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!

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.

STORM CIARA CLAIMS GARDEN VICTIMS

Storm Ciara, the most ferocious storm to hit the UK in almost a decade took a swipe at the nest boxes, ripping the triple sparrow one from the wall.

It’s not nice seeing things that you’ve taken time and money on, being destroyed so brutally.

However, I think it might be nature’s way of saying that nest box isn’t working for the birds and needs to be moved.

Where it needs to be moved to is another thing, perhaps I’ll wait until we move to a different house – in however many years that is!

The only major other news was that a large tree was blown over in a neighbouring garden, taking out the phone lines and removing the internet and the ability to upload this blog post! The irony.

The long tailed tits are now regulars in the garden, feasting on the peanuts and fat snacks.

I even managed to get within four feet of them to grab this image – it shows that even a bird with various colours can still be well hidden in the garden!

There are three birds in this image, but only one is really visible to the position of the other two.

The blossom on the trees is starting to come out, slightly ahead of last year, but I suspect it’ll be hit hard if (and it’s a big if) we see a cold snap and freezing conditions.

The birds are thinking it’s spring, because there’s plenty of singing going on, and it’ll be interesting to see if they choose one of the nest boxes in the garden.

With the camera systems not working properly, and little time to fix them, I’ll use eyesight to detect presence – which worked ok before cameras were fitted.

ARE THE NEST BOXES BECOMING UNHOMELY?

I carried out the annual nest box clean up last weekend, which gives me a chance to confirm which nest boxes were used and see the intricate constructions made by the garden birds.

However, this year only one of the nest boxes was used, with six others left alone.

The triple sparrow box had no signs of nesting at all, even though we did have lots of house sparrows around and they did nest in the area, just not using man-made boxes.

They have used the triple nest box before, but maybe something spooked them, so they decided on a different venue.

The house sparrows are still spending time in the garden, gathering food from the feeders, so perhaps they’ll nest this year.

The two open nest boxes, located about five feet off the floor and in dense foliage, were unoccupied too, but the robins have been territorially signing since before Christmas, so perhaps they’ll nest again in those boxes.

The recently introduced small bird one wasn’t used again, so I’ve changed the front on it, with a smaller blue tit sized hole, to see if that makes a difference.

The original nest box, ‘old faithful’ was once again used, this time by a pair of blue tits who created this nest.

I think this was the twelfth consecutive year it’s been used, by a wide variety of birds, and it’s never been unused since I put it up on 2008.

The camera in it isn’t working, so and investment in a new camera is looking likely.

Away from the nest boxes the local flock of long tailed tits has started to make daily visits to the garden, so food around the area must be scarce.

I always love to see them visiting, even if the regular blue tits, great tits and house sparrows aren’t always as impressed.

This time ten years ago we had lots of snow, but I very much doubt we’ll see any this year, or even a hard frost of two.

Indeed the fruit tree is already showing buds, which might be a problem if we get a cold snap – and we definitely need a cold snap to ensure breeding season isn’t affected by too many germs knocking around.

TORRENTIAL RAIN, FLOODS AND FROSTS – THE SPOOKY PART OF AUTUMN

As Halloween approaches, the first frost of the autumn landed in the garden.

While it wasn’t particularly harsh, it’s certainly a sign of things to come and the wildlife will have certainly taken note.

The rain over the weekend caused all sorts of problems for many people and the lane we live on became a 6-8 inch deep torrent of water for many hours.

Luckily it diverts off the lane before the house, but the incessant rain meant the garden was a soggy mess for a couple of days.

It’s hard to understand what impact it’s had on the wildlife around the garden, however I’m sure it’ll have impacted feeding for many – apart from those who love the wet conditions, including the local badgers.

The garden has seen a number of visits from a number of jays over the last few weeks, with their warning call often heard when we step out of the house.

The bird feeders are being consumed fairly quickly, although the peanuts are being shunned in favour of the fat snacks – probably easier to eat!

I suspect the next few days and weeks will see the number of birds coming into the garden on the increase, although it’ll be hard to tell in the week as the clocks going back now mean evenings are definitely dark, while mornings are too busy with breakfast and getting ready for school and work to spend much time looking out of the windows in the garden.

I’m expecting a flock of long tailed tits to be seen again soon, and it’ll signal the lack of natural food on offer.

It’s the that the food we supply to our feathered friends becomes really important, so the garage will soon be increasing in supplies – albeit in containers that will prevent rats and mice getting at them!