RSPB Birdwatch 2017

A date that is now firmly on the January calendar is the RSPB Great British Birdwatch. This year's birdwatch took place last weekend and we took to the conservatory with the binoculars to watch the birds for a while and complete our survey. The RSPB survey is the biggest British survey of birds and involves watching for an hour and tallying which birds visit various places for the hour's duration. It provides vital data and statistics on our birds in the UK. Anyone can take part, you just need to visit the RSPB website and register. 

We have many types of birds that visit the garden throughout the year so it is always interesting to see which ones happen to visit the garden during the period we undertake the birdwatch survey. We have a small apple tree towards the back of the garden where we hang out various feeders containing suet, sunflower seeds and hearts and various other types  of bird feed. We also have a bird table where we scatter seed and titbits for the birds. Both feeding areas provide some shelter and hiding places for the birds to feel confident to visit. We always ensure there's plenty of water for the birds to drink too - we have two nicely sheltered bird baths and the pond and its waterfall is always a great attraction for the birds. 

This year we were lucky enough to have a magnificent crop of apples on the apple tree back in autumn and although we picked plenty to make sauces and pies, there were still plenty left on the tree and plenty of windfall apples underneath it. With the cold conditions and heavy frosts of the last few months, the birds have been coming to the garden regularly just to feed on the apples. They have enjoyed them so much, we have been putting put more of the apples out that we had picked and stored in autumn to encourage them to keep on visiting our garden. Each day we have had to put out more. It's been interesting to see we've had fieldfares and redwings come in from the parkland and fields behind us. We've also had a moorhen take up permanent residence since Christmas and sometimes a partner arrives now and again to share his feast. 

During this year's birdwatch we counted magpies, wrens, blackbirds, fieldfares, redwings, robins, sparrows, greenfinches, chaffinches, coal tits, blue tits, great tits, wood pidgeons, thrushes and one resident moorhen - so not bad going! We often have other regular birds as well as these, including goldfinches, long tail tits, starlings and pied wagtails. They must have been feasting elsewhere during the hour long survey. 

Next up on the garden birdwatching calendar is to watch out for the blue tits and great tits. This is the time we usually see them exploring the bird boxes we have fixed in various places around the garden. It doesn't feel too long before we can watch them preparing to nest and watch them swooping in and out in with twigs and moss ready to breed and produce eggs. It's a wonderful process that usually goes on until May when the chicks hatch and fly the nest. It's a lovely and fascinating thing to see and look forward to. 

Spring at Last!

Spring is well and truly here, we have come to the end of March and it's nearly Easter and it's that time of year when we have those beautiful displays of bright crocuses and yellow daffodils popping up everywhere. It's that time with the longer days and lighter nights when everything in the garden starts to wake up again and there is one display of flowers after another through the rest of the year. 

Sunny yellow daffodils are always a welcome sight, brightening up the garden - they usually arrive around the time when we've just tidied up the garden after the winter and cut the lawn for the first time in months. Suddenly the garden looks set and ready for the growing season and full of promise for the enjoyable days outside in summer. 

I always associate the vibrant colours of the spring flowers with Easter time: yellows, purples, pinks and white - early colour before the summer's vivid displays. 

The daffodil blooms always coincide with the busy activity of the birds too. Suddenly the dawn chorus is getting louder and the birds in the garden are hypnotic to watch. Blue tits and great tits are coming in and out of the nesting boxes and the feeders are being emptied by greenfinches, robins, long tail tits, chaffinches and goldfinches - even the blackbirds are flapping around them eager to join in, but they struggle to balance and are a sight to watch! The pond is full of frogs and their spawn and you can see it bubbling with activity too. 

It's an exciting and promising time in the garden - enjoy it! Here's wishing eveyone a very happy and enjoyable Easter holiday! 

Wonderful Wildlife - Blue Tits and Great Tits

Every year we are lucky enough to have birds in the two nesting boxes we have in the garden. One box is by a rambling rose on the pergola and another is on an old birch tree trunk, which is near some tall bamboo plants and shrubs. Both situations give good foliage cover for the birds. We had a family of great tits in one box and blue tits in the other. 

It is always lovely when you suddenly spot that the birds are nesting again. You see them searching around the boxes and then it seems to go quiet and you think there isn't going to be any actually nesting this year, then suddenly you realise they are there after all, as they begin to get busy feeding. It culminates in a few frantic weeks of the birds constantly coming and going to and from the boxes as they feed the young. It is absolutely fascinating to watch and can be a bit mesmerising. 

It is lovely when you first hear the chicks have hatched and you can hear them chirping away waiting for the next grub to arrive. The parent birds must use so much energy as they search for grubs and fly to and from the nest from dawn until dusk. 

If you are lucky then you get to see the chicks fly the nest, this is a sight to behold and can leave you transfixed by the window for hours if you are not careful. If you miss that treat, you can usually see the chicks fluttering around the garden, usually in the borders and hedges. The parents are never far away, still helping to feed them. We watched the parent blue tits toing and froing from the fat feeder we have in the apple tree and taking it to the young fledglings in the herbaceous border. The great tit fledglings were fluttering and hovering in the blossom tree for most of the week. 

Both sets of birds seemed to hatch and fledge a week or so earlier than usual. I don't know if that is because of the mild winter we have had or not. You can always guarentee that they are gone by the end of May though whatever the weather. 

The great tit perching on the tree stump, bringing back the dinner! 

Flying off busy to get more grub!

Perched on the pergola. That's one very juicy grub you have got there! 

And back with another one, those baby blue tits must be hungry! 

Just popping out for a take away! 

I need a rest, this is getting hard work! 

I will just stay quiet and still, someone is watching me I think! 

Mother and father great tit, where is my brecko? 

If you don't hurry up I'm coming to get it myself for goodness sake! 

At long last you are here! 

You're going to have to get some more for me, sorry! 

And now I'm trying to fly and feed on my own! 

I think I like it up here! 

Now if I tweet loud enough mum or dad might just come with dinner once more if I'm lucky!