Chestnuts
September 13, 2009
Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, not quite.
Freshly picked chestnuts taken on my trek today.
Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, not quite.
Freshly picked chestnuts taken on my trek today.
SkyWatch 19
August 13, 2009
Fledgling Dunnocks
August 8, 2009
Fledgling Dunnocks inspect my window frames.
Their parent perches on the feeder, before feeding them.
Dunnock on my Window-Feeder
June 19, 2009
Yes, at last… almost 2 years since owning the feeder…. a Dunnock feeds from it!!!
It’s been on the window-ledge, sat on the Window-frames, even sat on the roof of the feeder… and finally just now his first feed from it.
Fledlings, a Dunnock and a Sparrow
June 17, 2009
A Dunnock at my table…. Actually, on the window ledge waiting its turn after the Sparrow had finished feeding. My appearance alerted both so not officially (witnessed) on my table yet.
The Sparrow, from the only Sparrow family in the courtyard and has been the only family for a good few years now, a more regular visitor now than I’ve ever seen, a brief glimpse twice in 18 months, and now I’ve see him every day on the table over the last couple of weeks.
The Starlings although about in the area, stopped visiting when the mealworm ran out, a deliberate ploy on my part, to give the Robins carte blanche.
The Robins I’m afraid I haven’t seen for about three weeks either on the feeder or in the courtyard, I’m not sure what happened there, but I think the Starlings presence had something to do with it.
On a much lighter note, great news, the Blue tits have had a brood, two fledglings who’ve been brought to the feeder a couple of times (that I‘ve seen) by both parents, who I’ve watched work tirelessly to open up the sunflower seeds to feed the fledglings, all four have been at my window-feeder at the same time and on my ledge and window frames getting fed by the parents, and incredible sight.
Unfortunately I don’t have any real coverage of the above, my camera is broken and has been for about 10 weeks now, plus my time has been devoted to other projects over the last 6 months and that is and will continue to be the case. Any of the above is chance sightings when I’m needed in the kitchen where the window-feeder is located.
I’ll continue to post when I can, and if I (hopefully) get camera equipment, I’ll be able get some photos on my days off, if I get any days off!
The website redesign has had to be put on hold also, the current design was always going to be a place holder till maybe I went .org, or purchased a design tailored to my needs, I think that will come in the future when I can give this more time, and will be possibly part of my job.
Ok, I do have this picture taken with my mobile phone, when one of the fledlings camped on my window ledge whilst I was sat at my computer, any of my Twitter followers will know this as I tweeted whilst the little chap/chap-et was on the ledge.
I also managed to get a bit of video with my mobile phone of him/her on the ledge, here. And some of them getting fed at the feeder, here. I think you can see (barely… low res!) this matches the explination above.
SkyWatch 18
June 4, 2009
Took this Yesterday with my mobile.
- To view more sky themed images, take a look at the SkyWatch Friday website.
I think that the title just reflects the blossoming of the season, plants, wildflowers, my Robins and my Blue-tits laying their own Caterpillars, and I think The pair of Doves in my courtyard are expectant also and of course the Butterflies have been Butterflies since early Spring.
Most of the songbirds have shed their winter plumage aro
und here, except for our Dunnock who seems to be having a bit of trouble losing his, every time I see him, for a start he looks really odd, as birds tend to do mid-moult (have you seen Starlings?!) he’s always frantically scratching an itch that won’t go away, shouldn’t laugh really, but it is slightly comical, I expect his calls are bird talk expletives.
Apologies to be recycling already published photographs, but camera situation still not resolved. I’ve been looking at point and shoots under a £100, just to have something till one day….
But I think moneys a little tight at the moment for even that, besides I put that towards a new Washing Machine, previous one broke. I’ll try and sort something out though, and I will!
I’ve just stretched out of the window to put a handful od Sunflower seeds on the Window-feeder for the Blue-Tits, they’re going through them at a rate of knots. Looks like he’s feeding for a brood!
SkyWatch 17
May 21, 2009
Family Planning
May 18, 2009
Latest Feeder movie
Since I last reported it’s been difficult to monitor properly the situation with my local wildlife due to equipment failure. As far as I can tell I think the Robin pair’s chicks have hatched, but that’s just a guess, based on a few clues.
I’ve not seen much of the female, plus a smashed bird eggshell on the feeder about 10 days ago. It maybe the case that she’s gone off to lay the rest, incubated and now they’ve hatched, but I’m not sure. I saw them both at the feeder about four days ago.
It’s all a little too tight for all that to happen, can’t say the egg was a Robin’s egg for sure. But this is nature, odd things happen all the time.
The Blue tit’s haven’t produced eggs yet, but I know for definite that they are expecting. I witnessed them conceiving, on the feeder roof. As I’m writing this cooincidently I can see from my window that a pair of Blackbirds are mating on the roof of a neighbouring back garden shed.
The three young Starlings now deemed capable by the parent of survival without her have now learnt it seems to be less reckless around the feeder, and have learnt to wait their turn when other species are feeding I.e. the Robins and the Blue tits.
But it appears the three Starlings are still taking the majority of Mealworm and more often than the Robins. My point being less food for the Robins rearing young.
I think they’ve also put the expectant Blue tit’s off visiting as often.
I have a bit of a dilemma, the three Starlings are a bit troublesome, and could turn out to be more of a threat in weeks to come, but at the moment they are more Huey, Dewey, and Louie than the Wind in the Willows Weasels.
endnote
I fear this could be the end of my filming and photography for a long time, the repair cost to my broken camera far out way my budget, which is desperately needed for a lot of other items. I have to prioritise, but hopefully somewhere down the road it will all come together and I can come back stronger with better equipment and the whole world to photograph… that’s my dream.
Wild Birds and Nutrition
April 18, 2009
Recent activity at my window feeder can be seen in the film here.
Recent back-story: Over the last month or so a pair of Robins have chosen their nest site based on the feeders food source and share the feeder with a pair of Blue tits.
Both pairs of birds take it in turn to use the feeder, one species waiting till the other has finished.
The female Robin should be laying her eggs any day now if not already.
Another species has visited the feeder on a very regular basis for about a week, a small family of Starlings would visit almost all day everyday to the point of almost stopping the Robin and Blue tit from visiting at all.
I’ve stopped putting out Mealworm for the last week, and the Starlings seem to have lost interest. I will restock from tomorrow with Mealworm, both live and dry.
I’m hoping that the Robins and the Blue tits feel secure enough to bring their fledglings to the feeder. In the Robins case this could be just a few weeks away. The Blue tits maybe mid to late may.
A rare visit from a Sparrowhawk seen here on the back fence.
We’ve also had a pair of Bullfinch visit the courtyard a few times. I believe it’s the same pair I saw on my travels in the snow at the beginning of February, I spotted them fairly close to home.
Plus the usual foray of casual visitors Great tits, Dunnock, Song Thrush.
