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.

CHRISTMAS CHILL CAME NOT THIS YEAR

Christmas has come and gone, and I missed the opportunity to update this blog due to work, pre-Christmas activity and then being struck down by flu.

I do, however, still manage to ensure the birds were fed, as often as possible, although they probably didn’t need as much support compared to previous Christmas’, mainly due to it being fairly mild.

So mild in some parts of the UK that we in Scotland it reached a low of almost 17c, AT NIGHT. While it’s not unusual for us to get the temperature in December, it’s certainly unusual for it to happen at night, as this BBC report explains.

Nothing much has happened in the garden over the last few weeks, although the relatively benign conditions are probably one of the reasons why the flu bug is has been creating havoc!

The wildlife has benefited in that natural death rates at night will be low and food will be fairly easy to find, with water also not a problem.

I’ll be clearing out the nest boxes in the next week or so, before I decide whether to hook up new cameras – I might just get one new one for the original nest box.

Over the first few weeks of 2020, I’ll reflect on 2019 and how the garden changes, so be prepared for some images.

It’ll give the weather time to get cold and bring us some snow, good for killing bugs and helping the next breeding season avoid too much death through little bugs.

CHICKS EVERYWHERE

The garden has been filled with chicks recently, both in and out of the nest boxes.

For several days the garden was home to foraging robin chicks, all closely followed by at least one parent.

They didn’t appear frightened by the increasing amount of foot traffic around the garden, disappearing into the bushes while humans were about, before returning to the garden once the all clear was given.

The nest box that’s been used every year since it was put up, has proven successful again, and the great tits that I witnessed ‘reserving’ the prime nesting position in the garden, are the proud parents.

I suspect they may well fledge from Sunday onwards, but with cooler conditions currently setting in, they may wait until early next week when it’s due to be a bit warmer.

I bought the first batch of mealworms, which the robins, great tits and house sparrows made use of. Unfortunately, the magpies raided the storage container early one morning and hoovered the rest up.

Another batch has arrived, and this time the magpies had better stay clear!

The house sparrows have also got a brood of newly fledged chicks, although I don’t know where their nest is.

Finally, the swallows have been seen mating on telephone wires above the garden, so they are obviously content to be back and ready for another family.

There’s not much action in the pond, although the flora is definitely blooming.