Big Garden Birdwatch

The last weekend of January I take part in the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch. Would I see the special visitors that we have been enjoying since the cold weather started? We had a fieldfare on Thursday and a bullfinch on Friday.  I shouldn't ask silly questions. The birds seen to know when the nation is scrutinising their every visit to the garden and stay away, or land tantalisingly in a neighbour's patch, or fly overhead. In short they do anything rather than land in the garden and be counted.

A rook that perched precariously on the telephone wire just outside our garden and a female blackbird that sat sunning itself in our oak for most of the hour.

I did my birdwatch from 9.07 to 10.07 Saturday morning. At the end of my hour the scores on the doors were:

• Blackbird: 3
• Blue tit: 2
• Collared dove: 1
• Goldfinch: 1
• Magpie : 2
• Pied Wagtail: 1
• Robin: 1
• Song thrush: 1
• Starling: 2
• Woodpigeon: 1

We often see birds in the garden but devoting a whole hour to watching them is different. I found I was noting behaviour that I never usually see: the amusing antics of a rook trying to balance on a thin telephone wire; a female blackbird sunning itself in a tree and a cheeky wagtail stealing food from under the beaks of squabbling starlings. The two magpies were plucking twigs from our oak tree. It seems strange that they take the trouble to do this when there are so many lying on the ground.

Our bird count was lower this year: no sparrows, only two starlings, no great or coal tits. On the up side, we got a song thrush and a goldfinch.

If you are reading this on the day I wrote it, you can still fit your hour in. Just spend an hour noting the birds that land in your garden or other patch of ground and submit your results using the link at the top of this post.

Tracks in the Snow

Finally the wildlife has turned up. Usually there is a gap of a few days after the snow starts before the wildlife ventures into our garden. This time has been no exception. It first snowed on Friday and Monday night we start seeing wildlife. 

At about 7 pm mum put out the milk bottles and saw a stately fallow buck by the hedge at the bottom of the garden. It sauntered casually out of the garden onto the Dene.

At 11 pm, just as I was going to bed, something tripped the security light. A fox was investigating our front garden. It listened intensely for a few moments, dug, listened again and so on. Had it heard something under the snow?

A trail where the fox circled round and dug in the snow. 21 January 2013.

6.45 am I looked popped out to get a photo of the fox trail. Two lovely fallow bucks glided out of the garden onto the Dene. As they left our milkman arrived. He says that he often sees deer on the Dene and Browns Lane. So Manor Park drivers watch out, Bambi's about.

Snow weather and wildlife

Over the last week, I've been carefully monitoring the weather forecast and waiting for the predicted snow. Meanwhile it seems that the wildlife has been making its own predictions.There has been a flurry of activity round the bird table.  Birds of all sorts were gobbling down as much food as possible. We even had a song thrush teetering, in a rather undignified fashion, on the edge to grab a particularly tasty morsel. 

For some years I've noticed that sea gull behaviour is a good predictor of the weather. A big flock in the valley means a storm is brewing. At 8:30 on Friday morning about two dozen were swooping round The Dene. At 9:00. the snow started.

Pied wagtail, photographed on January the 19th, 2013

One bird I always notice in the snow is the pied wagtail. They seem to become bolder in this weather, even fluttering around the Dene while the children tobogganed on the slopes. 

 

 The RSPB recommend that we give the birds high energy foods and water. In fact, I think the most important thing you can do for the wildlife is keeping a water supply free of ice.  We find that apples and grapes are popular too. In previous years a fieldfare has visited our garden and munched its way through about half an apple a day.

It is always worth checking the tracks in the garden to see who has been visiting.  So far, it is all birds and cats. No foxes yet. You can tell the difference between a cat and a fox trail. Cats don't like getting wet and almost jump from one place to another leaving clean holes in the snow. Foxes slink close to the ground and tend to leave lines where they have dragged their feet through the snow.

Hello Brock

The thing that I really love about using a trail camera is the sense of opening a surprise gift. What will be in it? A fox? A cat? A couple of birds? Connecting it up to my lappie to download the photos, I feel like a small child on Christmas morning. Today's gifts were extra special. A couple of nice sequences of a fox, a pair of cheeky magpies and some rather self important looking woodpigeons. Then - the badger. 

