MORE FLOODS AND COLD NIGHTS, AS BIRDS RETURN TO THE GARDEN

The weather already in November has meant the lane as become a river twice, which is astonishing because I’ve only seen it like this about six times in the 12 years we’ve lived here.

It did the same last month and, given the amount of rain we’ve had, any downpours will simply tip the water levels well over the limit again.

The moorhens living around the pond and stream have been seen quite often recently, presumably trying to escape any potential danger from the fast-flowing water.

In the garden the leaves from the surrounding deciduous trees are covering the lawn, so I hope the worms and other small creatures can make full use of them.

The birds feeders are now seeing a number visitors, with blackbirds, wrens and dunnocks all being seen quite often.

I’ve heard the tawny owls calling on a couple of nights recently; it’s great to know they’re around, but I just don’t know if they stick around for the rest of the year.

There has been no sight of foxes, badgers or rabbits recently, but I’ve spotted a rat and plenty of grey squirrels at the top end of the lane, not too near the house.

If the weather manages to stop producing rain, and settle down for a bit, I hope to see and hear a little bit more of the wildlife.

The pond has now cleared up, so the water is crystal clear. Unfortunately, the oxygenating plants have perished, so in the spring I’ll get some more to help any wildlife that wants to utilise the ‘facilities’.

We did have a small tortoiseshell butterfly in the house, seemingly trying to spend the winter, but constantly being woken up by the house warming when the heating went on.

Then when I found a box to house it in the garage, it seemingly found a new place and hasn’t been seen in a week. Hopefully we’ll see it again in spring.

DO BUTTERFLIES HIBERNATE WHERE THEY WERE BORN?

Happy New Year! This is the seventh year that I’ve been writing this blog for, which started in 2008 with a simple gift or a nestbox from my partner’s parents.

Now as we enter 2014, the number of animals, particularly small garden birds, that it’s chartered the lives of is continuing to grow.

Blue tits, great tits, robins and house sparrows have all been born in my small garden and fledged.

This year I hope to have to nestbox cameras and at least three nestboxes occupied. The second nestbox camera will be fitted when the stormy weather has calmed down.

Three new things have happened since Christmas, two of which I’ve been pleasantly surprised by.

Today was the first sighting of the long tailed tits, which I take to mean that the natural food resources are now almost gone.

It’s been much later than previous years, but given that we’ve not seen any snow and only a handful of frosts I’m not surprised.

I’m hoping to get some pictures of them soon to share.

The start of 2014 disturbed the hibernation of a small tortoiseshell butterfly, so I’ve made use of a Christmas present box and provided it with a place to rest until spring. It’s behind my couch so won’t have much disturbance, which is what happened when it first appeared in the kitchen window (below).

 

I’d like to believe that it was one of the six that my young daughter raised and released in late summer. If they do have a homing device to hibernate near where they were born than that would mean it’s true. Here's one of the six that were releases back in September.

 

Finally a friendly robin is now following me into the garage and practically asking for food. It watched me fill up the bird feeders and then starts to take food from them if I turn my back for a second.

I’ve not managed to get a picture of this clever robin, but as I know natural food supplies are very low I’ll be filling them up regularly and will expect to see him/her quite often in the coming weeks.