Floods, Ducks and Crows

It is a bright and beautiful morning, the sky is blue, virtually cloudless ans the sun is shining. The weatherman has promised us more rain, but for now the garden is full of flowers, the sun is shining and both lift the spirits. The river has swollen so greatly that it has overflowed its banks. The lane down by the bridge is flooded as are the fields at the end of the garden.

The ducks who by now are usually at the window waiting to be fed are happily swimming on the newly flooded fields. The water must have caused many worms to surface thus giving the ducks a feast.

Early this morning I watched more than a dozen crows descend on the orchard between our garden and the field, they were very noisy and flew in quickly one after the other. I think the name for a gathering of these birds is a quarrel of crows and it certainly suited them this morning. Eventually they departed, but one left rather later than the others, one wing had several flight feathers missing and I wondered if he had suffered an injury during the noisy quarrelsome meeting I had witnessed.

Long Tailed Tit Babies

The long tailed tits are collecting food and carrying it off - a sure sign that they are feeding nestlings.

These are the second birds we have seen carrying off food, yesterday we saw the coal tits doing it.

Coal Tit Nestlings

This year the first bird I have seen collecting food and taking it away is the coal tit, so this means it is the first bird in the garden that I know of to have young.

Coal tits make their nest from moss, lichen, hair or wool, usually low in a wall or tree stump, 7-12 eggs are laid usually in April or May and a second batch is laid later in the year.

The coal tit's eggs are small and white with reddish brown speckles, they are incubated by the female for 14-16 days and the young fledge in 16-19 days, after fledging the young are fed by both the male and female.

Great Spotted Woodpeckers

The new square fat treat is still the birds favourite, they even choose it over the peanut and seed hanging treats and easily over the round fat balls that I have used for years.

Very welcome visitors to the square fat treats are the great spotted woodpeckers. We have always enjoyed seeing them in the garden on various trees, old logs or the wood pile, but since we added the square fat treat to one of the bird feeding stations, they have been a regular visitor to it.

Through the years we have watched lesser spotted woodpeckers, (although not as many now), green woodpeckers which are a daily visitor to the lawns, and especially welcome when they come with their young and last but not least, great spotted woodpeckers.

Watch out for the distinguishing marks on the head of the great spotted woodpecker, once I learned to identify them it added a new dimension to seeing them. There isn't much to it, the female has an entirely black and white head, the male has a patch of red at the back of his head in the neck area, and the juvenile has a red top to his head.

Having enjoyed these birds so much I decided to research them and looked on several sites, I found much of interest, especially on the R.S.P.B. and the B.T.O. sites. I read that great spotted woodpeckers eat other bird's eggs and nestlings. I suppose I should have known that fact, because not only have I found nesting boxes with holes made in them but have also seen great spotted woodpeckers drumming on bird boxes. They will also eat marsh and willow tits, and the fall in the number of lesser spotted woodpeckers in recent years may also be due to the predation of them by their larger cousin.

I was sad to read that many young great spotted woodpeckers die through crashing into windows, I know this happens to many birds and have seen thrushes and chaffinches suffer the same fate. A friend has  been particularly upset on finding kingfishers dead on her patio, where they have collided with her window. I think it is likely to happen where trees and shrubs are reflected in the glass.

I always stop and listen when I hear the drumming of a great spotted woodpecker and try to work out from which direction it is coming. Both male and female drum, an unpaired male may drum as much as 600 times a day, whereas a paired male may only drum 200 times. Interestingly the timber resonating is not caused so much by the heavy knock of the drumming but rather the correct frequency of the knocks, which is 10 - 40 strikes per second. They are protected from damage to themselves by a shock absorbent area of tissue at the back of the skull.

The nest is excavated jointly by both male and female in a tree trunk and a layer of wood chips serves as the resting place of the eggs. There are 4 - 7 glossy white eggs laid and they are incubated by both parents for 12 - 18 days (or 10 - 13 days depending which site one reads), the nestlings fledge after18 - 21 days.

The life span of these strikingly beautiful birds can be as long as 10 years.