Badger, 16th January 2013 just before 2 a.m.. -3 C

I was amazed. I had assumed that badgers would be tucked up in their setts on these cold winter evenings.  Instead here it is snuffling round our grass.  Maybe it's looking for worms, which form a large part of a badger's diet. It looks quite plump. Maybe it has benefited from the mild wet weather.

The sap is rising

Winter is, of course, a wonderful time of year for seeing the shapes of trees. As we get past the solstice, the bare branches seem to take on a coloured sheen. The trees in Lime Tree Avenue acquire a ruby glow while the tall birch trees in the garden take on a rather regal purple. Look closer and you will see fat buds and tightly packed catkins packed with the promise of spring.

Lime tree bud - like a ruby amongst the dark branches.

In the garden, winter jasmine, witch hazel, snowdrops and primroses are giving us much needed colour. We do seem to have some unseasonal activity. The big bumble bee we found in the conservatory the other day seemed rather confused and the stray flower buds on the hydrangeas are just wrong.

Although the days are lengthening, we can expect more cold weather. As the anticipataed cold snap approaches we are seeing more of the birds that visit our garden. Within a few minutes I saw about half a dozen blue tits, a blackbird and a song thrush near our bird table.

Blue tit - one of a small flock we see regularly in the garden.

If it does snow or freeze, we will keep putting food out for the birds and, perhaps more importantly, water too.

This train of thought was fired up by Judith Christian-Carter's Facebook Post and associated comments. .

The whole fox

Finally, after getting a head and a tail, the trail camera bags me the whole fox.  The following sequence comprises four images taken over about 20 seconds.

Fox investigating Oak Shades at about 10pm on a January evening. 

We have been hearing odd, almost metallic sounding barks.  A post from WRAS tells us

"The Foxes do bark and call at this time of year when vixens are on heat, as they search for each other, studies have shown vixen try to advertise that they are on heat and try to mate with numerous foxes rather than just one. The noise is short term and stops fairly quickly."

Exit left pursued by .... ?

In the day our garden belongs to people. We plant flowers and trees, mow the lawns, trim the hedges and pause to admire the results of our efforts. As the light fades and we draw the curtains, the late shift begins. The garden is now owned by the creatures of the night. Often the morning brings foot or hoof prints, a nibbled plant here or some poo there. It's very intriguing and at the same time a little frustrating. Unless the creatures are considerate enough to walk in front of the window when I'm awake and looking out, I can't see what is happening.

Because I was such a good girl last year, Santa brought me a trail camera. I haven't really had a chance to play with it yet because of the incessant rain. Last night was the first time I felt that I could put it out without it getting drowned.  

 Exit left, pursued by a ???

I've got so much to learn about using this type of camera and this set of pictures was spoilt by shiny holly leaves reflecting infrared light back into the camera.  Next time I use it, I will take more care about tidying unwanted leaves.  That said, I'm now able to start building up a record of our night visitors. The first set of images show a fox disappearing behind the holly bush and, a couple of minutes later, fleeing.  I don't know what startled it - but I do know that I can now start to uncover the secrets of our night garden.

Seeing in the new year - with a fox.

My name is Wendy and I am using this blog to make notes about the wildlife I and others encounter near my home in Uckfield, Sussex in England.

The new year starts with one of my more embarrassing wildlife encounters. I frightened a fox. I didn't mean to. It just happened.  It was just after midnight on New Year's day and I was standing on the front path washing down others' celebration fireworks with a glass of champagne. Fireworks were going off left, right and centre. All sorts of sounds, shapes and colours.  In the odd pauses, I could hear the church bells ringing in the new year. Then a fox sauntered round the hedge, apparently unfazed by the noise and activity. Until he saw me. Then he fled across the garden and into the holly bush as if the hounds of hell were chasing him. The sight of me in my nightwear has that affect on people.

Later in the day - and somewhat more suitably dressed, I spent some time tidying the garden.  There is a fine line between a wildlife-friendly garden and chaos. Right now, ours is perilously close to that line.  I left the seedheads for the birds but cleared old stalks and debris. As a reward I found some early primroses. The name translates as "first flower", which is rather apt for this new year treat.