Birds, Bees and a Wet Squirrel

An excellent week for bird spotting, but not so good for a squirrel.

I have seen a young green woodpecker on the Robinia Pseudoacacia, which is at present delighting us with a wonderful show of its beautiful and sweet smelling pea-like flowers which hang in racemes. The flowers are for some reason a great attraction to pigeons who sit and pick them off, despite much calling and hand clapping from us. This tree has another interesting property in that it is an eco-friendly tree to have in ones garden, as it absorbs a lot of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, than most other trees.

We also have young robins, blackbirds, chaffinches, wrens, dunnocks, mistle thrushes, pigeons and magpies in the garden. A new bird to the garden is the carrion crow, he is so large that he dwarfs the magpies and jackdaws. He must have a nest of youngsters in the vicinity, because he joins us every morning when the food is put out for the creatures, it is interesting, as soon as he appears everything else, both large and small immediately hides in bushes and trees or flies away.Once he has cleared the food then off he goes and I then put a second lot out for the usual avian visitors to our garden. It may seem odd to many people that I feed not only the little songbirds but also the larger birds which prey upon the song birds, the reason for this is that while I am feeding them, they are not predating others smaller than themselves.

 I had an amusing moment recently, I was feeding and watching a young squirrel who as yet, unfamiliar with his athletic abilities ran down the lawn, biscuit firmly in mouth, as he reached the pond he took a flying leap forward, only to be surprised by the length of the pond as he fell "PLONK" right into the middle. This is not the first time I have witnessed this and years ago I used to rush out to "save" them, but soon realised that they can swim ---even if not by choice, so now I just watch their antics, they always survive. This one quickly high-tailed it out of the pond across the garden and up into the Robinia Pseudo-acacia, where he climbed high into the sunny crook of a branch and sat alternately grooming and shaking himself.

The middle side lawn which has always been noted for its density of daisies, now has an amazing amount of white clover on it also and is like a magic carpet, with an odd bright yellow dandelion here and there. The bees love this flower infested lawn.

The bees also love the Morrocan Broom/Cytisus Battandieri with its bright yellow, pineapple smelling, upright racemes of flowers, which at the moment is is in full bloom and with its tremendous size is an amazing sight.

The whole of the garden is alive with movement, it is so full of life. Yesterday we saw a pied wagtail and today a grey wagtail.

Everywhere we look there are dozens of bees. The most favoured plant in the garden for bees is the Jasminium Beesianum, it has miniscule red flowers that are so prolific they smother the leaves and cover the plant and they in turn are covered by bees. This plant grows over an arch and while it is in bloom is attended by thousands of bees of many different types. We have another of these plants falling down a bank and it is just as popular with the bees. At the end of our garden on either side is a woodpile (for wild life) I am considering planting a jasminium beesianum to grow over each of these.

Later in the day I watched a magpie greedily eating ants from a nest in the middle of the lawn, it is not only magpies who love to feast on these little creatures they are also much enjoyed by green woodpeckers and blackbirds. The latter also use them for anointing themselves, it is thought the formic acid produced by the ants, kills the parasites infesting the birds.

Hertfordshire to Cambridgeshire

This is such an enjoyable journey, no motorways, no rushing, just smaller roads bounded by typically English countryside.

The verges at this time of year are so beautiful, they have not been cut back, but have been allowed to grow tall and are home to a wide variety of wild flowers.

High grasses compete with golden buttercups each trying to outdo with the other for the most light and ending up equal. I remember picking buttercups as a child, all children did it in those days and then held them under each others chins to see if the yellow reflection showed. When the colour shone back there was much glee in telling and being told that you loved butter. No logic, it was just a nonsensical piece of childish fun, which made us all laugh and feel happy. Post war, times were very different and pleasure easily found.

The verges are full of bright red poppies ( Malvaceae) otherwise commonly known as malvas or mallows, we mainly see common mallows, they have many flower heads which are lilac to mauve in colour, much less often we spot a plant of musk mallow, this is a delicate looking plant with white or pink flowers and beautiful cut leaves. Another delicate looking plant is the cow parsley and other members of the umbellifer family, at this time of year the verges are rich in this plant also.

One of the best sights though, has to be the pink and white dog and field roses cascading down, hedgerows and trees, they remind me of waterfalls and are stunning to see and also to smell, as well as being an excellent source of nectar for wildlife.

Wayfaring trees/ bushes are also very noticeable at this time of year, with their large clusters of creamy white flowers, and of course in the autumn they please both us and the wildlife with their huge clusters of bright red or black berries..

Occasionally we see verges barren of wild flowers but covered in tall grasses, which seen from a distance have an attractive pale purplish haze

Horse chestnuts and laburnums have finished flowering, but we look forward to the long, dangling, twisted seed pods of the laburnum and the rich beauty of the fruit of the horse chestnut tree - conkers - in the autumn.

The deep pink of the hawthorn is beautiful when seen massed on the plant. In some cases hawthorns have left behind their shrub like form and have grown into very characterful trees, with their knobbly and gnarled branches and trunks.

Foxes, Badgers, Young Robin and the Female Duck.

The foxes were late coming to feed last night. They fed quickly and what they didn't devour they carried away with them. Within a few minutes the badger came hurrying on to the lawn, but, alas  the food was all gone.

This morning I watched a young robin bathing in the back garden bird bath, afterwards he/she flew to the Cytisus Battandieri ( Pineapple Broom), where he/she sat firstly shaking the water off and then preening him/herself and all the while a parent bird sat on a nearby branch watching.

Late morning the female duck turned up at the lounge patio window, I took a series of photographs of her from appearing at the window, to feeding under the side kitchen window, then down by the pond and finally flying away from the lawn, outside the lounge patio window.

Spotted Flycatchers, Greenfinches and Starlings

Lucky bird spotting day, on a honeysuckle I saw a pair of spotted flycatchers. Later I noticed a pair of greenfinches, these birds used to be so common in our garden, but latterly like starlings they have become almost total strangers.
Thinking about starlings reminds me that recently Mike drew my attention to one on the peanut holder, he then told me he had seen one on there earlier. The starling had flown straight on to the hanging peanut holder, as he landed he grasped the wildly swinging wire mesh and was able to hang there eating. The nut holder soon became still and he stayed in situ enjoying his feast.                          

I would love to see these three birds back in the garden in their previous numbers.