Cyn's Nature Notes: Birds visiting or flying over the Garden

Monday, 16 March 2015

Birds visiting or flying over the Garden

It has been a long while since my last blog post, however, I am thankfully now able to continue. Although I have missed putting posts up, I have often made notes. I will start again today and gradually fill in the missed ones.

Today's post is a very special one not only because it is the first for a long time, but also because spring is here - the garden is full of blossom on the trees and the ground is covered in flowers. Birds to the feeding stations, in the garden and flying over seem endless as a result I thought this a good opportunity to list them and take note of any missing species.

Birds visiting or flying over the garden:-

Cormorant--------flying over
Canada Geese----flying over
Blackbirds -------collecting nesting material and feeding
Blackcaps --------collecting nesting material and feeding
Bullfinches ------feeding
Chaffinches -----feeding
Collared Doves feeding
Crows ------------feeding
Dunnocks --------trios flirting and feeding
Ducks:-
Pair of Mallards -on pond, feeding and nesting
Finches:-
Bull -------------feeding
Gold ------------feeding
Green -----------feeding
Goldcrests -------on bushes and feeding
Gulls -------------feeding on the lawn
Heron ------------flying over
Jackdaws --------feeding
Jays ---------------feeding
Kestrel -----------taking smaller birds
Magpies ---------collecting nesting material and feedings
Moorhens -------feeding and on ponds

A moorhen in an unusual pose.

Nuthatches ------feeding
Owls:-
Tawny-----------heard at night
Barn -------------heard very occasionally
Partridge, red legged feeding
Pigeons ----------feeding and collecting nesting material
Pheasants --------feeding
Red Kite ---------once, flying over
Reedbuntings ---feeding
Robins -----------feeding and nesting
Sparrowhawk ---taking smaller birds
Starlings ---------feeding ------ much reduced in number
Swans:-
Mute-------------flying over
Terns -------------feeding on the lawn
Thrushes:-
Fieldfare --------feeding on lawn --- reduced in number
Mistle -----------collecting nesting material and feeding
Song -------------collecting nesting material and feeding
Redwings -------feeding on lawn ----reduced in number
Tits:-
Blue --------------collecting nesting material and feeding
Coal --------------feeding
Great -------------collecting nesting material and feeding
Long Tailed -----collecting nesting material and feeding
Treecreepers ------feeding from cracks in trunk of silver birch tree
Wagtails:-
Pied --------------on lawn, collecting nesting material (hair trimmings)
Woodpeckers:-
Great Spotted ---on tree trunks
Green ------------eating ants from lawns
Lesser Spotted --on tree trunks
Wrens ------------- feeding all over garden

So far this year we have neither seen or heard any of the following birds, although it may as yet be a little early for some. Sparrows, kingfishers, yellowhammers, grey and yellow wagtails, redpolls, siskins, brambling, marsh or willow tits, spotted flycatchers, whitethroats, little owls, cuckoos, woodcocks, red legged partridges, swallows, swifts, martins, chiffchaffs and willow warblers.

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About this Blog

When we moved to our present home in December 1987, I was very ill and bedridden. My garden was a life-saver, although it was very different then. The first thing I did was to put up bird-feeders, and long hours were spent lying indoors in a recliner. This was when I discovered many things. Do you know the underside of every blue tit’s tail is differently marked? Gradually, over the years, the garden changed. We put in shrubs and plants that would not only enhance the garden, but would also be good for wildlife. The first rabbit we saw was so joyful for us. The deer eat the flowers, prune the apple trees, eat the marrow, and are wonderful to watch. Foxes have been a major part of our wildlife. We have fed them each night for more than 20 years. They are such a delight, especially in late summer and early autumn when there are youngsters. They behave like puppies and are great fun to watch.

I love all wildlife: the mason bees that nest in the brickwork of the bungalow, the hornets that last year made their home in the roof above our bedroom, the bees currently nesting in the roof above the bathroom. On a hot evening, if you stand quietly in the bathroom, you can hear this amazing sound: it is very rhythmic and reminds me of the waves at the seaside. It is made by the beating of the bees’ wings as they fan their nest to keep the temperature at the right level -- how many people have heard that sound? I feel so privileged.

Obviously, I feed the birds. When I open the window in the morning I call “Come on Bobby and Blackie”, and one followed swiftly by the other they fly immediately to the bird table. Each morning, on rising, I make my way to the kitchen and find the squirrels already sitting on the window ledge waiting to be fed. Winter brings the moorhens and spring time the mallards. Our pond is a poor effort from a human point of view, but wild creatures see it differently. On summer days, the grass snakes spend long hours in the pond: eating the fish, froglets, toadlings, newts, and any other living creature they can swallow. Although I hate to see the pond emptied this way, I do enjoy the snakes and feel they are an important part of the balance of nature in the garden. Watching a dragonfly nymph climbing out of the pond, up a plant stalk, and then over the next few hours gradually transforming into a beautiful dragonfly -- these are contented hours well spent.

It has been my pleasure to write and publish a nature column each month. I am always delighted to hear how much pleasure this brings to my readers. I have often been asked if I have written a book, so I am making more of my writings and photography available through this web site and blog.