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.

WILL IT EVER RAIN AGAIN?

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The grass is almost completely a tan colour, the birds are constantly searching for water and the plants are often found with drooping leaves after being battered by 12 hours of sunshine.

Yes, it’s the continuing heatwave that us and the wildlife is experiencing.

I’m watering the whole garden nearly every night, but even this isn’t enough for the grass as it’s given up for a while on being green, although one flower is liking the conditions enough to flower.

One surprise is that the robins have finally hatched some chicks in one of the two open nest boxes.

Bizarrely it’s the one at shoulder height next to the patio, in the honeysuckle bush and right next to where the family currently enjoys sitting for every breakfast and lunch.

Unfortunately my mealworm supplier has closed for the summer, meaning I can’t help the robin family grow up, apart from keeping any pesky cats away.

However they do appear to be growing, even if I can only tell from the louder sounds they’re making when a parent visits with food.

I don’t know where the parents are getting food from, but imagine the local streams, that are both down to a trickle, are helping with a supply of insects.

I imagine they’ll fledging, if they do indeed reach that stage given it’ll be 30-32C this weekend, in about a week.

The good thing is the nest box is very sheltered from heat, wind and rain, particularly as the honeysuckle has grown right around it.

In fact you wouldn’t even know it was there because it’s well camouflaged.

This is only the second time this nest box has been used, and the previous time it was a family of robins too.

But with at least another week of summer warmth, and no rain, it looks like it’ll inevitable get slightly tougher for the wildlife before the rains bring some welcome relief.

SPRING IS READY TO GO, BUT HAS WINTER GOT A FINAL BITE?

Now that the second batch of bitterly cold Siberian weather this winter has relented, the wildlife has literally sprung into life.

I think we can technically say we’re in spring, even if the weather isn’t playing ball.

The blossom is blooming, the spring flowers are adding colour to the garden, and the birds are full of song.

There appears to be at least two robin territories close by, one which includes the garden.

A pair of blue tits are still making their interest in the original camera nest box known, while other birds seen regularly in pairs are great tit, robin, blackbird, dunnock, house sparrow and goldfinch.

Now that the snowdrops have gone for another year and the crocuses are giving their final fling, the daffodils have taken over.

Apart from the blossom, many bushes and small trees are showing signs of the cold winter, looking quite forlorn and not showing any interest in the spring sunshine – albeit it the sunshine isn’t too warm yet.

The honeysuckle and pyracantha are the worst looking, so it’ll be interesting to see how they fare when spring warmth final makes an appearance.

However, before any warmth it looks like winter will make another appearance over Easter, which makes me wonder just how the wildlife will react, particularly if any of the birds have laid any eggs.