March 09'

Weather This Month

Max Temp =  11.8C                 Min Temp = -3.2C

Max Wind=   24.8 mph              Max Rain in 24 hr Period = 20.2 mm

Max Rain in 1 hr Period =  5.1 mm          Total Rain For Month =  92.2 mm

Diary

31st.  Another month draws to a close but we still managed to squeeze in a few more points of interest with the warmest day of March this year being recorded at 18:10 this evening as it just tipped 11.8C. The warmest day up till then had been 11.4C. It did actually feel nice and mild as well, probably the first time this year that I have felt warm as I travelled home with the car window down listening to the bird song without feeling to cold.

On arrival home I as usual go straight through the house and into the garden to fill any feeders. I noticed two birds fled to the top of a Sycamore and as I carried on up the garden it began to call. It was the trill of a now regular returnee to the garden at this time of year and it sat with a female calling as I retreated to the house to make sure of it's species. Yes we had our Lesser Redpoll back and hopefully like the last two years we may get a family come summer.

The weather is supposed to hot up over the next few days so let's hope for this happening. I was reading how we are possibly going to see some fantastic colours in the evening sky over the next few weeks after a massive Volcano erupted in America. The dust particles are already reaching Europe which should give us some superb orange and reds to end the clear evenings.

30th.  A new visitor to the garden turned up yesterday as it walked around the garden taking waste sunflower hearts. Mandy spotted it and thought it was a Hose Sparrow. On hearing her shout about it I looked to see a wonderful female Reed Bunting. The numbers of Chaffinch have probably drawn it to the garden as Reed Buntings are present just over the hillside at Cowm Res. A great addition to the garden list and quite a surprise. It eventually hopped into another garden and disappeared with no follow up visits being noted. It seems hard to beleive that another month is drawing to a close but I am looking forward to a warmer April with life in the natural world starting to hit full speed.

29th.  I hope everyone has remembered that today marks the beginning of British Summertime and that the clocks jumped forward 1 hour last night! One person that did forget was mother nature as the last the clouds cleared and although BST began the temps plummeted to a monthly recorded low of -3.2C. The pond has frozen over and we also had a sprinkling of snow which has remained as the freeze continues as even at 09:00(BST) this morning the temps is still only -2.2C. The plants have not reacted well to this drop in temps as even the Daffs have gone over. A bonus we get with these cold temps is that a beautiful sunny day is now underway, and with all the rain we have had of late the sun is very welcome.

I have not witnessed many inspections of any nestboxes this year but I realise that this is still a possibility as as I write this a Great Tit has just flown across to the house and inspected the Sparrow box. I hope at least one of the 4 boxes I have installed in the garden will be used as it is quite a good feeling when a young family chooses your garden to grow up in. I did notice on the 28th that a Blackbird was taking away sultanas to a place some distance away as it filled it's beak with sultanas and headed off over the rooftops and into some open fields with hedgerow.

Despite the cooler temps last night the Hedgehog was out as I caught sight of him drinking from the garden pond. I hope he returned to a good sleep hole as today's temps will come as a bit of a shock.

20th. The official first day of Spring passed as a spring day should do, plenty of sunshine, warmish temps and a clear fresh day...perfect. I forgot to mention that the first frogspawn was seen in the pond on the 18th. I could see one large clump in the morning but on return from work in the evening I was surprised to see that it had disappeared. I figured it had been kicked into the deeper part of the pond (2' deep) with all the frog action. I wondered how this would fair but on my return home on the 19th I noticed it had floated to the surface so I gently pushed it up to a shallow area. This morning I checked for spawn and a new patch had been produced in the same place as the previous so tonight it was no surprise to find it vanished again into the deep area. I shall move this into a more suitable area of the pond if this one also floats to the surface. I noted a Hedgehog drinking from the pond last night and it soon found the dried mealworm I had put out for it in another spot in the garden. As I write this at 20:00 the Hog is again tucking into the dried mealworm. The positive of this Hog is that it is already a good size which means it must have had a good hibernation period despite the bitterly cold winter it has endured. 

18th.  On my return from work today I finally remembered to put out some of the cat and alpaca hair that the Tits, Robins and Blackbirds like to use in the construction of their nests. I also spotted our first Bumble Bee of the year as is made it's way around the garden and finally into a tree before it landed on a Tit box and went inside. It stayed in for a while so much so that I did not notice it leave. I have just reshuffled the log pile around the pond to incorporate a Bumble Bee box but it did not venture that way. As I was moving the log pile a Common Shrew was running around under a concrete roof tile I put down under some logs. It shifted about until it finally disappeared down a hole that went under some Purple Loosestrife. I replaced the concrete tile over it and built the log pile around his hidey hole so I hope he was not to put out!

17th.  St Patrick's day is celebrated today and the weather was sympathetic to anybody celebrating outside as another warmest day of the year was reached at 15:30 when it just scraped past yesterdays warmest day at 11.4C.

