WINTER IS ON ITS WAY, AS AUTUMNAL FROSTS ARRIVE

The garden has already seen a couple of frosts this year, but the influx of birds has yet to appear.

The garden feeders are being utilised, mainly by a few blue tits, the odd robin and great tits. Other birds are appearing infrequently.

One exciting development recently has been the appearance of a male sparrowhawk.

It was spotted on top of an outbuilding next to the house, and it appeared to be gathering itself after a failed hunt.

It look inexperienced so likely one that was born this year, but there’s hope in the house that it’ll keep making appearances in the future.

Of course that might mean negative news for the smaller garden birds, however it does mean there is a depth to the food chain in the area, with the top predator not being cats!

The next job in the garden is to clean out the nest boxes and make them ready for winter roosting. Checking the cameras are still operating will also be part of the process.

The flora in the garden has gained a new lease of live, with a large lily flowering, along with the rose bush.

The rose bush flowered in every month last year, and has done the same this year, proving it can withstand the rigours of all seasons.

It also means there’s a food source for any insects still hanging around before winter, and for those that appear early in spring on warmer days.

Once again the signs of lack of food in the surrounding countryside is likely to be signalled by the arrival of long tailed tits at the garden feeders, although there’s sadly little hope for any waxwings, redwings or other winter visitors given the history of not appearing.

WINTER STORMS BLAST THROUGH THE GARDEN

In the last post it mentioned ‘non-stormy winter’, well that certainly isn’t true now! A pretty ferocious storm has passed and another one, with less ferociousness, is currently running across most of the UK.

The first one had a big impact on the garden and surrounding area, with trees down, bushes bent over and one of the birds feeders being blown into oblivion – never to be seen again.

Three others survived in situ and have been a welcome supply of food for the birds after they had to spend many hours hunkered down away from the wind and rain.

The two nest box cameras are working, albeit only one is able to translate night images, but both have revealed no activity at all, which is very unusual for this late in February.

One nest box designed for tits, which has never been used, has been redesigned to suit robins, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that one of the locally resident birds use it.

It’s been semi covered with rose and ivy, so time will tell if that’s enough cover for them.

The blossom on the trees that emerged last week following the mild weather has been scattered over a wide area, so it may mean a depleted crop of fruit this year.

Cats are still a big problem and I wonder if them being in our garden is making the birds nervous and causing them to look for nest sites elsewhere.

The cat patrol has been stepped up and all cats near the garden are being firmly chased away.

Will it work? The birds will benefit if it does.

DRY AND COLD START WINTER – IN CONTRAST TO 2015

Winter is with us and has provided a fairly cold introduction, albeit much dryer than last year.

The cold weather has been interrupted by milder conditions, but the colder easterly winds should have enabled our winter visitors to arrive here without too much trouble.

Any warmer weather might tempt insects to come out, which will in turn feed birds and allow them to save the fattier foods for when they’re really need them in colder conditions.

There’s not been too much action in the garden, although a robin is making its presence felt with a few songs and ‘look-outs’ from several popular perches around the garden.

A male blackbird has been making the most of a decaying apple, which is ignored when it was thrown outside more than a week ago.

The nest box cameras will be looked at this weekend, cleaned out and cameras checked for the picture. Hope remains that next spring they both will provide some decent images of eggs hatching and chicks growing.

The birds will be getting a little shock in the coming weeks as the trees will be trimmed back, although the canopy next year might bring better cover for them to manoeuvre through.

Plant life is very much on hold, although a couple of rose flowers have recently bloomed and some snowdrops are emerging.

Time will tell if they will now delay, but with mild conditions here at the moment it’s likely that some growing will occur.

NEW ARRIVALS AMID SUMMER SUN

Little did I realise when I wrote my blog post last week that my imminent new arrival was exactly that.

A day after posting the latest update the garden saw another arrival, this time of the human variety and our second daughter.

Bizarrely a rose that emerged at the time our first daughter was born suddenly emerged again this week.

 

The rose plant hasn’t really grown in six years, but occasionally produces a lovely flower. Nature has a funny way of showing us things and while it’s likely to be coincidence, I’d like to think the garden was in some way saying congratulations.

With warm weather continuing to bathe the garden, the plants are reacting with growth spurts, albeit once I’ve provided enough water.

The blackbirds, house sparrows, tree sparrows, blue tits, great tits and robins are now fairly regular visitors to the garden, with most still appearing to have young, either in the nest or having recently fledged.

I’ve not seen many youngsters recently, but I’ve heard lots of chattering in the trees and bushes with parent birds appearing to be flying rapidly between the food sources in my garden and the fledglings in the canopy.

The swallow numbers have continually grown and this is most evident during the period just after dawn and early evening.

With shorter tails it’s easy to identify the youngsters from this year, but with plenty of them and the speed in which they all fly together, counting how may there are is almost impossible.

I've also seen a few house martins around and occasionally swifts – both of which I've seen in previous years and I know nest nearby – so I'm hoping this is a good sign that breeding has been good for them this year.

The slug and snail invasion is showing no sign of slowing down. The casualties mount up daily, although I do try and put live ones in our recyclable green waste bin so they can be ‘relocated’.

I’m hoping to have my first crop harvested this week, which will be the broad beans. It’s hard to tell when they’re exactly right to pick, but I’m looking forward to creating some dishes with them as a key ingredient.

IT'S RAINING ON MY PARADE

So this is 'flaming June'? I think not!

A day of constant rain has left the few garden visitors looking more bedraggled by the minute.

I'm sure the worms are not the only ones loving this weather. The reservoirs that needed a little drink along with rivers and farmers must be pleased.

This afternoon I watched a chiffchaff taking aphids from my blooming rose hedge, hoping he would stay around to eat all of them, but he stayed only for a few minutes.

A robin and blackbird then took advantage of the wet conditions bringing out all sizes of worms, although they took a soaking in the first place.

The next two days forecast warmer and drier weather and I'm hoping the plants, vegetables and fruit in my garden will benefit from today's soaking and have a growth surge this week.

Not much opportunity to see the swallows today, but I think the youngsters are near to fledging.

More updates later this week when I'm able to get out a bit more.