April

30th.  The month has ended with good weather which included highs of over 16 deg which has lead to a much greener scene in the garden. The action within the garden has been varied with sad and happy events being reported. The footer to all my pages has been most prophetic and always remind me that nature is a strange creature.

 The female Great Tit has not returned sadly. The male has been calling non stop but all to no avail. I took the nest out of the box and took a few pictures below.

Heartbreak as the four eggs remain only as a still of life.

The image illustrates the size of the egg alongside my wifes fingernail and a mealworm

Nature moves on quickly in the garden as the sadness was soon replaced with utter delight in the shape of a very welcome thrush. I had been watching as the Blackbirds had set up nest in some ivy against a house wall a few gardens down. I has noted that mealworms had been taken to the nest from the garden for some time...and then I heard the calls of young Blackbirds from various gardens. I first heard them late evening on the 28th but i could not see them due to thier reluctance to show themselves. I then spotted one juvenile in our garden hidden under the newly planted holy bush.

Here is mum as her fledged young looks, with beak open, to be fed.

This next picture epitomizes why wildlife gardening is well worth the effort in time and expense. How could looking at a large focal point in a garden, say....a turkish urn with water flowing over it with a bed of gravel compare to the satisfaction of  this , natures own focal point?

The first Juvenile to the garden in 2006, a Blackbird.

27th.  Sadly I have bad news in the garden. All has been going well in the Great Tit nesting activities. I think four eggs have been laid with the fourth being laid this morning at about 05:30. I began to wonder as I checked the video log after I got home. Normally speaking there are many visits to the nest even if it's just to to bring in a bit more bedding. They video log showed the last visit at about 08:00 this morning. That had alarm bells ringing. I also noted the Male singing in it's usual spot but no female was present. As I write this at 19:26 the female is still missing when she would usually be tucked up in the box with her head under her wing. This sad event was sadly mirrored last year at about the same stage as I watched a Sparrow Hawk take the female. I had another box available at the time so the male set about finding a new female and used the new box.

I think if what I feel has happened here again I will be cleaning the box out in the hope that the Male can repeat his feat like last year. I shall leave the box tonight and tommorrow and monitor it via the computer feed using the internal box cam. If no activity is noted then I will go ahead with the sad job of removing the nest and the four (?) eggs. I will be posting a few images of the nest as I am again reminded that nature can be a rollercoaster of a ride fiiled with all emotion which is always in the extreme in so many different ways.

I just hope that the Males efforts of getting this distance into breeding etc will be rewarded with a chance to mate again and have young. Fingers crossed and with a little intervention from me I will help in the home department.

A little good news is that the House Martins have been seen for the first time this year. One was flying not to high up over the gardens around here. I hope to see them around the usual nesting spot a few doors down from here.

18th. The nesting Great Tit story carries on to it's next stage as the Female has now chosen to roost in the nestbox. This usually means that egg laying will soon follow. I will be setting the computer up to start in the early hours as this is mostly when eggs will be laid. In truth one egg a day will be laid and the usual number I have experienced is between 5 - 7 so only time will tell. The Male will mate with her every day until each egg she holds is fertilised. The pic below shows her with her head tucked under her wing. The male is not far away with his usual night time calling song in progress. 

The days weather has ended lovely with quite a bit of sunshine about. It started wet and dull but the change allowed me to finish off the new section of planting I have been doing. I have taken up more of the lawn and put in some native plants along with  plants that will be of benefit to bees, moths and butterflies. It is sadly only a small section but non the less I am sure it will be of some benefit to me and the insects.

The female entered the box early at about 19:00

17th. A short note to tell of the recent visitors around the garden. First up was a Swallow which whipped around the gardens and shot off not to be seen again. Second was a Willow Warbler which did stick around for a little while as it gleaned insects of next doors Birch tree. Whenever I see Willow Warbler around the garden it always favours the Birch tree as I guess it is rich in insect life. I managed a picture ( albeit quite poor)  but considering it's flitting about and distance away I guess it was as goos as I could expect.

You can make out the head pattern of the Wiilow Warbler

I also took these two pics of the visiting male and female Grey Wagtails which I hope will be nesting locally and with some good luck may also bless us with a look at thier offspring. These two come very regularly to the garden to feed on the mealworm and also they do quite a bit of "sitting" around the pond area with a little wing stretching and preening.

The male on the right does not take his eyes off the female...wherever she goes he follows. I will try to get a few better images of these two just to help show the difference between the Males and Females

16th.  The Weather has been quite good so far this easter weekend with highs of over 13 degress in the garden. This fine. more settled weather has helped in the ongoing nest box building of the Great Tits.

You can now make out where the nest cup will be . The whiter finer material is the beginings of the said cup.

I have also seen Wrens, Starlings, Blue Tits, Blackbirds, Crows and Greenfinch all carrying nesting material. I managed to take a few photos of the Tit family making use of the Cat hair which I have collected from our cat and also they have been taking the fine hair from our recently installed hanging trough which was designed to attract Wrens into nesting ( also see the garden projects tab). I have now been left with several bare patches on the trough as they have ripped the hair away leaving the black liner showing....well at least it has been of some use this year. Here are a few pics of the mentiones activity.

Rather acrobatic as she hangs on to an ivy branch.

