April
Weather Stats
Max Temp = 20.5 deg C Min Temp = -0.7 deg C
Max Wind 18.3 mph Max Rain in 24 hr Period = 14.5mm
Max Rain in 1 hr Period = 3.1mm Total Rain For Month = 28.4mm
Diary
30th. As promised some good news and some bad news. The bad news first, which relates to the obvious lack of nesting that the Wrens are showing after the promise shown in the hay rack at the back of the garden. I fear that whilst away and our cat has been kept in two new cats have been patrolling the garden. One was seen under the nest of the Wren and the other was actually hidden in the roof of the Pergola that is now covered with clematis and honeysuckle. I have also unwittingly helped the cats hide on the pergola roof as I added a thatch type false ceiling in the pergola to give a sun shade to the area but the cats use it to sit and wait in ambush. My wife coaxed one down the other day with the aid of my 1200mm Stabila level! On checking the Wrens situation and noting a cat in residence I also found a dead Starling in the same spot. I do not know how this happened but at this time of year any death of adults will have a severe effect on any young they may have.
The other bad bit of news is not confirmed but is a little worrying. The Mistle Thrush have been carrying food away to feed young as of late and on the 29th I witnessed a Magpie being attacked by a pr of Mistle Thrushes quite aggresively. I have, as of yet, seen no Mistle Thrushes coming to the garden for food so I hope that the young have survived. I shall keep fingers crossed.
The really good news is that of nesting.......in our garden....in our ivy.......right outside the office viewing window. I noticed that a lot of interest was shown by Blackbirds in the ivy and were most upset when a Mistle Thrush came to take the berries. At this point it did not occur that a nest was in use but later on that day I kept seeing the Blackbirds emerge from the ivy. On closer inspection ( that is from a distance) true enough a Blackbird was sat there with her eye looking back at me. What a treat at last! This is the first time that a Blackbird has chosen our garden for a home and we are both chuffed to bits. Today i took the chance to check on her eggs so whilst away I peeked in and I can confirm we have 5 eggs. What is stramge is that they are quite exposed to any elements but with the growth of the ivy soon to happen I hope this will serve as a little more protection.
A lot of birds are now regularly taking food away.
Blackbirds, Dunnock, Grey Wagtail, Robin, Starling and Chaffinch are all busy busy feeding mainly mealworm to the young. I have also found several egg shells around the garden of which I am sure they are Starling.
29th. Wow....what a great holiday my wife and I had in Mallorca, 12 days of shear birdwatching heaven. If you are interested I will be setting up a new page to incorporate holiday itineries starting with the trip to Mallorca. As of yet we are still sifting and editing the 4000 pictures that Mandy and myself took whilst we were there so it may take a little time to compile the report.
In the garden things have moved on a pace and we have sad things to tell of but one great piece of news. I shall be mentioning this when I get time to go through and check all my settings and let my head calm down a little. I hope to let you know of the changes whilst we were away in the next couple of days.
12th. The lovely weather continues with no signs of ending. Bumble bees, Butterflies, Ladybirds, Tadpoles and other creatures are making many an appearance in the garden as the reasons for survival are for all to see, in the form of the most basic of tasks, namely reproduction of the species.
My neighbours next door informed me that a Blue Tit had been found dead in their garden recently so i kept an eye on whether this was "our" pair that had taken to the nest box at the end of the garden. It took until about 20:00 this evening to see two Blue Tits which were entering the box to end the fear of it being one of ours. It would be hard to guess what caused the death but on this occasion I really don't think it a cat as at the moment I am not seeing any in the vicinity.
Our visit to the Wildflower centre in Liverpool was more of a "what is going to be" rather than a "look at it now" visit as kost of the flowers were still only at leaf stage. We have joined with a membership for the year so we hope to visit at least once a month to see the changes over the period. The trip also gave me an excuse to purchase more plants including more lesser Celandine, Chamomile, Fox and Cubs and Knapweed.
The birding trip to Majorca will mean a short gap in the diary but I am looking forward to seeing the garden and the changes within it when we return. I hope to be swapping SparrowHawk for Black Vulture and Grey Wagtail for Purple Gallinule!
8th. A lovely spell of fantastic weather has continued with the high of 13.5 deg C being reached at 16:15 on the 7th. I have spent most of Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday in the garden finishing a few tasks required including rearranging the nest box entrances to entice a few nesters as the "boxes" I have built are mostly empty. The Wren is still showing interest in the hay rack of which he has built a nest in, along with the Blue Tit interest in the box farthest away from the house ( and the one without a camera in!) so I am still without any residents in the other 3 boxes which have internal cameras fitted, although today I am sure the Robin is partially interested in the box in the ivy as I heard him singing near to the entrance and as I leaned over to look out of the window he flew off from the ivy...lets hope!
There is plenty of young in nests elswhere outside of the garden as Blacbirds and Robins are all carrying mealworm off in their beaks for the new brood to feed on.
As I said earlier I have spent quite sometime in the garden and I did manage to get a few pics to show the mass of colour that is errupting due to the cracking weather. I have used several means of grabbing the images including a few digiscoped birds as I am trying to get as much practice as possible for our upcoming birding holiday to Majorca. The light levels in Majorca will make photography that much easier but I am still getting to grips with the new scope and camera setup and how to get the best out of them in various lighting conditions. Mandy is also keen on polishing up on her skills behind a lens as the wealth of wildflowers in some of the areas we will be visiting will be well photographed whilst we are there. I hope to write a few notes about our trip on return but this will be done when the weather stops us getting out.
Here are a few of the images to show some of our visitors and the garden landscape at the moment.
Cowslip Iris "reticulata" Flowering Currant Snakeshead Fritilliary
The gabion baskets below were made by Mandy and give a more robust look to the garden which contrasts with the natural softer features like the numerous amounts of wood and stone that i have used around the garden. I am considering more of these baskets to edge the lawn with rather than the rotting logs I have used in the past
Lesser Celendine Planted Gabion Baskets "Jetfire" Daffodils
Pasque Flower A Riot Of Colour Around The Pond Mahonia Aquafolium Flower
With these bird images you can almost feel the urgency in the fast paced way as they work up to the breeding duties
Robin Blue Tit Goldfinch Robin
Blackbird Mistle Thrush Grey Wagtail
A trip to the National Wilflower is planned so I shall be adding a few more plants to the garden with any luck as the lesser Celendine really is a star performer in the lawn so I shall be looking for some more of those.