Gardens and wildlife

Maz said:
That’s amazing :). It looks like a great art exhibition. Do you do a lot of photography?
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Thank you :) I have done a bit. My solo art exhibition a couple of years ago was a mixture of textiles and photography. Really, I’m a textile artist, but I find that photographs do help to inform the textiles and make sense of them
 
What camera do you use? I love my camera but don't get chance to use it much these days. Except sometimes when taking pictures of Raffy but the light is very dim then. Mostly I use my phone for hamster photos! They're usually blurred anyway with hamster movement :ROFLMAO:
 
I have an Olympus pen digital camera...DSLR. I keep thinking I should get it out to take some photos of Blossom, but she's pretty speedy and I only usually have my phone to hand when she's doing something I want to take a photo of!
 
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Mine is an Olympus OM-D EM10 - micro four thirds. It's small with small lenses which I like and looks and operates like an old fashioned camera - with the knobs etc instead of push buttons. I didn't like digital cameras until I got this one. Had it about 6 years now though - family clubbed together for a big birthday :) I hope it lasts a long time as there aren't many like that and Olympus doesn't exist any more!
 
I like my Olympus too. I had just a point and press digital camera first. When I got my DSLR I was already familiar with Olympus so plumped for that one. I've had it for about 15 ish years.
 
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I have not managed to snap any photos of my robin visitors but recent events have been amusing.

Over the winter I fed my regular robin, male I believe, but noticed occasional disputes with another robin over my food. Territorial rights being upheld I assumed. So I may have fed two but independently.
Now Spring has sprung and mating is in the air! Two robins ask to be fed each day and are clearly a pair. The larger male will even pick up a piece of food and hand it over while they are on the ground. The smaller female may not have been a regular here, maybe younger. She is now used to asking for food, but unlike the male will fly up to the foliage above and come down when the food is available. The male will wait only a few inches away.

A couple of days ago I was amazed to see a robin that looked like my female on the windowsill of an upstairs room facing the front of the house. I was looking out of the window anyway. We exchanged looks and when I was reasonably sure this was a ‘food please’ look, I went downstairs and opened the rear door to the patio and waited….and….indeed a few moments later she appeared there and was duly fed. That is one intelligent bird!

If they have built a nest then I don’t know where it is.
 
That’s such a lovely update on your robins Coco, I hope they have nested somewhere nearby & you will get to see some beautiful speckled babies this year 🤞
They are very intelligent little birds & your’s obviously know when they’re onto a good thing.
Have you seen any courtship behaviour when the male bobs up & down showing off to the female? I’m sure he must be very proud of his patch there with you & very keen to show off to her!

My robin is getting quite wise now, not tame like yours (unfortunately my birds have been terrorised by a feral cat the last couple of months & are all very nervous) he knows that if he sings loudly by the door I’ll pop out with some more mealworms for him so I’m hoping he’ll keep getting a bit braver & I’ll be seeing more of him now.
 
I haven’t seen any courtship behaviour sadly but whenever it happened it clearly worked.

In the last few days more small birds are hunting for bird food. The robins prefer the softer pellets broken up by me and have 3 flavours, insects, mealworms and berries. A couple of sparrows are together and after the bird food nearby. Some Great Tits too. I don’t put out a great deal at a time as I have watched how much they eat and the balance gets gobbled up by a pigeon who knows what is going on. So a little several times a day is better.

I only let them down when I am gone for several hours on Granny duties!
 
That’s a lovely gaggle!
I’ve started hearing geese flying over a few times another sign that spring has sprung even though it still doesn’t really feel like it.

Frida that’s lovely that you have a nesting pair of robins in the garden.
 
It is a great view. Like most things in life though, when you're here all the time and life gets hectic, you stop seeing it after a while!
 
Maz said:
It is a great view. Like most things in life though, when you're here all the time and life gets hectic, you stop seeing it after a while!
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I’m sure there are those odd ‘pause’ moments tho when you stop, and look, and breathe, and remember what a great view it is :)
 
Well we have a small front garden with a swing seat and that's usually the time when you appreciate the view - on a nice warm day sitting on the swing seat - but that's not very often. And the wall is in the way! I used to be more focused on the garden than the view really. It's nice to have a clear sky view from the bedroom window though. People who come here comment on the great view, but we forget somehow. And it can look a bit bleak in winter.
 
First hedgehog sighting today!
I saw two this morning, it was still dark so they weren’t out in daylight, feeding together picking up bits under the bird feeders, both looked a good size too.
I was a bit surprised as the last couple of nights have been really cold again but they should be out by now & have probably woken up hungry.
Now I just have to find a good cat proof way to feed them…….
 
elusive said:
First hedgehog sighting today!
I saw two this morning, it was still dark so they weren’t out in daylight, feeding together picking up bits under the bird feeders, both looked a good size too.
I was a bit surprised as the last couple of nights have been really cold again but they should be out by now & have probably woken up hungry.
Now I just have to find a good cat proof way to feed them…….
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Wow! How exciting to see them. I wonder if they are a couple.😍
 
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