Bits and Pieces

Birding is still mostly in the garden with the lockdown extended, luckily the birds are being outstanding and entertaining. Plus on a weekend we've walked a little further than the park behind the house, I don't have much time to walk before work - I can't manage to get myself up and out earlier to have anything more than half an hour! The park hasn't had the grass cut in weeks now and it's full of Dandelions and Daisies, it looks wonderful and i've seen quite a few butterflies out on the flowers.

We're still getting out early on a weekend too so it's nice and quiet walking to Dartmouth Park. Actually to be fair it's always quiet early morning on all of my walks so far! I spotted my first fledgling birds there - two Mistle (I think) Thrushes in the trees. Our gutter Starlings now have several noisy birds in the nest, I saw them taking food to the nest but it took a couple of days before they were chirping loud enough so I could hear them.

The Sparrows are going a little mad in the back garden, usually they tend to stick to the front and the window feeders but I think with the immense amount of Aphids on the plants at the moment they're making the most of the feast, there's rarely a minute in the day where there isn't at least one picking at something! There's been a fair bit of Tit activity too, the Aphids are proving popular! Plus we've had the odd visit from both a male and female Blackcap but not on the same days.

Blackcap

Blue Tit

House Sparrow

Long-tailed Tit

We've had quite a bit of warm weather over April and i've noticed Bees filling holes in the wall and Bee hotel, last years haven't hatched yet but I keep checking.

My daughter spotted this Caterpillar on some nettles behind our house

I keep checking the skies for House Martins, Swallows and perhaps a Swift but not a single one yet. We usually have House Martins that nest locally and we see them over the houses through the summer. Swallows are a bit hit and miss near the house but are probably back on the farm near work, they usually are the last week in April. It may be that I see Swifts before the others this year. I have seen a few Gulls, Red Kite and Buzzards but really the skies are pretty empty.

I've been taking photos of all the flowers I see on my walks to try and have a go at iding them for the 20 in 2020 challenge I set myself here. Here's what I have so far and hopefully i've got them right -

2. Red Valerian - this is everywhere at the moment, in my garden, down the back streets and car park near my house, I love the colour, it's quite a striking flower and good for the bees and butterflies. I looked it up and discovered this plant originally comes from the Mediterranean and has been in the UK since at least the 1500s

3. Cuckoo flower or Lady's Smock. There was just a single plant near the road side.

4. Hairy Bittercress - I found a few of these on waste ground on one of our walks

5. Black Medick - I think i've got this one correct, I did think Lesser Trefoil at first? I've only noticed one patch of this whilst i've been out.

6.Groundsel - Lots of this all over, mostly on the edge of paths

7. Herb Robert - this is poking out of walls all over the streets.











Ok so i'm adding these but I know what they are, I haven't been able to see all the Bluebells in Churwell Woods but noticed some in the grass by the entrance to the park. Plus the ones in my garden are about to flower.

Cow Parsley

Bluebells

Hopefully next time I post we'll have some Starling fledglings in the garden and the sky will be full of Swifts!

Lockdown Birding

Lockdown birding is the new normal at the moment especially with it looking like our lockdown is going to be extended. The Patchwork Challenge has been put on hold whilst it's on too. Though as a lister I have still been listing on Bubo who have created a special lockdown option for the duration. 

Birding is now garden birding and what I spot during the allowed daily walk, (which if you're not in the UK is to be done locally without travelling elsewhere to do it and then only with other members of your household). I must admit I haven't walked every day as the weather has been good and i've been able to spend a fair bit of time in the garden. I usually go out early when I do so there's hardly anyone about and plenty of space to stay away from the few folks that are around. My route is around the small park behind our house, the park is mostly a football pitch, a few small grassy areas and a play park (which is closed) surround by trees and shrubs. Then home via a few quiet back streets. I've realised how much my back (still not in the greatest of shape since the op) and legs relied on my walk to work every day, they are feeling the effects from lack of use! Not the biggest issue though in the grand scheme of things at the moment. 

