birdwatching

Nesting & a New Visitor

Happy Easter!  I hope your Easter weekend was filled with happy and peaceful times, as well as chocolate eggs 🙂

I have eggs of another kind on my mind at the moment, because for the past couple of weeks I have spotted a blackbird making a nest in our garden.  She’s borrowing the top of a robin nesting box which we put up a couple of springs ago, not long after we moved in here.  Robins have so far never used it, but apparently it makes the base of a very good, if somewhat messy, blackbird nest!  I haven’t seen her there for a few days, and was beginning to think they’d given up on it, but this morning the female was back with a beakful of dry grass and old leaves and disappeared into the hole in the ivy, adding a bit more to her presumably cosy little structure.  I have also discovered it’s VERY difficult to take a photo of her doing this!  But here’s a pic of her tail disappearing into the undergrowth…

DSC_0136

There must be all sorts of materials in there – you can clearly see a large piece of lacecap hydrangea and a bit of a fir branch hanging out of the nest.  I do wonder if she’s nearly finished it – apparently blackbirds take around two weeks to build a nest.  It’s usually made of grass, straw, twigs and other plant material (clearly!) and they may use it to raise two or three broods.

The site is just opposite one of our kitchen windows, and pretty close to the back door of the house.  I put the nest box there purposefully as I thought if it ever gets used we’ll have a great view of what’s going on – but I’m hoping they don’t abandon it at any point because of us coming and going nearby.  I’m really very excited about this nest!  A little blackbird family could be living, literally, right on our doorstep.  I’m looking forward to watching their progress.

These could be the pair in question – but it’s hard to tell because there are quite a number of blackbirds present in our garden at the moment.  Sometimes it’s like Blackbird Wars out there as territorial males chase each other about!

We have also had a new visitor lately – a jackdaw, which comes down and nicks scraps from the tall bird table, occasionally visiting the feeders.  It’s only recently when I saw this one that I noticed what striking eyes they have – so pale against the dark feathers.  They’re really quite handsome birds.  Here’s our new pal…

DSC_0201

It’s not the best shot of him – I’ll keep trying!

 

 

Yellow

I have spent ALL DAY outside today, and it’s been wonderful.  Yellow has been a theme running through…

It was bright and only a wee bit cold so I headed out straight after the school run on my new favourite walking route, which goes through fields, past some interesting houses and into the woods, with some cracking views both to the north and south.  The gorse is already showing a generous sprinkling of yellow flowers in places here.

DSC_0012

There was a plethora of bird life on offer too – blue tits, great tits, some more flirty chaffinches and a few flocks of geese crossing overhead, presumably ready to leave their winter holidays in the UK behind and head back to their breeding grounds for the spring. However ‘tweet of the day’ was the yellowhammer.  I didn’t actually clap eyes on one, but a number of them made their presence felt as I made my way along a path through Christmas tree fields – they were telling me over and over about a ‘little bit of bread and no cheese’ – their distinctive song which, for me, is the sound of country fields and hedgerows, the bird’s typical habitat.

This was not the first yellow bird I’ve noticed today, as the siskins on my bird feeder caught my eye this morning.  These bold little visitors have been coming to the garden for several weeks now.  The first time I saw one, I thought it was a yellowhammer, but consequently realised it was a smaller, but similar, siskin.  They’re not often seen in gardens, but are driven into them when the weather is wet and the cones which they usually feed from are closed up.

They started off sharing the nyger seed with the goldfinches and now seem to have taken over this particular feeder, with four of them squabbling over the feeder at breakfast time this morning.  They’re not shy either – quite often they stay on the feeder when I approach it, only wheeling off at the last minute when I get a little too close for comfort.  With the cold, wet winter finally losing its grip on us, I wonder how much longer I’ll see these little flashes of yellow sparking in the back corner of the garden.

DSC_0673

Siskin and Goldfinch share the nyger seeds

 

 

A walk in the woods

I hadn’t even stepped into the woods when I heard the noise which literally stopped me in my tracks and made me grin broadly.  The sharp rapping sound of the Great Spotted Woodpecker rang out – a warm, hollow drumming; I stepped forward and there was a distinctive bouncy flutter through the trees; then it came again, further away, the note a slightly higher pitch than before but unmistakeably the sound of a sturdy Scots pine resonating under the drilling of that large pointed beak.

The sound makes me grin like a loon every time I hear it, partly because I feel so lucky to walk just a short distance from my home and hear such a singular sound of nature, of a bird which is fairly common but not always easy to spot.  But I was also grinning because the sound of a woodpecker drumming on a tree, like some teenage rocker practising licks and fills, means Spring is most definitely en route.  The woodpecker is staking out its territory, and advertising its presence to potential mates, getting ready for the nesting and breeding season which is peeking its head around the corner.

Yes, the signs are all around now, though it’s so early in the season that you still have to go looking for them.  The trees are still quite bare, of course, but the stark branches reveal evidence of last year’s nests, a reminder that the time is coming for the materials to reused and recycled for new homes, soon to be built when the leaves return to provide essential cover from predators and the elements.  The leaf buds are small, but they’re there.

Near the ground, the snowdrops are now making themselves more obvious – popping up in clumps under trees and at the roadside; and the green shoots of the occasional daffodil are working their way out of the soil.  These are the typical signs of spring – but now look up and notice what the birds are doing.  Further into the woods some chaffinches are chasing each other so fast they’re almost blurry – seemingly taking advantage of a sunny, bright morning to indulge in a rather flirtatious game.  I walk a bit further in search of one of my favourites – a jay, which is squawking crossly from the top of a nearby tree, but as usual he is one step ahead of me and off to take refuge near a hedge, giving me only the briefest flash of his distinctive white rump, which is enough to satisfy me for now.  A pair of woodpigeons somewhere nearby are cooing contentedly and as I stand for a few minutes, watching three (or was it four?!) red squirrels scamper through the trees, there’s a Great Tit nearby loudly and persistently calling “teacher-teacher-teacher” as if to get the attention of some invisible educator in what was turning out to be a rather busy woodland classroom.

Long-tailed tits

DSC_0660

The long-tailed tits are back!  These gorgeous little birds first appeared on my garden feeders last year around the same time.  They came back periodically for a couple of weeks and then left again – it looks like they’ll be doing the same this year.  No doubt the very cold weather we have just now is driving them back to my garden looking for some high-energy snacks to warm up their tiny bodies.

They come in a small flock, at least three of them, sometimes five or six, clamouring for a space on the nut feeder, those long tail feathers poking out in all directions as they manoeuvre for the best spot.  I love their round little bodies and pinky feathers, their punky head stripes, and of course the long tails – slightly longer than the rest of their body in fact – which make them rather characterful and give the impression of a much bigger bird than they really are.  These pinky, punky little friends can come and visit anytime.