Tuesday 30 December 2014

Just Missed

 A week or so before Christmas I was talking to a friend who mentioned that his neighbours, a family from California would be spending their first Christmas in the UK and were hoping for snow on the big day.  I scoffed despite what TV and the movies would have you believe,  a white Christmas is an increasingly rare event in the UK.

Well there was no snow on Christmas Day, but it arrived with a vengeance on the 26th (Boxing Day as it`s known in the UK).





Billy the Pheasant, still around and still awaiting his peanuts from us





The snow and ice are still hanging in there five days later, aided by subzero temperatures during the night and barely above freezing during the day.  We`ll just have to wait and see if we will have a mild winter as was the case last year.

Thursday 25 December 2014

Sunday 21 December 2014

Goodfellows






























I don't know how the humble robin ended up becoming synonymous with Christmas time.  It is an all year round garden bird but somehow it nabbed Christmas from the sparrows and the blackbirds.  Perhaps its because they tend to be a little braver than most birds, and will come quite close if there is food to be had.

Whatever the reason, I admire them a great deal.  I have watched them chase off larger birds beneath the bird feeders when the ground is frozen and food is limited.  I smile when I see one perched nearby watching us working in the garden.  They've learnt to let the humans` do the hard work while they reap the rewards.

I was always going to have a soft spot for them as I do share their name (I`ve lost count of the times people have asked me "Where`s Batman?").   Here are a few pictures of them that I've taken over the months.

























Sunday 14 December 2014

Going Coastal





























I grew up in a coastal town in Northumberland.  Until I moved "down south" the sea had always been at the most three miles away from where I lived.  Northumberland has a spectacular slice of coastline. with beaches that can be almost deserted.  I tended to take the coast for granted.  Living in Nottinghamshire I realise just how far from the sea I am.

 I took these pictures during a visit back to the North East and we decided to check out Tynemouth.  the name says it all.  Tynemouth is a sought after location and the house prices reflect that.  There is a villagelike feel to the place and it's nice to see independent shops instead of the usual high street clones.  Walking along the sea wall on a brisk winter's day definitely blows the cobwebs away.


The wall has to be able to withstand a battering from the North Sea.




The remains of Tynemouth Priory and the coastguard Watch House.





























If you happen to find yourself in Newcastle, Tynemouth is just a short Metro ride away from the city centre.  Well worth a visit in my opinion, but if it`s Winter make sure you wrap up warm!

Sunday 7 December 2014

Taking a Breather






















Living where we do in a semi rural location, Sparrowhawks are frequent visitors.  The problem is when we do see them they tend to be travelling at speed, swooping in low from around the side of the house to try and catch any unwary birds on the feeders.  Their appearances are fleeting  (the best pictures I have managed of a Sparrowhawk previously can be found here)

Earlier this week, we where having a little lunch  in the kitchen and as I got up to put the plates in the dishwasher I spotted movement, something large which I presumed to be a Woodpigeon dropping into the garden.  As I neared the window I spotted the Sparrowhawk, sitting on the edge of the bird bath.

The camera was close at hand and as I have said before, one of the problems with the Olympus Pen EPL1 is that the menu system isn't really conducive to changing settings on the quick.  I didn't expect our visitor to be around for very long, so most of the photographs taken with it on the birdbath where from further back in the kitchen, shooting between a plant and scales, and also through glass.  There were a lot of hopeless shots, but I did manage to get a couple of decent ones.


Watching the Watchers





















To our surprise, the bird didn't seem to be perturbed that we were watching it.  It sat quite happily with it's tail feathers dipped in the water bath and occasionally looked our way.

After a few minutes it hopped up onto the hedge, allowing me to get some better shots.



























Saturday 29 November 2014

Who Goes There?






















Last week, I spotted this newcomer to the garden.  As it turns out, he really really enjoyed the bread that I had thrown out to feed the wildlife, which allowed me to get a better look at what species it actually was.

It turns out, it was a Jay.

I have never actually seen a Jay in the wild before.  They are a member of the crow family reminiscent of a Magpie and by all accounts are a shy bird that tend to stick to woodlands.  As we have no nearby woods it was one of the last birds that I expected to see in the garden.

He was nervous, making his approach for food from the branches of one of the apple trees after assessing the location for danger (two large crows "liberated" his loot when he returned to the apple tree but he kept persevering).























































We've seen him a couple of times since.  A neighbour has suggested that it may be a European Jay that has migrated here.  Who knows, but it is nice to see out of the window.

Saturday 22 November 2014

Bringing Up Baby - Moving Out (Part 3)


The Story So Far (click hyperlinks) for Part 1 and Part 2


It may be anthropomorphic but we really felt as Wally had developed his own personality, something that we didn't think was possible with a garden bird.  By the end of 2012 we had weaned him off his bottle and onto solid food.  He enjoyed the pigeon corn but he had taken a real liking to dried peas and was very discerning, throwing away a pea if it didn't meet his standards.  He enjoyed looking out of the windows and watching the other birds.  Wally seemed to be aware of the world outside.

