WILDLIFE CAN BE SO CRUEL

After nearly two weeks of hearing the blue tit chicks chirping whenever the parents brought food to them, yesterday is all went quiet apart from one single chick, who seemed to be calling  for its parents.

Suddenly there was no sign of the parents and my concern grew this morning when silence greeted the mealworm breakfast I’ve been leaving out for the local birds to help with parenting.

Robins, house sparrows, blue tits and great tits have been making use of the mealworm donation.

Mid-morning I opened the nest box, confident the parents had left the nest for good, and was saddened by what greeted me.

A couple of days ago I’d noticed a couple of flies entering the nest and wondered if one of the chicks had died.

Unfortunately when I opened the nest box there was five chicks that had died, a couple seemed close to fledging while others seemed to have been slightly younger when they died.

As to the reasons for them dying it remains unsolved; I suspect four reasons.

1 – One or both parents were predated, although I think this unlikely as they were around yesterday and it’s rare to see a sparrowhawk in the local vicinity.

2 – Disease took hold and the chicks sadly succumbed over time.

3 – The parents didn’t bring in enough food, which again seems unlikely given the mealworm supplements.

4 – The parents fledged a couple of chicks but the others were too far behind and the parents left with the few older ones.

I guess it’ll remained unsolved, but it’s the first time a nest has failed this much.

While carrying out the nest investigations I could hear a couple of buzzards circling above, soaring on the thermals and not a crow or rook harassing them.

The robin nest, in the previous wren nest box, appears to be viable, although I remain sceptical there will be successful hatching of this nest

Perhaps they’ll surprise me, although what is surprising is the house sparrows who are paying close attention to the triple nest box, again I don’t think they have nested there this year, but could be wrong.

Finally the swallows seem to be on eggs, while the blackbird nest hasn’t had any sign of chicks being fed – maybe next week.

THE BIG GARDEN BIRDWATCH

This year, the garden was once again subject to an hour of bird counting, as the annual RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch survey took place.

Last year the list of birds spotted and counted was as follows (starting with the most seen):

House sparrow – 9

Blackbird – 9

Great tit – 7

Blue tit – 6

Starling – 5

Robin – 4

Magpie – 4

Long tailed tit – 4

Dunnock – 4

Woodpigeon – 3

Goldfinch – 2

Tree sparrow – 2

This year the order changed slightly, and we didn’t see any tree sparrows or woodpigeons. The 2018 order was as follows:

Long tailed tit – 9

House sparrow – 7

Great tit – 4

Dunnock – 4

Goldfinch – 4

Blue tit – 2

Blackbird – 2

Magpie – 2

Wren – 2

Robin – 2

The weather on Saturday wasn’t the best and we did pick a time later in the day, so missed most of the action earlier in the day, hence the lower numbers.

The flock of long tailed tits didn’t disappoint again, and they even managed to outscore the house sparrow.

I’ve not noticed any real difference in the number and type of birds coming into the garden over the last few years, with sightings of tawny owls, sparrowhawks, crows and song thrush, among those who are seen perhaps a couple of times a year.

Among the flora in the garden, the snowdrops, winter rose and crocuses are already flowering, with others, including daffodils and tulips, starting to emerge as green shoots.

While it’s still January, and there’s likely to be more colder and stormy days to come in the next couple of months, the weekend did start to give us a feel of spring – temperatures reach about 14c on Sunday.

Which means it’s time to make sure the bird nest boxes are in good order and ready for any spring guests – particularly the camera nest boxes!

AUTUMN OR SPRING?

I get the feeling we’ve bypassed spring and summer, and gone straight to autumn. The weather is great for the growing flora, we even hit 15c today, but without much sunshine, growth will be slow.

The blue tit nest box is still being occupied overnight by the female house sparrow and is being slowly added to during the day, with a mixture of dried grasses and feathers.

 

In the sparrow nest box I’ve not managed to see any birds, but they must be going in because the material spread in the box is changing place each day.

 

I’m still not convinced it will see any full nesting action, but I hope that at least some birds are now able to understand that the camera isn’t a threat and they can build a nest and raise the next generation without fear.

I get the distinct feeling that the wildlife is in limbo, waiting for the warmer weather before starting to raise a family.

I have noticed a number of magpie nests nearby, which are obvious in the bare branches of trees and open to attack and piracy from crows.

So it looks like we’ll have to wait until April before the breeding season starts in earnest, but the wildlife in the garden certainly appears ready for it. 

A BUMPER BREEDING SEASON?

Plenty of butterflies and moths have been in and around the garden recently, which makes me think it’s been a good year for them.

The most ‘popular’ attendees to the garden are the orange tip butterfly and the cinnabar moth, both of whom have been seen daily in the garden.

I’m beginning to think this has been a significant boom year for our small garden birds. I’ve now seen two lots of blue tit fledglings, the latest this week and the robins are looking distinctly scruffy, which makes me think they’re on to their third brood.

The blackbirds have had at least two, the swallows second brood also fledged this week and there appears to be large numbers of magpies and goldfinches.

But the big news on the nesting front is that both the house sparrows and tree sparrows are busy raising a third brood in the garden nest boxes.

The parents seem to be having a competition with each other as to who can raise the most chicks, as invariably when I can hear chicks in one nest the other follows with a day or so.

I’m not sure how many have fledged from each nest since April, but it must be double figures.

I very much doubt there’ll be a fourth fledging, but with the hedgerows around the garden swaying under the weight of sparrows, I wouldn’t be surprised.

What it must mean is it’ll also be a bumper year for the birds of prey. I know there’s a few sparrowhawk around here and certainly kestrels. The crows, magpies and jays may also pick of a few weaker young too, plus the resident little and tawny owls might pinch a couple from night roosts.

In the next couple of weeks I’ll be showcasing the transformation of the garden, showing images taken at weekly intervals from March this year.

The transformation is stunning, well I think so.

ARE THE GREAT TIT CHICKS OK?

I'm very concerned for the health of the great tit chicks in my nestbox as I've not really seen or heard the parents in the garden recently.

They have been around, but not as often as in previous years when feeding growing youngsters. I fear a combination of the cool conditions and a lack of food has badly affected the chicks.

I've heard of a friend's nestbox with great tits in that all eight chicks died, mainly as a result of lack of food. This meant the parents were then bringing in the wrong type of food and the chicks starving.

I'm sure all types of wildlife have been bewildered by the weather in April and May, especially after the lovely sunny and warm conditions in March.

There does seem to be a hint of better conditions next week, but is this too late to save the inevitable population crash of many smalls birds and of course other birds that rely on naive fledglings to feed their own hungry youngsters.

Only time will tell, but I'll be checking my nestbox this weekend and hoping for some good news.

In light of the cold weather I've put peanuts out again and fat snacks, but only until it warms up, then the mealworms will be back on the menu.

Perhaps I should have bought mealworms earlier, but it would have been quite expensive to provide all the birds with enough over the recent weeks.

Today I had the canny magpies and crows visiting, after they spotted I'd left an opened back of peanuts in the garden.

The crows were dominant, but even they were scared of the tub holding the fat snacks which the peanuts were on. It was very amusing watching them dart to get the peanuts, but close their eyes in panic at being near the tub.

In positive news I did see a robin chick in the garden this week, although only one and I've not seen it since.

The swallows are still about, but I think they've delayed nesting until enough flying insects are about to feed their youngsters.

This weekend could be pivotal to how wildlife is able to bring new life in to this world and survive.

Let's hope the weather is helpful and gives them all a chance.