Young newt

I was overjoyed this afternoon to spot an eft, running across a border which was next to an area overgrown with stinging nettles, brambles and at ground level was a tangled mess of ivy. An eft is a young newt, he was golden brown in colour and about two inches in length. He was delightful to watch, I think he must have been disturbed, because it was broad daylight and the best time to spot these appealing little creatures is at dusk with a torch in the breeding season. The little eft I saw was quite a way from the pond, maybe twenty feet, but at this stage in his life he is a ground dweller, and will only return to the water to breed when he is an adult.

Newts breed in the spring, when they return to water to breed, eggs are laid singly on leaves which are then curled over to protect them from predators. A tadpole will emerge from the egg, it has feathery gills, with which to breathe, the newt tadpole will grow front legs before back ones, as it develops it will lose its feathery gills and will leave the pond to live on land. During this stage between tadpole and adult they are known as efts.

When they mature into adults they will return to the water to breed.

Foxes and ducks

Earlier this evening the foxes came to feed, both parents and the two larger cubs, unfortunately we don't see so much of the tiny cub, she is very badly set upon by her two elder siblings whenever she appears, they rush at her and attack her violently, as quickly as possible she escapes into the undergrowth and has only once crept out to feed long after the others had left, scavenging for crumbs where her family had earlier fed.

This evening there were two cubs and one adult feeding, when something drew their attention to the roof, at first only one of the cubs noticed and stared up, then the other two also became aware and leaving the food, moved with one accord further back across the lawn and all three stared upward, for a few minutes nothing happened. They continued to stare and then it was over and they all moved back to the food and continued feeding.

The only possible cause for them to be so fascinated was if they had seen the ducks.

Roof ducks and gutters

The  ducks are still spending their days and nights living on the roof, when it rains they don't even come down to drink, being happy to slake their thirst from the gutters!

They fly down to be fed and then usually go straight back, today they made a visit to the pond where they mated before returning to their perch on high.

The squirrels continue to give us much pleasure daily, they are masters at balancing and any edge or ledge will suffice.

Mallards on the roof

The last week the ducks have taken to spending their time on the roof, they fly down for food and to drink from the birdbaths or the pond.

It feels strange to have a pair of mallards living on the roof, in all the years we have lived here this has never happened before. They seem perfectly happy, flying down to the patio or outside the kitchen window and waiting to be noticed and fed, after eating they waddle across to have a drink and after a wander back and forth across the lawn they position themselves facing the lounge patio window, do a few head bobs and then take off to their new favourite place on the roof. I will be interested to see how long this new fad lasts.

In the past they have worried me by hanging around on the patio, the lawn or by the pond when the foxes are due, now things have changed as they spend very little time on the lawn preferring their higher roost.

At least they are safe from the foxes up there.

Goldcrest fledglings

We often see Goldcrests in the garden, they have been a garden visitor for as long as we have lived here and can be spotted all year round, usually in the silver birch tree. They are pretty little birds and easily identified by the stripe running from front to back on their heads, which in a male is orange/orangy yellow and in a female is yellow, in both sexes there is a black stripe edging the main one. The wings have a dark mark on them and two small white lines.

Today while I was at the end of the garden I became aware of the tiny call of a young bird, it was very soft and I wasn't sure which bird it belonged to, following the sound with my eyes but standing absolutely still, I saw the birds in question and was so delighted on seeing them to realise they were goldcrest fledglings.

There were four of them and they were in a conifer, a leylandii. Goldcrests are restless little birds and once you have watched them moving about, it is very easy to pick them out, their movements being quite different to other birds.

I watched them for several minutes and listened to them, they were calling all of the time, and for as long as I watched them I wished I had my camera with me. Eventually the longing to photograph these tiny fledglings became too great and I slipped quietly away.

Alas on my return they were no longer there!

Goldcrests are our smallest bird. Their nest is made of lichen, moss, small twigs and cobwebs and is cup shaped. It is built in conifers in what appears to be a precarious position, very close to the end of the twiggy end parts of conifer branches, and although it looks precariously balanced it seems quite safe, having been fixed to the branch with sticky cobwebs. Even in windy weather it stays in place swaying with the branches to which it is attached.

They eat spiders, caterpillars and insects, apparently goldcrests find it difficult to retain fat and because they have so little reserves, cold winters are challenging for them and if it is very severe they succumb to the cold. They have two clutches of eggs a year and are capable of producing high numbers of young, therefore off setting the danger of their breed being totally wiped out by successive cold winters.

Foxes, magpies, male blackbird and a cat!

