Don't you just love Dads!

The first text I got off my Mum this morning told me that my Dad had seen his first ever Woodpecker! It was the local Green Woodpecker feeding on the fat square in their garden first thing.

This made me smile as my dad is in his 70's and never really been into the whole nature / wildlife thing.
What made me laugh out loud was the fact he thought it was a Parrot! :-)
Bless him!
Have to say I'm jealous though, as we never got them (Woodpeckers or Parrots) whilst I was living at home!

Anyway, back to my garden and I'm pleased to say we now have a pair of Siskins regularly feeding on the nuts.

Male Siskin

Pair of Siskins (you can just make out the female at the bottom)

They seem to arrive later on in the afternoon, as though they're dropping in on their way home.
The large flock of Long Tailed Tits seem to have diminished slightly and we now only have 2 that come every day, obviously they've started to pair up now.

Hello!

The Chaffinches have now noticed the Sunflower Seeds, which is bad news for the Coal Tits as they're chasing everything off that ventures near the feeder! I was thinking I might alternate layers of normal seed in with the sunflowers just to see what else it will attract.

Chaffinches hogging the Sunflower Seeds

Coal Tit before being chased off by the Chaffinches!

The Lesser Redpoll hasn't returned yet but I'm still watching out for it every day, it may return with the Siskins again, you never know!

I also noticed the Rat has a partner so I'm assuming somewhere in the wood out the back may be a whole load of baby rats running around! As long as they stay out there & not inside then they're okay.

Diseased Chaffinch?

We have a flock of around 7 Chaffinches who come into our garden every day, the other week I noticed one of the females had something wrong with her foot. I thought it was a clump of mud & seed stuck around her claws but after trying to focus on it (unsuccessfully), I realised there were lots of what appear to be little cysts.
Does anybody know what has caused this?

She wouldn't stand still long enough for a clear shot!

She seems to be well & has no difficulty keeping with the flock & feeding, I'm just curious to know what this is & whether it would be contagious to the other birds?


On a brighter note we finally had our first Siskin in the garden today - a female all by herself. I did scan the surrounding trees/scrub but couldn't see any more of them.

The rat was also very active today and kept scurrying across to the crumbs of stale cake!

And of course, the Robin not wanting to be left out of the photos!

Layer Cake

Hmmmm, what can be tastier than fat, raisins and chestnuts placed in layers in a peanut feeder?!

The Great Tit seemed to like it!

And so did my favourite garden bird.........

Long Tailed Tits

We had about 9 Blackbirds all down at once today munching on the apple and raisins then chasing each other off, I love the way they launch themselves across the garden looking like a torpedo!

Other visitors included Chaffinches, Dunnock, Coal Tits, Blue Tits, and the ever present Robin.

Apologies the photos aren't the best but they were taken through the upstairs window (I really should get round to cleaning the windows!)

But my favourite photo of the day has to go to my favourite bird (have I mentioned that they are my favourite garden bird?!).......

Adorable :-)

Winter Wonderland

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

(Sorry it's a bit belated!)

We awoke yesterday morning to a winter wonderland and a menagerie of feathered friends!

What a nice way to start 2010!

We took a walk to our local woods (Knocksink Woods) which was covered in snow - there is something quite magical about snow, it makes you more aware of the landscape, especially when there's nobody else around.

The small pond was nicely frozen ...

We saw quite a lot of deer tracks going down to the rivers edge, unfortunately we didn't see any deer though.

We also saw some other tracks which we have no idea who they belong to. Again these were going down to the waters edge and we only saw one set of them.

If anyone has an idea of what they are, I would be grateful.

Back home and the garden was still just as busy with Blackbirds, Magpies, the usual array of Tits (including Long Tailed I'm happy to say!),

Dunnocks, Chaffinches, Robins ...... even the Bullfinch edged a bit closer ... though still not close enough for a decent photo!

And we had another new visitor who was taking an interest in the chopped apple.......

A Blackcap!

We even had 3 Greenfinch land on the nut feeder briefly, before being chased off by the Robin.

All in all it was a very good day for garden birds, I'm hoping this is a sign of things to come!

Brrrrrrrr!

There is a definite wintry chill in the air now! Judging by how busy the feeders are I would say the birds are feeling it too! Its been non-stop activity all weekend. I'm thinking of buying extra feeders to cope with them all!

