EARLY NIGHTS MEAN LESS WILDLIFE VIEWING TIME

I’d like to say there’s a lot going on in and around the garden, but as I’m away for most of the daylight hours it’s very difficult.

The weather has generally been typically autumnal, albeit generally quite mild.

On my morning walks to work I have once or twice noticed a flock of redwing and potentially some fieldfare, so I’m going to try and start out early one day (subject to getting the girls ready for school early).

The feeders have been fairly quiet recently, with only passing visits from the local blue tits, great tits, house sparrows and dunnocks.

There’s have been very few visits from blackbirds and no sightings of the long tailed tits.

The pond has been overwhelmed with leaves and I’ve had to be careful with removing them due to the fish, snails and other animals who now call this small amount of water home.

I’m amazed the fish from the stream are still surviving, which means they are finding food. Perhaps the larvae of midges or mosquitos, although the worry is that this food supply won’t last for long during winter.

It looks like cooler weather and colder nights are on the way as we head to December, so perhaps more birds on the feeders.

In the coming weeks I’m going to look at introducing some more video footage to this blog, perhaps with my daughters getting involved – I’m yet to ask them so we’ll see what is said!

AUTUMN WEATHER BRINGS NEW HARVEST

As the transition from summer to autumn progressed, the garden produced a small harvest to feast on.

OK, so it wouldn’t exactly make a feast, but the tomatoes did eventually come along even if it was weeks after the strawberries and broad beans.

They tasted pretty good too, so maybe planting earlier next year might work better for an earlier harvest.

The newly acquired bat box will go up soon, although with the prevailing wind coming down both sides of the house, I might have to be careful in where it’s placed and also borrow some ladders from a neighbour.

While there are bats that fly around the garden, I’ll be quite surprised if they do make use of the roosting box this winter – but you never know!

The sunflowers were a big disappointment this year, with only my youngest daughter’s making it to full bloom.

It did make a remarkable recovery as it was eaten by slugs, but then remerged and produced two heads.

While it was my daughter’s, it was technically me that kept it fed and watered, so I’m going to claim a small part of the sunflower’s success.

Finally, there’s a good haul of berries on the pyracantha which I’m hoping might attract a passing fieldfare or redwing flock.

I’ve not seen any down the lane so far this year, but it is quite early, and I would expect to have chance of seeing a few later this month or into November.

Time will tell if there’s enough berries to attract them.

BIRDS ARE NOW USING THE GARDEN FEEDERS

There has been a rise in the number of small birds visiting the garden and this must be down to a combination of cooler weather and the decreasing amount of natural food resources left in the countryside.

Of course it’s still very wet, but colder overnight temperatures mean the need to conserve energy by locating a good food source and staying close to it.

Unfortunately the weather isn’t cold enough to see some of the more infrequent visitors to the garden – so no long tailed tits, redwing, fieldfare etc.

Instead it’s the more year round visitors in house sparrows, tree sparrows, blue tits, great tits, blackbirds, robins and dunnocks.

It’s great to see these birds in the garden and I hope some will once again utilise the nest boxes in the garden or even the natural resources.

I’d just finished writing this post when a family of long tailed tits flew into the garden, spending about 20 minutes feeding and chattering. A lovely winter (or any other time) sight in the garden.

One of the jobs during winter is to clean out the nest boxes to make them a lot more hygienic for the birds – and provide them with something they can build something in rather than have a ready built nest from last year which is likely to contact bugs and even parasites.

It also gives a chance to look at how well the nests have been made and see just how many have been occupied.

In 2014 it was the tree and house sparrows that dominated the boxes, but this year I’m hoping to see at least one pair of blue tits or great tits nesting in the garden nest boxes.

The biggest clue will be when the winter overnight roosting takes place, which will need the weather to get a bit colder.

Until then the feeders will need to be topped up and wait for winter to bring its worst. I hope that’s soon so the midges and little flies that are plaguing the garden will be put out of action.

IS WINTER GOING TO TURN UP?

Unseasonal, mild and temperate are just some of the words that could be used to describe the weather so far this winter.

Whatever word or words are used it won't make any difference to how the wildlife, flora and fauna, is sensing the conditions.

With daffodils and tulips showing themselves and some tress starting to blossom, it’s surely not going to be long until birds start building nests, which for nearly all will inevitably be a disaster.

Cold weather is surely going to come sooner or later and that means the wildlife will be in for a big shock.

Currently it means that the likelihood of seeing traditional winter visitors (fieldfare and redwing along with the local long tailed tit families) is virtually nil while this mild weather persists.

It also means the traditional pattern of the natural world will be out of sync.

The garden lawn will have to be cut again in January, which means it could be cut in every month of the year if the same is required in February.

The big question as we head in to another year is will the cold weather arrive before nature is in full on spring mode?

HAS SPRING ALREADY SPRUNG? SOME FLORA THINKS SO

Winter continues to be mild, with near record temperatures for December days and nights being recorded across the UK.

The warmth is seemingly keeping many birds away from the garden and the free handouts, because natural food – including insects – is still in plentiful supply.

And the unseasonably mild weather isn’t just affecting the birds, the flora is also confused and seems to think it’s spring already.

The garden is already seeing spring bulbs emerge, while some trees nearby are already starting to blossom. The wild strawberry plant is even producing strawberries and the rose bush has fresh flowers emerging.

Can it continue? The likely answer is no because January and February are the traditional cold months of the year and for the good of nature it’s also good to have a few weeks of really cold weather.