Goldfinches

The weather lately has been more wet than dry, the grass is growing rapidly and because it has been too wet to cut them, the wild flowers have taken hold and they look so pretty. I can see more daisies on my lawns than I am able to see stars in the sky at night!

There are also dandelions by the dozen, some of which have seeded, much to the delight of the goldfinches, a pair of which visit several times a day to eat these delicacies. In the winter these beautiful birds with their red faces and striking black, white and yellow plumage, visit the garden in flocks - known as charms of goldfinches.

Now it is springtime and nesting must be on their mind. Their nests are cup shaped and built in trees and bushes, from stems moss and plant material. Twice a year they lay a clutch of 4-6 eggs, which are pale blue with reddish markings, these are incubated by the female for 10-14 days.

The youngsters are brownish and speckled, except for their wings which are the same as the adults.

Blackbirds

Female blackbirds have been busy nesting in the garden for the last few days, I have noticed one building a nest in an overgrown clematis Montana, another in a rhododendron and a third one has chosen a conifer.

It will be interesting to see whether she stays in the conifer nest as it has been carefully pruned for the last fifteen or so years in order to provide both a sunshade and a wind break around a two person garden seat. I have no doubt that the one building in the overgrown clematis will stay, because she has built a nest in this same place for the last few years. It is however the first time I have known a nest to be built in a rhododendron, so that will also be interesting to watch.

Nests are always built by the female and are usually, but not always as I can attest to in my own garden, sited low down or occasionally even on the ground and I have also seen them in sheds and garages. They are made of straw small twigs and plant material and are a largish cup shape, inside they are plastered with mud and finally are lined with fine grass. The female lays 3 - 5 eggs and incubates them for 13 - 14 days, during this time they are fed by both parents on worms from the garden or if the nest is in woodland then catapillars are given.

They fledge at 13 - 14 days, but can survive as early as 10 days if necessary, once fledged the male takes over the feeding, while the female readies herself for the next brood. They usually have 2 -3 broods per year, however in a good year they can have four.

Interestingly the when the last brood fledges they are divided and each parent takes care of their youngsters.

Long Tailed Tits

The long tailed tits are enjoying the new fat treat, it is square and is hung at the feeding station near the lounge. Interestingly since the square fat treats have been hung, the round fat balls have been ignored except by the squirrels.

The birds with no exception all feed at the new square treat, the squirrels however managed to eat all three round fat balls in less than two hours. I felt it was three too many and so we sabotaged the squirrels by putting a copious layer of petroleum jelly over the lid of the fat ball container.

Despite trying repeatedly to reach the fat balls it now proved impossible for them. This is of course exactly what I wanted, but every time a squirrel comes and stands, gazing longingly at the fat balls, I feel sorry for him and guilty for preventing him reaching them.

Long tailed tits build a round ball of a nest, with a tiny entry and exit hole high up on one side. The nest is made of moss, lichen, and spiders webs and is lined with 2,000 or more soft feathers, it takes up to three weeks to build and between 5 and 16 white eggs with purplish red speckles are laid in it. The eggs are incubated for12 - 14 days and the nestlings fledge in 14 - 18 days, they are fed not only by both parents but also by other long tailed tits, especially males who have not bred that year.

The long tailed tit is one of only three birds that build a round nest, the other two are the wren and the chiff-chaff.

Starling and Sparrows

Starlings and sparrows are very common birds, where ever we visit we see them and yet they are rare to our garden. Occasionally we see them here but it really is hardly ever.

Today we had the privilege of seeing not one but both of these birds in the garden, one lone starling and a pair of sparrows.

I'd love to see them here permanently, perhaps one day we will.

Greenfinches

The greenfinches are back! They are feeding from the peanuts hanging near the patio door. We haven't seen them lately and it is good to welcome them back.

Although they visit the garden in pairs, I was interested to read that they nest in small colonies. Their nests are made from twigs, moss, roots and stems. They lay 4-6 whitish eggs with brown and black speckles, which are incubated for 12-15 days.

The young birds don't have the greenish hue of the adults they are brownish with a mottled appearance on their back and sides.