The Chaffinches have now taken to clinging onto the peanut feeder which isn't pleasing the various Coal/Blue/Great Tits at all.

So far over the weekend the sunflower seed feeder (which slots on top of the pole) has been found on the ground twice! I found out why this morning when I watched a Rook trying to eat the seeds from the small portholes then fly off with such vigour that the thing dropped to the floor - I didn't even know Rooks ate sunflower seeds!

Also had 2 Jackdaws clinging clumsily on to the fat ball feeder & the peanut holder this morning, whilst the smaller birds watched from the sidelines, almost as though they were willing the Jackdaws to fall off!

The Long Tailed Tits are becoming regular visitors now (which I'm very happy about!), and there were 2 Greenfinches in the ferns earlier today. I even spotted the Bullfinch picking the last of the berries - this one was definitely a male judging by the bright red front!

No photos today, unfortunately, but hopefully will post a short video later in the week showing all of this activity (if I can work out how to use the thing!)

Dry Spell

We actually had a bit of a dry spell this afternoon and the birds certainly made the most of it! At one time I counted 4 Blue Tits, 4 Coal Tits, 2 Great Tits, 1 Robin, 1 Long Tailed Tit, 7 Chaffinches and 1 Greenfinch all darting to the seed tray and feeders. The Great Tits were chasing the Blue Tits off the nuts, the Blue Tits were chasing the Coal Tits off the fat square and the Coal Tits were chasing anything that moved!

Great Tit

Long Tailed Tit

Robin

I spotted this fungi growing out of a branch high up the old Oak tree, I've no idea what it is but I thought it looked cute (if fungi can ever be described as cute?!)

Busy, Busy!

I have a good feeling about this weekend! I've refilled the feeders this morning and already the garden is buzzing with activity - Great Tits, Coal Tits, Blue Tits, Robin, Chaffinches, Wren, Dunnock have all fed so far today and it's not even lunchtime yet!
And I've heard the depressing whistle of Bullfinches close by (can't see them yet though).
There is a definite wintry chill in the air which is probably why they've all come down for a feed and the trees are almost bare of leaves making it easier to spot (& photograph) the birds,.

Yes I definitely have high hopes for this weekend.......

New Menu

Well, I've tried everything today... cheese... coconut... apple... seed... nuts... raisins.... the birds have more of a selection than I do! I had a couple of the Chaffinches come back (though fleetingly!),

and the Robin was still doing his Hummingbird technique, and even the Coal Tit brought his mate along so I should be grateful.

Of course, looking on the bright side my feeders aren't that busy because there's still plenty of natural food around for them......but the selfish side of me wants them to bombard my garden!
I don't think I've ever been this impatient for the cold weather to arrive!

The Onset of Autumn

Yesterday had a definite autumnal feel to it, grey and cold - every time a bird landed in the trees, leaves or twigs came falling to the floor.

I think the birds also felt it being as they never left the fat ball & nut feeders all day - it's costing me a fortune! There was a flurry of excitement as all of the Tits (Blue, Great & Coal) were battling it out for the nuts - have to say the winner was a bit of a surprise........it was a Chaffinch! I didn't think they even went on the nut feeders.

The 2 Dunnocks were positioned underneath the feeders picking up any bits that fell.

I was quietly watching the Willow Warbler pick insects off the leaves of the Oak tree when 3 Long Tailed Tits appeared! They waited in the ferns for their turn on the feeder but it never came and they flew off before sampling the food. I'm hoping that once the colder weather arrives, they will become regular visitors.

Visitors to our back garden

We've been lucky enough to have family of 5 Jays visit every day since June, the juveniles are quite cute and inquisitive, although still wary. They are very noisy though and tend to scare off the smaller birds...still not everyone is lucky enough to see one of our most beautiful birds close up so can't complain!

We have the usual array of Blue, Coal and Great Tits fighting amongst themselves and chasing each other, I honestly don't know where they get their energy from!

Flock of 9 Chaffinches have started visiting us, they're treating us like a take-away restaurant! Have to refill the feeders every day, even the Woodmouse is making the most of any seed the Chaffinches drop and is filling it's little pouch up with as much as it can!


The Robin has started singing it's territorial song at the top of the tree every day now, I guess that means he will start chasing away the juveniles soon.