There had been hope of the odd sighting of a fieldfare or redwing in the garden, but even the blue and great tits are not seen as often as usual.

The forecast is for the conditions to be fairly similar over at least the next week, so perhaps it’ll be 2016 before cold (and snow) starts to come to the garden.

Next on the agenda is cleaning out the nest boxes, so when the cold weather does arrive there will be a clean(ish) place for the local small birds to roost in.

In previous years the camera has witnessed roosting blue tits, great tits and house sparrows as early as December, but not this year!

Have a great Christmas and hopefully the next blog will have images of roosting winter birds.

A SLOW START TO AUTUMN

It’s definitely autumn, but someone might remind the season itself as the usually autumnal weather isn’t really taking affect.

The worms in the garden are finding the leaves blown to the ground, on the odd windy day, quite useful, but we’re nearly in November and the traditional conditions of strong winds and heavy rain have stayed away.

It does mean that while the summer visitors (swifts, swallows and house martins etc.) have long gone, the autumnal migrants – both to the UK and the garden – are not exactly here in big numbers.

Perhaps the new series of BBC’s Autumnwatch will herald the arrival of normal autumnal weather.

The garden is looking fairly bare in terms of bird numbers and variety; even the blackbirds, robins and tits (great and blue) are infrequently seen.

The house and tree sparrows are hardly in the garden at all, which has all meant the bird feeders do not have to be topped up very often.

Snow and ice are ‘predicted’ by some weather forecasters, but this seems to be the case every year.

If it does come true (that’s a very big IF) then the garden and the feeders could see the odd unusual visitor.

Three birds are on the list to be seen this winter – long tailed tit, redwing and fieldfare. The former usually visits in flocks every winter, but the other two have never been seen in the garden.

They have been spotted nearby, so this year there will be some keen eyes focused on the red berries and fat snacks, just in case.

Finally, Spike the hedgehog has still not been spotted, although it’s too early to put up ‘dead or alive’ posters.

EARLY MORNING MISTS SIGNAL AUTUMNAL WEATHER CHANGE

The first early morning mists that epitomise autumn have already arrived. This time last year the weather was warm and sunny, with temperatures more like mid summer, now it’s typical autumnal weather.

Despite the cooler, darker evenings there have been no sightings of the hedgehog that was introduced to the garden in June. In fact he hasn’t been seen since the evening he was released, so although I’m concerned, I still have hope he’s still around.

The hedgehog will hopefully be getting ready for hibernation, but the swallows have finally all departed on their way to warmer climes and a winter in Africa.

I think and hope this year has been a bumper breeding year for my favourite bird; judging by the number of birds on the telephone wires I’m pretty confident it has been

Of course the cooler weather is now gradually bringing the garden birds back into the garden, if that makes sense.

There are a number of blue tits now devouring peanuts as they, along with great tits, wait for the sunflowers to make available their seeds.

I’m looking forward to more birds coming back, with a slight hope that the increasing number of berries on the pyracantha will attract the odd redwing and/or fieldfare; neither bird have ever been seen in or near the garden.

RARE WINTER VISITOR IN MY GARDEN

The snow may not have hit us, well apart from the highest mountains, but the wind and rain have certainly made their presence felt.

Watching the weather forecast for the next week and Christmas, it looks like we’ll all get hit by storm after storm, which isn’t good for us or the wildlife we share our space with.

While many people would rather we did without the cold, snow and ice, I rather enjoy these conditions in winter – it shouldn’t happen in spring or autumn for me though.

It gives the chance for wildlife to rest, for bugs to be killed off and for us to enjoy watching trails of wildlife that may have passed in our gardens or on our streets during the night.

Today I watched a first in my garden as a pair of redwing scouted around for food. I can’t recall a time when I’ve seen them anywhere near my house, so today was a real treat.

They only stayed for about ten minutes, but I hope they return during the rest of winter.

The blue tits and great tits are now regulars on my feeders, while the house sparrows and tree sparrows continue to visit daily.

A robin is starting to call from the trees and bushes, presumably staking my garden as part of his territory.

The blackbirds are also returning, although other birds are still reluctant to venture from the natural food supplies.

I’m really looking forward to when the long tailed tits make a visit, as they show that winter is really with us and the natural food supply is low.

Until then I’ll be on the lookout for more redwing and even the odd fieldfare. I think a waxwing is probably out of the question.

AUTUMN IS IN ITS WAY

The chill of autumn cast an early white shadow on the lawn one morning last week, but the full version of the season is yet to show.

A mild autumn has meant many birds are yet to spend much time in the garden as the fields, hedgerows and woods are clearly providing enough food.

I did glimpse a flock of long tailed tits over the weekend briefly visiting the garden. I've seen them while on my bike around Frodsham Marsh but I'm looking forward to watching them flock around the peanut feeders in the garden.

Last year I counted over 15 in the garden at one time, so will they break the record this year and have a big number of youngsters from the breeding season? Only time will tell.

This week I've spotted a couple of jays around the lane and possibly the first fieldfare, although I was unable to confirm this as I was driving.

As November nears I'm hoping for a number of winter visitors, but will the elusive badgers from down the lane put in an appearance?

I'm hoping a spring and summer of teaching my daughter Poppy of the exciting aspect of nature watching will pay dividends as a new batch of garden visitors come to the garden.

On another note my birdbox camera will be cleaned this weekend and await the arrival of the first winter roosting birds.

More soon!