Watching the other birds in the garden
The other thing that we found surprising was Wally's love of being bathed.  Now he was approaching full size,  we had to bathe him in the kitchen sink. He did like to be pampered.  Bathtime always made us laugh.  See the video below for why:








Drying off on the kitchen door




























He was now at the point where he was outgrowing his bird cage.  When he was out of it, Wally liked to perch on the kitchen door and watch what ever action was going on and fly down onto our heads if he thought he was missing anything.  He didn't like going back into his cage on an evening and we knew that we had to find another way.  The cage would soon be too small for him to stretch or flap his wings.

A shoulder to land on


In our minds, we believed that when we released Wally back into the wild, he would stay close to the garden where he would be close to us and we could still feed and keep an eye on him.  To that end, Terry`s brother kitted out and an archway between two parts of the garden into a secure area where Wally could fly around and roost safely.  He also rigged the bird cage up to the outside of the gates and created an entrance, that would allow Wally to actually sit in the garden to get used to it without being in danger from predators.

Wally's "Conservatory"

































We made sure that Wall had plenty of water, a places to roost and plenty of food.  We also included a heating disc that would warm his bed up during the winter evenings when the temperatures dropped.


Wally's outside enclosure
 Initially, Wally didn't seem keen to be in his new colder accommodation but he soon got used to it and we made sure that we saw him regularly and spend time with him.  We were pleased to see him spending more time in his cage watching what was happening in the garden so it wouldn't be much of a surprise when we started to acclimatise him to the outside world.

We added a piece of turf that we sprinkled with food to try and mimic the circumstances for foraging for food in the wild. We used our trail-cam to review what he was up to during the day while we were working and were pleased to see him on the floor looking for food as he would do in the wild.  We were becoming increasingly confident that he would be able to find his own food as he seemed to have the right instincts.

Trail-cam picture of Wally foraging







Perching on the Ladder

One bright and surprisingly warm Saturday in early February 2013 we decided to try him the garden.  Terry opened his cage and brought him out onto his arm.  Wally rushed up to his shoulder but was otherwise calm and curious about being in the garden.  It was all going well until we thought it would be a good idea for me to go back into the enclosure and try and call him through so he would know that he could get into his enclosure from the garden via the cage.  We hoped that he would use the enclosure as his "home".

The moment I disappeared out of his sight, Wally flew off Terry`s arm.  We watched in horror as he flew over the hedge and kept on going.

We were aghast.  One of us remained in the garden in case he returned while the other went off around the village to try and find him but to no avail.  Wally was gone.  For weeks afterwards we would call out to any Woodpigeon that we saw in the hope that it was him.  I would often walk around the village and nearby fields in the hope of being able to spot him (Wally had yet to develop the white flashes on his neck that  mature Woodpigeons possess so we thought if we saw him we would know it was him).

A few weeks later we did see a Woodpigeon without the white markings underneath the bird feeders just outside the kitchen window.  We hurried to the the door just in time to see it flee from when an adult male chased him away.

Do I think it was Wally?  I like to think so for the following reasons - we had seen no other juvenile birds during the time we looked after Wally and he seemed to have been born outside the normal breeding window.  I didn't think that there would be may birds like him in the area.

I chose to believe that it was Wally, and that he was making it fine without us.  One thing is certain, if we had not taken Wally in that day in September then he would not have made it at all.  I hope we gave him a fighting chance and ultimately that's all we could ever do.

Saturday 15 November 2014

Bringing Up Baby - Finding your feet - (Part 2)


(Part 1 can be found here)

It's extremely easy to find yourself becoming attached to something that you invest a lot of time and care in.  Wally would chirp happily whenever he saw us and waggle what passed as his wings. He did however save his real excitement for the blue baby bottle that we now fed him with.  Bottle feeding Wally became easier as we no longer had to guide his head into the feeding hole that mimicked the way Woodpigeon young feed.  He dove in straight away.








This resulted in us having to wipe him down after every meal as he ended up wearing as much of  the food as he ate.  Eventually we had to give him a bath, using a plastic container.  It turned out that he rather enjoyed sitting in a tub of warm water and being washed clean.



Over the days and weeks he got stronger.  When he was able to walk he made regular trips along the kitchen bench (making a beeline for the baby bottle).  He also liked to be near us and perch on a corner of the bench or kitchen sink to watch what we where doing.  Wally also started to run up our arms and onto our shoulder and snuggle in (and take the odd peck, especially at a mole I have on the side of my neck).

 His first flight consisted of flapping from one bench to the other to get closer to his feeding bottle.  Once he mastered this he began to flap down onto the kitchen floor to explore his surroundings.  It was only a day or so later that he was flying around the kitchen, using our heads and shoulders as landing platforms.  He also took a shine to my hat that I left on the table and promptly turned it into a bed for himself, spending his time adjusting the creases with his beak before settling down and going to sleep.


By this time he was too big for his cardboard box, so our neighbour gave us an old bird cage as Walter`s next home.  This was only ever going to be a temporary solution, as Wally was growing fast.

We needed to start thinking about a more permanent solution for the future.