding chicks.

Finally, the magpies have been making all sorts of noise in and around the garden, mainly centred around the chicks fledging.

They parents are now even roosting in the garden trees.

Last week they were making considerably warning call sounds and I found a fledgling look a bit dazed and being stalked by two of the local cats.

I managed to get it to a place of safety, ushered the cats away and left the parents to care for it.

Do I know if that intervention help? Not really, but there are a few younger magpies around and I hope it was amongst them.

NATURE HAS DEALT A CRUEL BLOW TO THE ROBINS

The sun has been shining, the birds in full voice and plenty of signs of the next generation coming into this world.

The garden had two active nests, with the robins (second attempt after the first one resulted in three chicks dying) and the great tits, which were located in the nest box that has been used every year since we moved here in 2007.

The girls and I had been feeding mealworms to the robins, while the house sparrows nesting in next door’s garage, the blue tits in next door’s wall and the great tits were making use of the free handouts.

Sadly, just when I thought the robins could soon fledge, the nest in the ivy was raided and the nest left destroyed. The chicks were nowhere to be seen or heard.

Given there is a magpie nest nearby and the magpies had been seen regularly in the garden over the last week, I suspect it was the magpies that raided the nest.

The parents were still hanging around the garden and the male singing from a perch I’ve often seen him at over the last few months.

I’m hoping that not all the chicks were taken, but have no evidence to suggest any are now alive.

Given the number of cats around here (another feral one has been ‘saved’ by the neighbours), I think we’re at 11 between three houses, plus the feral ones being fed down the lane, I suspect it’s unlikely any survivors would get passed those felines.

The great tits are still thriving and will hopefully fledge next weekend when the weather might have warmed back up a little.

It's been great to get to know the parents while working in the garden just under the nest box (I spend many hours there in spring and summer and the birds quickly get used to my presence).

These pics and video show just how at ease the great tits are with me being there.

The pond has new plants around it and by next weekend the hanging baskets will be up, so the garden has now really sprung into spring.

Next stop, summer!

STAYING PUT, FOR THE TIME BEING

So COVID-19 has hit and confined us to our homes for the foreseeable future, which is not bad for those of us who like to admire the wildlife and potter in the garden – just once a day at the moment!

However, it does mean that we’re going to struggle to provide those extra morsels for hungry birds and other animals, as we come into a time when breeding success can be determined by those extra handouts.

At the moment there doesn’t seem to be much interest in nesting, apart from the recent robin interest in the ivy by the kitchen window, the odd fly by on the oldest nest box and the magpies in the conifer tree opposite the house.

It also means I can’t sort the pond out or get lovely border plants to help deter the cats from defecating in the garden.

It has given us time as a family to plant some seeds, with the usual tomato, broad bean and sunflowers being joined by, among others, the Californian Poppy.

A few of the seeds are already starting to emerge after a couple of days, but it might be this weekend when the more dramatic emerging happens.

Until then we continue to work from home, admire the wildlife when we look up from the computer, and hope spring can replace this cool weather with some proper warmth.

BADGERS AND BUTTERFLIES

The weather and temperatures have picked up this month, but not to heatwave levels – and certainly not enough to prevent the heating being required on some nights.

The warmer and sunnier weather has brought out plenty of butterflies, and a new butterfly has been seen in the garden.

A speckled wood was seen on the ivy, sunning itself, and I managed to grab a quick picture before it fluttered away.

I also managed to capture a red admiral too, although they have been seen many times, feasting on the buddleia.

They have more than made up for the lack of bird activity, albeit a small flock of house sparrows are now roosting in the wall climbers – something that seems to happen quite often at this time of year.

They are literally about a foot above the front door and can be seen and heard about an hour before sunset.

It’ll be a few weeks before they need to find a new roost site, when the leaves start to leave it fairly exposed.

Our summer visitors have definitely not been sticking around for this warmer weather, even if it would be feast time for them.

The garden wildlife is undergoing the usual transition as autumn starts to take hold, and it might be a few weeks before the birds are regularly seen.

However, I can’t help but feel that the stupidly high level of cats in neighbouring houses, along with feral cats that are being fed by the same neighbours, are having an impact on the birds being seen around.

I saw one of the cats with a small vole only yesterday morning, which does make you wonder if this small area of countryside is being restrictive to many species of wildlife, because the cats are either killing prey or the animals themselves.

There might be one saviour in this though. For the first time ever, a badger visited the garden, the closest badger I’ve seen to the house by about 500 metres.

I’d noticed a few small holes in the grass verges on the lane, which can now be put down to foraging badgers.

Great news for them and also my girls who managed to see a ‘real life’ badger right by our house.

It helps bring the closer to wildlife and hopefully encourages them to take a keen interest in wildlife when they grow up.

STALLING THE BREEDING SEASON?

Given the cold weather recently, the wildlife could be forgiven if they have delayed spring for a few weeks.

The blossom may have blown from the trees, the buds may be showing and new leaf growth emerging, but the weather isn’t tempting many to start bringing the next generation into this world.

Now of course you could understand if they used Brexit as a reason for stalling, but this is one area that the wildlife has in their favour – they don’t know anything about it!

The dawn chorus has been somewhat dampened since the clocks went forward, although the voice of a few blackbirds is now competing with the robins to see who can wake us up first.

A female blackbird has been seen around the garden in recent days, so I wonder if they try to nest in the conifer hedge again – last year seemed to fail, which was probably due to the local cats.

I’ve not noticed any activity around the nest boxes, but with the lighter nights I’ll have more chance to investigate – but given the cold weather I doubt that much action has taken place.

The pond is very good shape, and while there is unlikely to be much large animal action this year, it’ll definitely be a good resource for insects as a refuge and birds as a drinking/washing station.

April will no doubt warm up, but I don’t expect much breeding action from the birds until we get to the end of the month.