Tuesday 10 March 2020

Signs of Spring

More news on the Blackcap in the garden, the male has become a daily regular usually early in the morning filling up on berries and fat balls. I spotted a female occasionally but never at the same time. The male this past week has started to sing from the Sparrow roost and from the top of our Laburnum. Yesterday I finally saw the pair of them together and they fed on the Cotoneaster berries together and did again early this morning!

Exciting news as we've never had a long staying Blackcap let alone a pair like this. I've been reading up on them and I think it may be a bit early for breeding but as we back onto a park there are some suitable areas which would be good habitat for nest building! Of course they could disappear tomorrow but in the meantime i'm enjoying every moment of having them in the garden.

Male taking a breath in between singing


Male and female together at last!


Elsewhere there are plenty of signs of spring, a Song Thrush has been singing from the same tree each time we've visited the woods, and just yesterday we spotted a pair mating, another male was singing further along in the woods. 





After single sightings over the past couple of years a pair of Treecreepers flew right in front of us last week and landed in the nearby trees. Another good sign. Though it's odd that the Nuthatches seem to disappear over winter, where do they go?



In the ponds and streams frogspawn is appearing in large piles, Frogs were still busy all around the main pond yesterday morning. 



Elsewhere the trees are full of bird song, Magpies are trying to build nests, when not fighting off Crows and male Blackbirds are chasing each other around the trees.

Blue Tit


Carrion Crow


Robin


First Greenfinch spotted in the woods this year


Robin



Blackbird looking fierce after chasing off another male!


The first Marsh Marigold of the year


Lots of buds and blossom are bursting through



The reeds are growing again


Catkins


Hopefully i'll still be able to update on the Blackcaps in the next post, fingers crossed!

9 comments:

  1. Congratulations on the Blackcaps. That is very exciting. Maybe there's a chance they would even decide to nest in your garden. I will look forward to more news!

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    1. Thanks David, they're are still around so far!

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  2. That is exciting news about the Blackcaps - please keep us posted :) You have spotted some super signs of Spring. Frogs have started appearing in our pond today.

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    1. They are still around! It's lovely to see them!

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  3. Hope for a yard nesting! I would agree you have full on Spring in progress. Have a great week.

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    1. Thanks Sondra, I'm hoping so, they are still here at the moment!

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  4. Lovely signs of Spring. It's a wonderful time of year for bird song and sign of life in the hedgerows. Super to have a pair of Blackcaps, I hope they stay and nest nearby. Good too to have seen a Greenfinch, a bird we see rarely now in the garden. Where we used to have Greenfinches we now seem to have Goldfinches and Chaffinches:)

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    1. It is isn't and the bird song increases by the day :) We don't even get Chaffinches in the garden though for sure Goldfinch numbers have increased and each year seem to be doing well.

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  5. Thanks for sharing such lovely Spring pictures with us, Pam. Waking to the sunshine every day is pleasant now. I watch the birds from the kitchen window. The blossoming trees are a sign of hope for a better tomorrow. Eager to know about blackcaps now, these are new to me.

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