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.

Love is in the air........

...... everywhere I look around!

Okay, maybe not love but, by the way the birds are pairing up, breeding season is definitely around the corner!

I think the "cutest" couple has to be the Robins - he sits guarding the feeding station whilst she feeds on the fat balls, he even chases off the little Coal Tits who are only after a few sunflower seeds! When she's finished, he then flies to a high branch & sings his little heart out.

It's not surprising he's paired off already, when his territory includes the best bird restaurant in town!

We also have 2 pairs of Great Tits, 2 pairs of Blue Tits, 2 pairs of Coal Tits, 1 pair of Dunnocks (who don't stand a chance when the Robin is around!), and we now have a pair of Thrushes which I'm pleased about!


The Long Tailed Tits just arrive in a flock of between 7 and 11, you can tell they are very social birds and love company, and I've given up trying to work out the Blackbirds and who's with who!

So when Spring arrives and the first little ones are being fed by their parents, I like to think I played matchmaker a little & helped them get together!

Back to Normal?

Well...finally the snow has melted!

For the first few days of the wintry weather, it was a novelty, fun, a bit of excitement........ after the 4th day of walking to work & back, it was annoying & boring and "will it just stop please?!"

Still, most of it has now gone & our County (Wicklow) has now been hit by flooding!
What is going on with the weather? We're just waiting for a swarm of locusts to invade us now!

Anyway, the good news is that we managed to restock on the bird food supplies today and we bought a cool donut shaped fat ball feeder!

The Tits just loved it and, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, my fave garden bird visited it this afternoon again and again!

Happy Days :-)

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?!)

Thanks

I have to say thank you to those who commented on my last post advising me to wear my camera around my neck at all times!
This afternoon I managed to capture (not literally, of course!) my favourite garden bird - the Long Tailed Tit.
There were 3 of them that landed on the nut feeder only to be immediately bullied off by the Blue Tit!

Only got the 1 photo and it's quite dark but I don't care - at least they know where my garden is now!
Also managed to get a rather poor shot of the Redwing - it was hiding behind some ferns for a while but I just spotted the "red wing" and waited with my camera poised....

....it emerged about 20 minutes later and the only shot I could get has a branch in front of it!!

Never mind...will keep trying. Things are definitely looking up though!

Conspiracy Theory

I've come to the conclusion that my garden visitors (aka birds) are conspiring against me!

Example 1 Whilst washing the breakfast pots this morning, 2 (not 1 but 2) Goldcrests decided to chase each other up and down the branch of the tree right outside the kitchen window in front of where I was standing. Where was my camera? In the living room!

Example 2 After just refilling the feeders, I happened to look over to my right and what did I see watching me? A Redwing! My first ever Redwing - I was so pleased, I have never seen one before! Where was my camera? Inside the house!

Example 3 Whilst watching TV this afternoon, something caught my attention......approx 7 Long Tailed Tits were flitting and hanging upside down in the tree outside the living room window! Where was my camera? In the kitchen (in case the Goldcrests came back)!

Conclusion I need at least 3 different cameras, one for each room overlooking trees/garden!

Blackditch

Well, the peanut butter is still intact (untouched!) but the good news is that 5 Long Tailed Tits passed through the garden this morning, so at least I know they're still around AND there were 2 Goldcrests chasing each other through the bushes - things may be looking up!

I know this is a back garden blog but I went to our local nature reserve today (Blackditch) and saw a huge amount of dragonflies, I found them so pretty I just had to share! I admit I don't know what type they are or anything about them, I'm afraid.

There were also at least 30-40 Goldfinches in the trees eating the seeds from the pine cones, I've never seen so many before so it was a real treat!

Gunfire!

I awoke to the sound of machine guns this morning! No, war hadn't broken out overnight.....the noise was from 6 Magpies "shooting" at each other! This is fine at 7.45am on an ordinary week day when I have to get up for work but on a Sunday morning - I am not impressed!

Then you hear the sweet melodic tune from the tiny Wren and all is forgiven!
I am sure all birds in my back garden are conspiring against me....I sit and watch with my camera at the ready for hours and........nothing!
As soon as I put my camera down every bird in the wood appears. It's like the old Kit Kat advert with the dancing Pandas in the zoo!
Yesterday the Long Tailed Tit came back and fed from the nut feeder.....until I focused on it with my camera. Also saw a small flash of colour darting between the bushes - it finally landed on the big Oak tree outside the bedroom window and I realised it was our first Goldcrest, cute little thing and again flew off before I could reach for the camera. I could almost hear laughter from the Rooks and Jackdaws above!
On a more serious note, I haven't seen Peanut (the foxcub) for about 3 nights now, I'm still putting out food for him and it's always gone the next morning, but I suppose that could be anything eating it. Fingers crossed nothing bad has happened to him.

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.

Jackdaw

Had 3 Jackdaws on the fat ball feeder today (2 adults & 1 juvenile) - actually looked quite comical seeing these huge birds trying to cling on to the small bars!

Will cost me a fortune in fat balls though, they've already munched their way through 2 before the Coal Tits mobbed them!

Also saw 1 Long Tailed Tit waiting in the ferns behind the nut feeder - it didn't stay for long but hopefully it will be back with it's gang soon. This is the first one we've had in the garden so, fingers crossed, they may become regular visitors in the winter.