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.

WILDLIFE CAN BE SO CRUEL

After nearly two weeks of hearing the blue tit chicks chirping whenever the parents brought food to them, yesterday is all went quiet apart from one single chick, who seemed to be calling  for its parents.

Suddenly there was no sign of the parents and my concern grew this morning when silence greeted the mealworm breakfast I’ve been leaving out for the local birds to help with parenting.

Robins, house sparrows, blue tits and great tits have been making use of the mealworm donation.

Mid-morning I opened the nest box, confident the parents had left the nest for good, and was saddened by what greeted me.

A couple of days ago I’d noticed a couple of flies entering the nest and wondered if one of the chicks had died.

Unfortunately when I opened the nest box there was five chicks that had died, a couple seemed close to fledging while others seemed to have been slightly younger when they died.

As to the reasons for them dying it remains unsolved; I suspect four reasons.

1 – One or both parents were predated, although I think this unlikely as they were around yesterday and it’s rare to see a sparrowhawk in the local vicinity.

2 – Disease took hold and the chicks sadly succumbed over time.

3 – The parents didn’t bring in enough food, which again seems unlikely given the mealworm supplements.

4 – The parents fledged a couple of chicks but the others were too far behind and the parents left with the few older ones.

I guess it’ll remained unsolved, but it’s the first time a nest has failed this much.

While carrying out the nest investigations I could hear a couple of buzzards circling above, soaring on the thermals and not a crow or rook harassing them.

The robin nest, in the previous wren nest box, appears to be viable, although I remain sceptical there will be successful hatching of this nest

Perhaps they’ll surprise me, although what is surprising is the house sparrows who are paying close attention to the triple nest box, again I don’t think they have nested there this year, but could be wrong.

Finally the swallows seem to be on eggs, while the blackbird nest hasn’t had any sign of chicks being fed – maybe next week.

WILDLIFE MAKING UP FOR LOST TIME

May is proving to be an exciting month for the garden, with new life and new nesters!

The blue tits have indeed been the birds to have used the original nest box, and the sound of chicks begging for food was heard on Sunday morning.

However I first suspected something was going on when I saw both blue tits scurrying around the garden searching for caterpillars and insects.

They sped around so fast, hanging upside down looking underneath leaves, that my first thought was they must be looking for food for their chicks.

There was an urgency not seen when they are ‘child free’!

Unfortunately it looks like Mrs Wren didn’t like to location or build of the nest by the kitchen window and they appear to have somewhere else.

Not all is lost though, because just two days ago a pair of robins were seen taking nesting material to that very nest.

They must either be a new or, as I suspect, the garden robins that have had their first nest nearby found and raided by a predator – my money is on one of the local cats.

I’m just hoping they continue with this nest, lay eggs that are successfully hatched and fledge all their chicks.

In the meantime all of the tomato, broad bean and sunflower plants are outside in the greenhouse, growing rapidly.

I suspect it’ll be bank holiday weekend when the first ones are put out in the garden, when they are strong enough to sustain any attacks from slugs and snails.

The weather looks like being good for a while, so watering the garden will be crucial in the coming weeks, not only to keep the flora going, but also help the birds with keeping their thirst quenched and food available.

They will of course get mealworm supplements from me while chick rearing season is going on.

CHICKS ON THE RUN?

The local population of house sparrows, robins, great tits, blue tits and the resident magpies have been making the most of the mealworm hand-outs in the garden recently. 

And it seems to have benefitted the great tit chicks as they are seemingly about to fledge.

They did hatch about a week before the blue tits, so it can only mean that the garden could soon be without the chirps from hungry chicks – unless of course the parents decide on a second brood.

If the great tit chicks are seen, then images will appear on this blog in the coming weeks.

Unfortunately the great tits nested in a nest box without a camera, after it was moved to a different box over winter, so there’s been no opportunity to see them.

And while the blue tit nest box does have a working camera, it has only produced limited clear video footage, up until today…

It looks like all eight blue tit eggs hatched and all eight are doing very well. Fledging will probably be early next week, but here’s a couple of pics of life today for them, including an early stretch of the wing and flight feathers.

Fingers crossed both fledgings can be filmed or pictured, and perhaps even one of two of them jumping on us, as they did a few years ago.

The robins and blackbirds could soon by showing off their chicks soon, although with a pair of magpies with young, they would be wise to keep well out of the larger birds’ pecking range.

With colour now emerging from all corners of the garden, it just needs some warmer and sunny days so us humans can sit out and enjoy it too.