Each evening we are treated to the foxes feeding there are three cubs and two adults, two cubs are not far off the size of their parents but the third one is tiny, so small I don't understand how she can be their sibling. She arrives with the others, feeds with them and comes and goes as they do, so despite her tiny size I think she must be from the same litter.

The foxes do not feed alone, but before they arrive pigeons, magpies, chaffinches, a robin and a male blackbird all tuck in. Directly the foxes arrive most of these fly away, however the last few nights I have been fascinated to watch both magpies and the male blackbird stay and feed at the same time as the foxes. The magpie is bold, but the blackbird stays around the edges of the food as far from the foxes as he can, as yet the foxes have taken no notice of the birds, but this may change and if it does I hope they are able to quickly fly away.

There are a few cats that frequent the garden and one in particular a large black and white, saggy bellied cat has started dropping by and helping himself  to the fox food, as soon as he turns up, all of the birds fly swiftly away! He wears two bells on his collar so they always have warning of his imminent approach!!

Dunnock fledglings

Pleased to report seeing a dunnock feeding a fledgling on the lawn this morning. There were no other youngsters about and I wondered if this was the sole survivor of the brood, perhaps he left the nest early and the others will follow. I will keep watch and see if more turn up.

Greedy Birds

The evenings are growing lighter and staying so for longer, this means that when the fox food is put out, birds fly in to enjoy an evening feast or to collect food for their nestlings. First on the scene are always magpies, swooping in and swiftly grabbing food before flying off, pigeons next, always No-Tail and often with his mate, these are followed closely by robins and a blackbirds, collecting food for their young, sometimes a pair of chaffinches will also appear.

I have started putting out extra food, because the birds eat so much and now the foxes have cubs I feel they need more. Recently I bought dog biscuits and each evening put a handful out with their food these are quickly crunched up and seem to be a popular addition.

Tonight they had a special treat, as we bought a large tin of dog food a few days ago and this evening being short on cheese I decided to give it to them, not all at once you understand as the first one to arrive would simply gobble all of it. No, I decided to make sandwiches with it, the magpies and pigeons ate and appeared to notice no difference, the robins and blackbirds usually take the cheese from the sandwiches and this evening were clearly thrown as they went from piece to piece obviously looking for the cheese eventually each of them settled for bread, the foxes ate with their usual gusto and I still have enough left in the tin for tomorrow evening for them. I have decided to grate a little cheese and put that out for the robins and blackbirds tomorrow evening --- although whether they will be lucky enough to get it before the others, I don't know.

Yesterday we almost had a mishap, the two greedy pigeons - No-Tail and his partner flew down on to the lawn and started in their customary manner to eat as much as possible in as short a time as possible, suddenly No-Tails partner began acting strangely, she was moving very awkwardly, walking a few steps back and then a few steps forward, after a few seconds she started to walk round and round, but backwards, I realised she must have something stuck in her throat, pigeons are so greedy they swallow large pieces of food whole if they can, rushing around all the time in order to quickly get the next mouthful. She was still doing tight backward circles and I was ready to go and try to clear her airway if she keeled over - when suddenly a magpie swooped down next to her, startled she flapped her wings and took flight. I can report that this morning when I opened the kitchen window to feed the birds and squirrels there she was waiting for breakfast and no worse for her choking experience of the previous evening!

Fox runt and bullying brother

Interesting photograph showing the disparity in size between the foxes the middle one is the obvious runt of the litter and is the sibling so bullied at times by her brother, he is seen here behind her and has a large white end to his tail which also has a dark ring around the top.

The life and times of our garden robins

Two young robins followed a parent to the feeding station outside the lounge this morning, they were fatly round, brown and speckled, it was the first time I had seen either of them. Each of the fledglings waited on the ground while the parent flew to the fat dispenser, one trip down to feed one of the fledglings was enough to teach both of the youngsters and with one accord, they each took wing landed on the large square fat dispenser and started feeding.

We are lucky to have several pairs of robins nesting in the garden/garage/greenhouse, they give us pleasure throughout the year. In the garage they nest in a rolled up tennis net and have done so for more than twenty years, obviously not the same robins because they don't live that long. They also nest in a wicker basket hung from the roof in the garage, years ago I used to wonder if they found food inside the garage, then twice in the last few years when we have cleared and cleaned the garage we found a multitude of spiders, woodlice and various other insects and also one of the biggest fattest toads we have ever seen, on each occasion we found him in the same corner. Clearly there is enough food in the garage for a huge toad and also I imagine to supplement the diet of robins, when the weather is very bad.

