THE CALM BEFORE SPRING STARTS?

Well we’re all awaiting the Coronavirus impact, while nature carries on regardless.

The dawn chorus is getting louder every morning, and my walk to work is full of various birdsong, from blackbirds and robins, to blue tits and chaffinches.

The buzzard that had been hanging around in the area hasn’t been seen for a week or so, but a kestrel has replaced it.

I’ve seen the kestrel perched a few times over the half-flooded fields, mainly on hedgerows, and the smaller birds always keep their distance.

A few frogs have been seen on the road, unfortunately all squashed by vehicles on the lane.

I’m sure there are a few around, but I don’t think any will frequent the pond, mainly because I’ve not done much upkeep on it recently.

I will be getting in the garden in the next couple of weeks and will hopefully get some seeds planted.

I’ll stick to sunflowers and tomatoes, and also get some small plants for the borders to help stop the cats using them as a toilet.

The feeders are still going down quickly, with long tailed tits still seen almost every day.

The lighter mornings and evenings enable me to see bird activity, and perhaps even another glimpse of the robin taking nest material into the ivy, close to the place he/she chose last year.

Whether we have a nest this year, only time will tell.

DOES ANYONE REMEMBER WHEN IT WASN’T STORMY?

It’s fair to say that I’m struggling to remember when the last time we had some calm weather, given we’re experiencing storm after storm hitting the UK.

And, if there hasn’t been a named storm, then we’ve been hit be continual low pressures or the windy edge of a high pressure.

The fields are soaking, and large ponds of water are now forming and not draining at all.

Even the stream alongside the lane regularly breaches the banks when we’ve had a few hours of rain.

These videos are taken one day last week, then below are two mages taken the same time, on the following day.

To see all that in one go, here’s a collated image. What’s not shown is the water on the lane is gradually damaging the surface and there’s not a day goes by when the lane doesn’t have large puddles dotted along it.

 

The wildlife is not appearing to be affected by the weather, well from what I can see and hear.

The dawn chorus has been getting stronger each day recently, although the storm and wet mornings have limited activity.

During the day we’re now hearing more territorial songs from the robins, blue tits, great tits and also the odd chaffinch.

The breeding season is largely dictated by the day length, but I do wonder how the storm will affect it long-term.

If the butterflies and moths, which lay eggs that then turn onto the caterpillar food for the small garden birds, get impacted by the storms, then how will the birds cope?

That will also impact some the birds of prey in the area, but we can only wait and see how that all plays out.

If the stormy weather continues for a while, then our summer migrants might also be impacted; so swallows, house martins, swifts and cuckoos.

Again only time with tell, until then we’ll continue to batten down the hatches and hope the water levels gradually drop.

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.

MAY SPRING BE UPON US!

Glorious May, well not quite, but the wildlife seems to be adamant some warm weather is on its way.

The dawn chorus is in full swing, with many now starting before 5am, not good for the late risers.

I’ve started to put out mealworms for the birds, however none have shown signs that their taking the food to a nest – they simply move to a sheltered spot nearby and devour what they’ve grabbed.

The wrens are still singing nearby, but I’m not sure if they’ve decided on the garden as a nesting place – only time will tell as I’m not going to disturb the nest box until I’m sure they’re not using it.

I’m still not sure if the house sparrows are using any of the nest boxes, although the blue tits are definitely bedded in the original next box, which still isn’t transmitting properly.

Once again I’m on the hunt for the robin’s nest, which is likely to end in failure as it has every other year.

In flora news the first sunflowers have been put outside to grow in the portable greenhouse, so hopefully some early autumn food for the garden birds awaits.

Food for the humans at the house will be in the form of tomatoes and broad beans, but they won’t be let outside for another week.

Until then let’s hope the weather warms up and the sound of chicks is blasting through the garden air.

NESTING ACTION IS FINALLY STARTING

Just a week after expressing worries about the nesting season, and one of the nest box cameras revealed the start of a nest!

Unsurprisingly it’s the nest box that has seen a nest every year since it was introduced in 2008.

As yet the identity of the birds building the nest is unknown, but judging by previous nests the suspicion is it is a pair of blue tits.

The nest camera will be getting plenty of views over the coming days to try and put a name to the nest builders.

The other nest box camera, which is part of a three section nest box set up, has not seen any nesting action, and it’s likely that once again the other two sections of the nest box will be used for nesting.

It does seem as if spring has literally sprung into life in the last few days, and the wildlife around the garden has responded accordingly.

Bees are buzzing around the garden, taking drinks of nectar from the growing number of flowers in bloom, while the dawn chorus is in full flow – some days it acts as an alarm clock.

Spiders are busy constructing webs, hoping to trap the increasing number of flying insects, while the insect eating birds are hoping to capture some of them to feed up before the nests are completed and eggs laid.

It’ll hopefully be then that the caterpillar bonanza will occur and the newly hatched chicks will benefit.