A NEW FAMILY IN MY NESTBOX

Two main bits of news since my bizarre video from a few days ago. First of all thank you to those people who told me that the bizarre video was of ermine moth caterpillars. The fully grown moth is below.

The blue tits’ nestbox (the one with the camera that still doesn’t work) now has house sparrow chicks in, which I can hear calling for food.

I’ve never heard of this kind of behaviour before (a bird taking over another nest immediately after the first birds fledged), although, as previously mentioned in my blog, I did find a dead house sparrow in the nest of the blue tits a few years ago.

It’s great to know that two species of bird have utilised the same ‘house’ that I’ve provided for wildlife, and good to know the mealworm, peanut and seed hand-outs I provide are being used to help raise the next generation.

I’m not sure when the house sparrow chicks will fledge but suspect they have another three or maybe five days left in the nest.

In other news the robin chicks have visited the garden with one of the parent birds and made use of the mealworms I’m still providing.

The great tits and blue tits have not been seen in or around the garden for a few days and I suspect they’re not far away, just skulking in the hedges, bushes and trees while the parents undergo the annual moult.

There seems to be plenty of young birds about, much more than last year, including magpies, blackbirds, goldfinches, chiffchaffs and long tailed tits.

A large family of long tailed tits visited the garden this week and I counted nine, which may not mean seven youngsters as there might also have been a couple of cousins and siblings of the parent birds.

The good news has been a dramatic increase in the amount of bees visiting the flowers in the garden. The foxgloves have been a particular favourite with roses and pyracantha a taking second place.

Let’s hope the summer can deliver some good conditions for continued growth and prosperity of all wildlife, to make up for last year.

HOW MANY BIRDS HAVE CHICKS?

The weather is playing mind games with everyone at the moment; one day it’s spring, the next day it’s like winter is returning.

I’ve been continuing with the mealworm hand-outs and also kept the fat snacks filled, both of which have been very well received by the birds.

Putting the mealworms out has given me a chance to calculate which birds have chicks, and if so find where the nests are.

I know the blue tits nesting in the camera nestbox have got chicks, even though I can’t see them because the camera isn’t working! The two parents are very grateful for the mealworms, because it seems there are very few caterpillars about.

When there haven’t been any mealworms on offer the blue tits are taking tiny fragments of the fat snacks for the chicks, which is unusual but seems to be working.

Two robin families are present and I’ve managed to track one to the railway bridge, although the exact location of the nest is yet to be determined.

The other robin family hasn’t been traced, although I know the general direction the nest is in.

The railway bridge robins seem to have some neighbours in the shape of a pair of swallows who I think are building a nest right underneath the bridge.

I know swallows that nest under a swing bridge over a river, but I’ve never heard, or known, swallows nesting under a railway bridge.

The house sparrows are also taking some mealworms along with a pair of great tits, although the location of these nests is still a mystery.

I suspect the blackbirds are on eggs as I’ve only seen and heard the males during the last week.

The male great spotted woodpecker is now a daily visitor, mainly to the fat snacks although I’ve seen him take a few mealworms.

He’s such a flighty bird that he’s rarely around for longer than a few minutes.

With little natural food it seems all the nesting birds with chicks are using the fat snacks to feed their youngsters, which is something I’d never thought about before.

Even so, I’m limiting the mealworm hand-outs as I don’t want the birds to be reliant on them as I can’t be here all the time to put them out.

Next time I might have some fledging news!

ANY DAY NOW

I've been keeping a close eye on the nestbox over the weekend and the female appears to be getting very agitated while sitting on the eggs.

I expect she's like any expectant parent, eagerly looking forward to seeing her young, but also to spend a bit more time outside.

The eggs are turned over at regular intervals to ensure they all are at the right temperature - how she knows I'm not sure as there's no thermometer! The picture below was taken while the female had five minutes enjoying the good weather.


The male has been very attentive, bringing in food for the female and probably to see exactly what's going on.

It's been two weeks since the first four eggs were laid, so I'm tuning in every hour to make sure I don't miss that first chick. The incubation period is 13-15 days, so it can't be too long.

My mealworm supply is ready and waiting, so when the chicks hatch, the parents have a helping hand in the first crucial days.

I have noticed some caterpillars on surrounding trees, although can't tell if there are plenty to go around for all the birds who rely on them to feed their young.

I'm still concerned about the blue tits, as they appear to be setting up home elsewhere. There's still hope of them using another nestbox in my garden or even next door's hole in the wall, like last year.

Right I'm off to have another look, perhaps tomorrow will bring some positive news.