In the garden they nest in the wood pile, in bushes and once in an old kettle hanging from a branch, in the greenhouse the favourite nesting place is inside one of the flowerpots stored there. Their nests are made of leaves, dried grass and moss, and lined with feathers and or hair. Two or three times a year they lay five or six eggs of a creamy colour with reddish brown speckles or blotches. Egg incubation is twelve to fifteen days and is done by the female while the male brings food to her, once the eggs hatch the male will feed the nestlings and female for the first few days, while the female broods them to keep them warm.

After a few days the chicks are down covered and the mother is then able to leave them, at this point she helps the male feed their brood, they will bring each chick up to forty meals a day. The adults will feed their young during the whole of the daylight hours, and I have found that with an outside light left on they will continue to collect food and feed their young long after dark. Although I have my doubts about whether this is really good for them, because of the energy expended during the day, I feel  perhaps they need the night hours to rest.The youngsters will fledge after twelve to fifteen days,when the brood will be divided and the parents will each concentrate on feeding their group.At this point the youngsters are very attractive, they are brown with brown speckles, that may not sound attractive, but because of the shades of brown and their shape they are very eye catching.

Although robins are very territorial and the males will at times fight each other to the death, especially in the breeding season their interactions with people are totally different. I have often heard them referred to as the gardeners friend, and indeed have found this to be so. Go into the garden to do some weeding or pruning and there is the robin, hopping here and there dodging  your trowel or perched on the prunings looking for insects or caterpillars, and making short work of anything edible he happens to find.

The diet of the robins in our garden is varied and consists of spiders, worms, grubs, insects, caterpillars, berries, apples, dried fruit, shredded suet, meal worms, oats, bird seed and a great favourite of theirs are fat balls.

Twice I have heard that male and female robins can be told apart by the brown on their forehead, in a male it is supposedly "U" shaped and in the female is "V" shaped. I cannot confirm this as despite having heard it twice, whenever I see a robin I am always so busy watching his behaviour that I forget to look out for it! Will try harder.

A Goldfinch First

Today for the second day running we had a "first".

Today for the first time ever a goldfinch came to the peanut holder outside the lounge. We are used to these pretty birds in the garden, but usually they are eating seeds from plants. This time of year it is the dandelion seed heads that draw them in, but the grass had been cut and there were no longer any seed heads waiting to be eaten.

Young blackbird, ants, fox and lucky pheasant

This is a first for me: today I watched a young blackbird, he spent several minutes pecking up and eating ants from the patio. This was a deliberate act, as at first he was eating the droppings from the fat balls and the peanut holder, then he noticed an ant and moved to pick it up, after that he moved backward and forward over the patio eating everyone he could find, and ignoring the fat and peanut droppings.

Later today we had some excitement with the arrival of a fox while the female pheasant was here. We seem to be the only ones affected, as the pheasant appeared oblivious to the fox and for some reason pheasant wasn't on the menu of the busy fox this day.

Young Dunnocks

Watched two fluffy young dunnock fledglings in the garden today.

Missing Jays

It is several weeks since we have had Jays visiting the garden, we see them flying across but they never stop. I wonder if the Magpies are to blame they used to harass the Jays each time they visited, and now they fly over the garden but never stop.

I wonder if they have young and are worried that the magpies will follow them and take their nestlings. I don't really know this is only conjecture and if when the breeding season is over they return then I will take note and next year will see if this happens again.

The Drake and the Fox

Yesterday the female duck hung around all day, constantly asking for food and spending time sitting by the patio window. I wondered where her partner was and during the afternoon she had trouble with a marauding male who we chased off.

This morning we still have not seen her partner. A short while ago walking on the lawn we noticed large duck feathers still with skin attached. I think the very thing we have worried about may have happened, that is the drake of our pair of ducks has fallen prey to the fox family.

This is not so surprising because the ducks would often still be ambling about the garden, during the time in the early evening, when the foxes were here, and I have always been aware of the danger, but so tame were the ducks that it was impossible to make them leave, no amount of hand clapping would have any affect, sometimes they would get up and waddle off to another part of the lawn, but mostly they just stared at us heads on one side, clearly wondering what we were doing.

Throughout the years I have wished the pond were large enough to support a small island in the centre where the ducks could rest undisturbed and in safety. I could not prevent the ducks being here or using the pond and am sad that the very thing that concerned me has now happened.

I suppose although sad, it was better this way than the duck being squashed by a car roaring along the lane, as we have witnessed at times, at least this way it probably provided nourishment for the young foxes.