A TYPICALLY QUIET AUGUST MADE EXCITED BY A NEW NEST DISCOVERY

With much of the wildlife still seemingly hiding away, it’s been left to a few of the stars of the garden this year to make the headlines, and also one big surprise.

First, the big surprise and it was the discovery of new nest in the garden just last week; a nest from a bird I’ve seen around the garden and lane, but never thought it would nest near the house.

The bird in question is a goldfinch, which has nested near the top of a small bush/tree, about eight feet from the ground and in a fairly precarious place.

I’d been hearing a lot of calling from the goldfinches around the garden in recent weeks, particularly in the last week or so, and looking at the state of the nest I suspect the young had recently fledged.

It’s brilliant that a small garden can provide the right environment for birds to nest, so now the goldfinch can be added to the list of nesting birds in the garden, alongside blue tits, great tits, robins, house sparrows, tree sparrows and blackbirds.

The robin family now appears to be in dispute with one another, as one of the youngsters is seemingly trying to win our garden as part of its territory over one of its parents – I suspect the male.

They have both been seen often in the garden in recent weeks and it would seem it’s quite a good place to have.

Who will triumph in the end? I don’t know but both are quite feisty and friendly in similar doses – friendly to the humans who live here.

Another now regular visitor is the hedgehog, who can be seen, and often heard, most nights.

The hedgehog is leaving regular deposits of poo around the garden too, but is also getting around the neighbours’ houses and is also being provided some food by them.

It looks like the hedgehog has found somewhere it likes, and if collectively we continue to provide the right environment for it, then it’ll hopefully stay.

One of the most important things is allowing free and easy access to all the gardens and making sure the cats and dogs stay away from it.

I think most of the neighbours are excited to see a hedgehog, so hopefully it’ll stick around.

IS WINTER CONFUSED IT’S AUTUMN

Autumn didn’t really bring the any stormy conditions, or any real autumnal chills, and so far this winter it seems that we’re only experiencing autumnal weather.

Is the wildlife around the garden thinking it’s ‘still’ autumn, or do they simply carry on with life according to the daylight hours?

It must be said that real winter conditions are mostly confined to January and February, although March and even April have generally seen more snow than December.

Snow is a great indicator of what’s been in the garden at night, when we’re mainly sleeping, so we’re currently relying on daylight for visitor spotting.

A walk down one of the lanes near the house with my eldest daughter did reveal a couple of interesting local visitors to the area.

A flock of goldfinch seemed to keep one step ahead of the walk, while a small flock of curlew flew a few feet over our heads after being disturbed in the field within a hundred yards of the garden.

It’s great to now these specialist birds are finding winter sanctuary just yards from the general area round house and garden where the tits, sparrows, robins and blackbirds all spend much of their time year round.

More winter walks beckon and it’s hoped that waxwings are spotted after a friend saw a small flock nearby.

In other news the nest boxes have been cleared out and only one of the five had a nest in – old faithful being occupied for the ninth consecutive year.

One egg was left in the nest, and although I’m sure a pair of house sparrows nested in there at first, the egg looks very much like a blue tit. Have a look for yourself though and let me know if you think any differently to me.

It leads to the conclusion that a pair of blue tits used the nest after the house sparrows and failed to lay more than one egg to left the nest, were disturbed during egg laying or brooding, or fledged chicks but left a dud egg.

Personally I think it was one of the first too.

The nest was made of moss and the top layer contained many horse hairs, presumably from the two horses kept in one of the fields near the house.

So, will 2017 see more nesting? I hope so and I’ll be changing the entrance hole of one of the new nest boxes (with a new camera in) to a slightly wider fitting, to hopefully give more birds a chance to use it.

Both cameras are seemingly working, at the moment, so now we’ll be looking for any roosting birds.

SEPTEMBER WARMTH LENGTHENS SWALLOWS’ STAY

The sudden warmth of September delivered the hottest day of 2016, which was good news for the thousands of insects that seemed to come out of nowhere and into people’s homes.

It also meant the local swallows extended their stay in the UK, although in the last 24 hours they have been seen gathering on the telephone wires again.

This is a sure sign that they will soon head for their wintering grounds of sunny and warm Africa, many for the first time.

Judging by the amount of youngsters seen in the local skies, it would appear to be another good year for swallow fledglings, so many people will be hoping to see even more next year.

They are beautiful birds and one that many link directly with the return of warmer weather and, when they leave, the signal to darker nights and colder days.

The roosting sparrows seem to have outgrown their site next door and some are now in the small amount of wall climbing plants on the house.

A couple of birds are roosting about six inches from the door and appear to be quite happy even when human eyes are gazing at them.

The next box cameras haven’t been checked for a while, so with autumn starting to make it’s presence known they will be checked and cleaned to provide roosting opportunities for cold birds this winter.

Once again the crane flies are out in big numbers this month, just like last year, which has provided a feast for some.

The snail and slug ‘explosion’ prior to the recent warm weather appears to have dropped off, presumably because of the heat.

They are sure to make a comeback soon, although we’ll probably only be able to tell when we hear that tell tale crunching sounds while walking in the garden in the darker evenings.

SNOW IN THE GARDEN IN MARCH – AS PREDICTED!

Within a few days of my last post about snow in the garden in March, it snowed in the garden. The first snow it has seen this winter.

It wasn’t exactly a snowstorm and didn’t last that long before it melted away, but it certainly brought a sense of reality to the wildlife.

 The long tailed tits have been spending much more time in the garden in the last week, making use of the bird feeders. But they are often bullied at the feeders, so were left pinching bits of scraps as the blackbirds, robins, great tits and sparrows gorged themselves.

Another caterpillar found it’s way in to the house via the front door, but I suspect it’s the same bright green one I saw a few weeks ago. The Butterfly Conversation kindly told me on twitter that is was an Angle Shades caterpillar.

The other darker caterpillar was/is an Old Lady. Both are moths and the sightings are not unusual at this time of year.

The Angle Shades caterpillar might even emerge as an adult in the coming weeks, whereas the Old Lady is usually seen as an adult in the summer.

Neither nest boxes have had any overnight ‘guests’ this week, which is a bit surprising as this time last year at least one had some nest building occurring. 

I’ve kept the smaller hole on the new nest box as I’d like blue tits to take it over, but I might have to rethink that and put the bigger one on, if nothing uses it this year.

More cold and wintry weather is forecast, so it’ll be interesting to see how the wildlife reacts as we head towards Easter.

SWALLOWS RETURN TO SPARK SUMMER WARMTH?

Lovely sunny weather in the day has meant colder nights, not the ideal conditions for planting out new plants.

I’ve put some out in the greenhouse, broad beans and sunflowers, and they have so far responded well; continuing to grow well.

More potatoes have been planted so hopefully we’ll have a good supply of spuds from August onwards – perhaps even up until November.

The tomatoes, runner bean, onion, cornflower, cosmos and more sunflowers have been planted, so there should be more green shoots by the end of Easter.

The birds have been flocking to the garden, with the blackbirds picking up plenty of worms from the lawn and blue tits, great tits, dunnocks, robins and sparrows feasting on the peanuts and fat snacks.

But the big news this week has been the return of the swallows. I watched jealously as people report swallow sightings across the country through social media, but this week I heard the sweet sound of spring and summer in the air.

I looked up and saw five swallows showing off their aerobatic skills and they seemed to be having a brilliant time, chattering all the time.

The next job I have is to find out where they’ll be nesting, and also if I can see where other nests are. Stay tuned for updates as I check out the sites I know were occupied last year, particularly the robins by the railway bridge and blackbirds in a nearby small bush.