The Cat can at least contribute to the birds welfare...and the birds duly tuck in.

Even the Blue Tits can't help but get in on the act.

12th.  The Waxwings again returned to the polar trees running some 200' away from the garden. I am presuming that they are are two of the four that has visited in the last couple of weeks. It really is a privelege to see them so close to my own home...I just wish they could make it into the garden to feed on the cotoneaster and Pyracantha berries...and of course the "apple" tree fruits which (if you check further down this page) I hung out on a John Downie apple tree.

The Great Tit nesting is coming along nice as more work continues. Much of the activity is in the mornings with very little being brought in in the afternoons. Part time maybe? I will post a picture later to show the change in the nest box.

A solitary Frog still sits in the pond croaking as he tries his best to attract some interest. I am surprised as I am sure he broke out into an extra deep croaking frenzy reminiscent of Barry White!!

The temp has been the warmest it has been so far this year as it has reached a balmy 10.7 deg. The strong breeze has kept it feeling quite cold though.

This is the image I promised. Good progress has been made with much moss brought in.

10th.  Good news as the Great Tits have finally decided it was time to make a nest!!! My camera began recording at about 09:00 this morning as the first lot of straw was brought in. By 10:30 work had stopped for the day with no more nesting material being brought in. The picture below shows the work carried out so far. It will be interesting to follow progress as the weather is to turn decidedley wet and a little cooler than todays temps.

The sun has shone all day today but with the night temp dropping down to - 2.7 deg it took a long time to reach it's maximum of 7.4 deg although in the sun it felt a lot warmer.

9th.  The Waxwings look like they have now left us as I have not noted thier presence for a few days now. It has been a good month regarding bird visits with Siskins, Waxwing, Mistle and Song Thrushes and this morning at 08:30 a male Blackcap was routing around in a hedge in a neighbours garden. It then flew into the "Sycamore" which is always contensious as I seek to count it as mine although strictly it started it's life in next door garden but now extends 15' or so over the width of my garden. I have only had one other Blackcap visit, a female, about four years ago.

The temps of late have remained cold with snow and hail still covering much of the garden this morning. The max over last few days has been 8 deg with the minimum being - 0.5 deg. We have had a lot of rain so far this month so drought should not be a problem up here in the North West. The sunny weather this morning is set to change to cloud and wind later this afternoon but I am confident of the sun sticking around a little longer....I hope.

The Hogs are still a regular feature in the garden at night with a little hanky panky taking place for quite some time the other night. They forage with great zest to find any spilt mealworm but I mainly feed them chopped peanuts and a special Hog food which I buy from a bird food supplier. To my satisfaction they also make much of the garden pond as a drinking hole with lengthy drinking sessions.

News of the Great Tit nesting activity grows as the first bit of streaw was brought in on the 7th. No more has been noted but the visits continue and are becoming more regular.

Evening Update. The Blackcap returned mid morning and briefly broke into song from it's perch in a Silver Birch in nest doors garden.....again! I have not seen it since. I have posted a few pics below to show the on-off falling of snow. The temp at 20:00 is 0.3 deg and has not reached higher than 7 deg all day.

The snow was quite heavy at times but did not cover for long.

This is more a kin to a winter scene rather than spring. This picture is the view I get from the backside of the house as I look down the valley and onto a hillside which hides an old quarry.

2nd. I again was treated to several views of the Waxwings as thet carried on thier meetings in the poplar trees. The last visit was at 18:30 and to my surprise and utter disbelief one of them came into a Sycamore tree in next doors garden. It always proves a dilemma as whilst the tree hangs more or less half over the width of my garden I will not allow my self to count it as a garden bird. To combat this, and in the hope of counting it as a garden bird I have hastily cut up some apples and tied some wire round them and hung them on my, wait for it........John Downie apple tree of all things.

The raised crest on the Waxwing is a noticable feature here. Note the bill

My neighbour watched me do this and I can imagine that they are probably worried about my sanity! Who cares, I say as long as the Waxwings come in and have a look.

The weather has been true to it's heritage as we have has "April showers" alright today. They have been very heavy with a lot of water being deposited in the garden. No bad thing I guess as we have been short on water over the winter. Another positive is the pond is now at it's max level along with the water butt I have rigged up to keep the pond topped up during the summer months. The sun has also shone on occasion and if the hail, rain and wind was ignored then it could be counted as very pleasant. Temps are rising slowly with a max of 8 deg being reached with a low of 3 deg.

Nesting activity has been noticed in other gardens and trees. A blackbird has now built the nest in some ivy growing up a gable end and Crows are well into a contruction job of their own. Sadly not much to tell in any of my nest boxes as the Great Tits are keeping me guessing. As a Blue Tit came over to the box the Great Tits flew straight at it and made sure that it did not enter. The female then went inside and did a little "wriggle" as the pic below shows

It is now 19:45 and the good news is that the Waxwings have settled behind  a works which is about 800 yards away so It looks like they may still be around tomorrow. I will be up early to check whilst things are quiet in the garden in the hope of them feeling brave enough to come down into the garden. I think it is possible as they are notoriously forgiving birds that can be in very close proximity to you without being unduly worried. I once stood in the Meadowhall car park 6 foot away from about 50 of them as they gorged themselves on Rowan berries.