Gardens and wildlife

[Maz]

Lovely photos and it looks like a lovely walk - very scenic and it is certainly freezing cold!

 

[Lovelyness]

I got out in the garden for the first time this year today. I spent a lovely 2 hours out in the sunshine clearing up the patio and cutting back and weeding in the beds. Quite a few things beginning to flower too…snowdrops, hellebores and crocuses It’s also the RSPB big garden birdwatch this weekend. I spent a pleasant hour of birdwatching this afternoon. Here’s my list for this year…
Collar dove 2
Robin 1
Blue tit 2
Goldfinch 3
Magpie 1
Coal tit 2
Wood pigeon 2
Starling 3

 

[Maz]

You’ve had sunshine?! I’m very envious - we’ve had grey and fog for about a week and snow forecast!

Your garden looks amazing and exciting to see things growing - lovely photos.

And lovely to spot so many birds. Round here we don’t get so many garden birds but round about, pheasants, lapwings and sometimes ground can be spotted. Plenty of pigeons and sparrows though!

 

[Socks' Mum]

You're lucky with the sparrows, I miss them, cheeky little birds We are low on goldfinches and no coal tits that I have ever seen On the exotic and rather charming side, there are a lot of ring necked parakeets in the garden and they sit and stare at me amiably to remind me to feed them. They are talkative (in parakeetese) and social birds A heron comes into the garden to try to fish in a small fish pond here Blue jays and woodpeckers visit. There are goose and swan flyovers from the Thames, though I never see them with goslings or cygnets anymore. I don't know if they have lost habitat or if the Thames is too filthy now

 

[Lovelyness]

I have once had a parakeet in the garden (from the local park) and a couple of times had a jay, from the woods nearby. The collared doves from last year seem to be back to last year’s nesting site which is lovely. I did see a wren too this morning having a drink from the ‘bird bath’

 

[Maz]

I forgot about the parakeets near you Socks Mum - where did they come from again? Do they belong to someone and live there or are they escaped ones? We also get a nest built under the eaves by the bedroom window each year, which I thought was Swallows but was never quite sure if they were Swifts that have just taken over an old nest. Never quite managed to identify them as they're too fast and even photos are blurred!

 

[Socks' Mum]

You're very lucky to have swifts / swallows nesting under your eaves, that's lovely. They need places to nest these days. Yes, the parakeets are probably descendants from the sixties generation as many parrot type birds were abandoned at that time because of fears about them carrying psittacosis. The ring necked parakeets were intelligent and resourceful enough to survive and find other parakeets There is also an urban legend about them escaping a film set

 

[Maz]

You're very lucky to have swifts / swallows nesting under your eaves, that's lovely. They need places to nest these days. Yes, the parakeets are probably descendants from the sixties generation as many parrot type birds were abandoned at that time because of fears about them carrying psittacosis. The ring necked parakeets were intelligent and resourceful enough to survive and find other parakeets There is also an urban legend about them escaping a film set

So they are just descendants of escaped ones? Did no one try and catch them or round them up? Although if they are surviving well then maybe no need! Nicer for them to live wild. I'm surprised they survive uk winters! Do you recognise any particular ones

 

[Socks' Mum]

Yes, escaped or abandoned parakeets. I think the ones who survived quickly realised being free was much nicer than living in the human world. The temperature problem is interesting. They started out in the south I believe and London's pollution probably helped keep them warm I met a man with two huge blue parrots once in a park and he said his birds were comfortable because the temperature here was similar to their native land. I'm not sure where his birds were from though.

 

[Socks' Mum]

I think if I watched them enough I would start to recognise individual birds. They cover quite a wide area during the day and fly around in small flocks to parks and gardens to look for food. Some of the parks have parrots who roost in them.

 

[Maz]

I googled it and apparently they do very well in London in the wild and have adapted

 

[Socks' Mum]

I have noticed that they seem to go around in pairs within the larger flock, and the couples sit together in the trees in the garden, often with one on the feeder while the other watches, perhaps looking out for danger.

 

[Lovelyness]

Finally! Some sunshine It was so good to get outside for a lovely long walk

 

[Maz]

That looks lovely! We actually had a bit of sun here today as well, but also weather warnings for snow and ice this week-end. Roads are slippy.

 

[Coco61]

I bought a hanging bird feeder recently plus a bag of the best quality bird seed when I spotted them on offer at the supermarket. I put it up so that I could watch from the kitchen window and refill easily.
As I hoped, some blue tits found it quickly and they eat messily so some seeds scatter below on the grass. The robins like that as they prefer to ground feed as does a sparrow. The garden birds were my main target at this time of year when other food must be low.
I knew pigeons would come and they mainly peck up the seeds spilled on to the grass so OK.
However…..I had underestimated the hunger out there at this time of the year. The robins have learnt to flutter at the feeder trays long enough to get some seed. The pigeons watch and try but can’t do it. A couple of magpies, crow etc have managed it and yesterday a grey squirrel managed to hold on upside down and eat a huge amount from the little trays.

I know they are all hungry so I have some sympathy but at this rate they will eat me out of house and home! I bought more bags of seed while on offer and put bread crumbs on the patio for the pigeons but this morning I saw one hopping up and down on the patio doors looking inside as that is where I go out to do the refills. Had to admire that!
So I am adapting my strategy to try and favour the little garden birds who need the food the most.

 

[Lovelyness]

My dad finds that too…if it’s there, they’ll guzzle it down!

 

[Maz]

I bought a hanging bird feeder recently plus a bag of the best quality bird seed when I spotted them on offer at the supermarket. I put it up so that I could watch from the kitchen window and refill easily.
As I hoped, some blue tits found it quickly and they eat messily so some seeds scatter below on the grass. The robins like that as they prefer to ground feed as does a sparrow. The garden birds were my main target at this time of year when other food must be low.
I knew pigeons would come and they mainly peck up the seeds spilled on to the grass so OK.
However…..I had underestimated the hunger out there at this time of the year. The robins have learnt to flutter at the feeder trays long enough to get some seed. The pigeons watch and try but can’t do it. A couple of magpies, crow etc have managed it and yesterday a grey squirrel managed to hold on upside down and eat a huge amount from the little trays.

I know they are all hungry so I have some sympathy but at this rate they will eat me out of house and home! I bought more bags of seed while on offer and put bread crumbs on the patio for the pigeons but this morning I saw one hopping up and down on the patio doors looking inside as that is where I go out to do the refills. Had to admire that!
So I am adapting my strategy to try and favour the little garden birds who need the food the most.

It sounds good having a strategy to feed the smaller birds. Squirrels are notorious. I used to have bird feeders and a squirrel would swing on it and shake it loose until it fell on the ground, flip the top off and eat everything. It was quite clever! I then bought an RSPB squirrel-proof bird feeder ...........

It looked a bit like this one but I am sure there are cheaper versions!

Squirrel Proof Seed Feeder | Squirrel Proof Bird Feeders | Webbs Garden Centres

Squirrels are notorious for getting at bird feed — so make sure your feed goes to the birds by using the squirrel-proof bird feeder for seeds.

www.webbsdirect.co.uk

 

[Coco61]

 

[Coco61]

This is my bird feeder. It was half full 4 hours ago! There have been a lot of visitors.
There are two small external trays which the small birds feed from.
New ones I saw were Great tits so not just blue tits. Also I had to look one up in our bird book. Turned out to be a male Bullfinch. I have never seen one before and was clearly identifiable from his bright red chest.