The Hedgehogs were out again snorting and munching around as the sound of this snorting via the roving cameras microphone alerted me to their presence. I have three boxes within the garden and I am pretty sure non of them are being used for hibernating or otherwise. I shall start to put out some of the cat hair we collect throughout the year as this is the most readily taken nest material I have found. I also purchased some alpaca hair which is quite popular.

16th.  Another lovely day... I could get used to this! The hottest day of the year occurred at 14:30 as the mercury rose to a balmy 11.2C. It felt lovely in the sun which had a nice warming feel to it. The temps are supposed to get better as the week goes on with a chance of 14C on Thursday.

I was looking out into the garden last night when I saw our first visit of not one but two Hedgehogs. They were routing about in leaf litter when they came across each other and I am not sure if it was a frisky interlude or a territory stand off. As I look out tonight at 21:00 there is no sign of either of them although the lure of a few peanuts should encourage them. I have set up my roving external camera to see if they return to the harder parts of the garden.

15th.  What a lovely morning, the sun is shining and a Song Thrush is making the most with his fluty song. The frogs are getting frisky in the pond but as of yet no spawn although numbers are increasing as yesterday I counted 14. The temps are slowly rising with a regular 9C being reached over the last three days and if the sun remains today I am hoping that the 10.8C max reached this month will be at least matched. No Daffodils have opened in the garden so far but whilst out yesterday lots were seen in public places which was very cheery indeed.

Good news on the bird front with a lone male Sparrow taking some time in the garden back on the 9th and on the (what turned out to be not so unlucky) Friday 13th a single female Siskin., first of the year, fed on several occasions on the sunflower feeders. I have not seen her since which is a shame as often in the past it follows that more visits with numerous mates follow. Non the less we are just glad that the Great Spot Woodpecker is now a regular again as it is seen dancing high in some Poplar trees. He flies off West toward the hillside on the reservoir so I presume he is looking for territory and a mate. Still no nesting activity within the boundary of the garden although the Robins that have built a nest elsewhere are carrying food. In an earlier post I mentioned the chance of the young hatching around the 13th-14th so it is now possible that this food is for the newly hatched. I have still tp pinpoint it's whereabouts. One bird we have lost as a garden bird is one that has returned for the last 4 breeding seasons and that is the Grey Wagtail. He will be missed very much as his song and many young they brought up were a fantastic thing. Let's hope the Sparrows can replace a little bit of that magic and nest in the garden for the first time!

8th. A day where the weather has just about thrown it all at us as we had early sunshine which was accompanied with a strong gusty wind, this then turned into sleet and then followed by thunder and very heavy hailstone. As I write this at 13:10 the sun has come out and the wind has dropped along with the temperature which has just about reached 2.8C. One bird that made us laugh was a Woodpigeon that lapped up the hailstone and sleet as it sat in a tree lowered it's body onto the branches and  opened it's wing out and then over it's back. It did this in turn with each wing for quite some time and it was clearly enjoying this, what could only be described as a body massage as the hail hit it's underwing and armpit.

Good news also today was the sighting of the Great Spotted Woodpecker that has not been seen since we returned for Goa on the 16th Feb. The male was seen feeding on fat in the garden at 12:00 today so a great relief was felt as I did wonder if something had happened to him either ill fated or just down to the fat it the garden running out whilst we were away. My thoughts on seeing him immediately turned to the possibility of him finding a mate and the likely hood of a second year male finding a partner. Let's hope he is an Alpha male as we think he is a rather dapper chap.

1st.  Today is St Davids day so I hope the Welsh are having a sunny day and a special mention to Howard & Siwan. An argument that always exists at this time of year is when spring actually is sprung with the Met Office saying today the 1st but historians stating  "Historically spring starts on the day of the vernal equinox, which usually occurs on the night of 20/21 March. Vernal comes originally from the Latin word for bloom and refers to the fact that, in the northern hemisphere, this equinox marks the end of winter and the beginning of spring. An equinox is a time when the nights are as long as the days and the vernal equinox is recognised the world over as the start of the new astrological cycle"

Well the 1st or not spring has not sprung in our garden as yet, as no Daffodils are flowering. One thing that most certainly has changed is the bird song which is now very obvious with a highlight of a Song Thrush singing his heart out early on in a Sycamore tree next to the garden...beautiful. The Blackbirds are warming up and a Wren sings often through the day. A sharp turn of pace sees the Dunnocks sing like they just want to get it over with and the twitterings of Goldfinch are always an added bonus.

I have not managed to locate where the Robin is nesting so far and it is possible I will have to wait for the eggs to hatch. She lays them normally consecutively one a day with 5 or 6 in the clutch. Considering that I saw feeding taking place between the adults on the 23rd Feb and if 5-6 eggs are laid with an incubation of around 14 days I am guessing that the chicks (all being well) will hatch around 14th March so I will keep an eye on food being carried.