IS SPRING IN THE AIR?

After reviewing the changes on the garden during 2018, it’s now time to see what’s been happening in the garden this year.

Well we’ve already had snow, which is still a rarity for this garden and an omen for other places in the wider areas.

As the garden is at almost sea level (about 30ft), if the garden gets snow then other places will have lots more!

The recent cold snap has seen the usual flock of long tailed tits come visiting – on an almost daily basis.

Added to that a few chaffinches have been seen and they have bolstered the number of birds seen, along with the blue tits, great tits, robins, dunnocks, house sparrows and the odd goldfinch.

There hasn’t been much blackbird activity in the garden recently, although they have been spotted down the lane, in the hedgerows, so there must be still some good food sources amongst the bramble and small fruit trees.

The tawny owls have been quite in the last few days, although this might be to do with the windy weather.

Nothing has been done on the pond, mainly because it was frozen, but it has remained full, so in the next few weeks it’ll be scraped out a little bit and oxygen-rich plants put in.

Buds have started to appear on the fruit trees in the garden, while snowdrops are now flourishing in some areas of the garden.

They have been joined by the odd crocus, and I’m sure further arrivals of both plants will have daffodils for company soon.

However, while spring is certainly in the air, I suspect winter is not done yet!

WINTER CHILL GRIPPING THE GARDEN

The recent cold grip of winter has meant plenty of action on the bird feeders in the garden.

The most popular feeder by far is the peanut one, while the seeds feeder just outside the garden is regularly finished off within 48 hours.

While the birds regularly feeding in the garden includes blue tit, great tit, robin, blackbird, dunnock, long tailed tit and goldfinch, the house sparrow flock is rarely seen.

I presume this is because they’ve found a bigger flock and therefore a bigger resource of food nearby, possibly around the farms nearby.

One of the more interesting developments is there appears to be two blue tits regularly checking out the garden in general, with some focus on the main nest box area.

I saw the main nest box, I mean the next box that’s had a nest in for the last ten years, being eyed up, but who will get there first?

Will the blue tit pair secure the nest box this year? It would appear they are favourites, but only time will tell.

I suspect the house sparrows will return and nest in the triple nest box, while I’m more hopeful of a robin pair selecting one of the hidden nest boxes, perhaps the one in the ivy that has been trained to grow down one side of the garden.

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In the meantime maintenance on the nest box cameras now becomes urgent!

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!