At the end of March I noticed the tree above our shed had a reddish look to the needles and a couple of days later it started to send clouds of seeds into the air if a strong breeze blew or mostly from birds landing on the branches. The haze in the first picture is a well spread cloud and in the second you can see it easily. 

I've been able to set up my 'office' in the dining room by the patio doors so working from home is not so bad. The first day of working from home I had a Chiffchaff calling softly from the back of the garden. It's good to see the bird behaviour at this time of year, lots of mating and courting going on in the gardens with the Starling, Sparrows, Doves, Pigeons and a pair of Robins, with the male feeding the female. Also spotted a Magpie eating a Sparrow on one of our walks - first time i've seen that! My first Ladybird this year was out in the sun.

Our gutter Starling is back, building a nest and then calling and flapping his wings madly, it looks like it worked as he had a mate after about three days, it's difficult to tell but I think she stuck around and is possibly sat on eggs as I type. Sparrows, Blue Tits, Magpies and Woodpigeons are all plucking at grass, plants and twigs for nesting materials. Unfortunately our Blackcaps have disappeared, the male first and I last saw the female on the 1st April, hopefully we'll get them more regularly over winter now?

Not doing that great with the nest building - rather large ambitions!

Magpie breaking branches off the Silver Birch

The Sparrows are spending a lot of time picking at the plants in the garden

Female Blackcap

Overhead i've added Red Kite, Heron, Buzzard, Lesser black-backed Gulls (they were mobbing a Buzzard!) some of which are year patch ticks and also Cormorant, a first from the house. In the park possibly my last Redwing of the year in the first week of April, Song and Mistle Thrushes, singing Chiffchaff, Chaffinch, nesting Magpies and Woodpigeons. Really there's quite a lot going on! 

Mistle Thrush

Redwing

Red Kite

The bird bath is getting some good use at the moment, i'm having to top up a couple of times a day sometimes. 

Starling

House Sparrow

Blackbird

We tried a different walk on Easter Monday towards an industrial estate at the top end of the street, a ten minute walk from home (but somewhere I never go and technically isn't included in my patchwork challenge patch), my husband works here (he's classed as a key worker so is still working himself) and has been seeing singing Skylarks and hovering Kestrels over waste land on the estate, so whilst even the essential businesses were closed and it was deserted we had a wander around. Of course not a peep from any Skylark and the only birds we saw were Woodpigeons and Goldfinch, no doubt they'll be singing again though when he's back in work later this week!! At least he's been able to share what they are with the people he works with, they look out for them every morning now. 

The odd evening has been nice enough to be able to sit out at dusk and i've watched a Bat over the garden and three Hedgehogs snuffling around on a regular basis. 

The warm weather has brought out a few butterflies, not in great numbers but we've had Commas. Peacocks and Holly Blues, the odd White too but they've been too far away to ID. We've added trellis to the wall for the climbing Roses, it doesn't look much at the moment but the Roses are growing fast so it should settle in quick. I've finally been able to put out some of the plants I received earlier in the year - Verbena Bonariensis, which should be good for butterflies and bees, Callicarpa Bodinieri (which I think I read about on Ragged Robins Blog) which has already flowered a little and hopefully will have lovely purple berries in autumn and some Lavender plugs, which came free with the order. I don't have green fingers in the slightest but fingers crossed these thrive. 

The mouse has been visiting the window feeder often and I managed a little video. An odd thing with the window feeders, we've had one for a few years now and it got cracked and a little shoddy, so we got a new one. The new one had a blue roof instead of a clear one and the birds would not go anywhere near it. I sat and watched them land within a foot of it and it was like they couldn't see it. So I put the old one back up and within ten minutes they were on it?! So we got another new one with a clear roof thinking perhaps it has some to do with that? Or not. Maybe about 3/4 birds landed on it over the next week so up went the old cracked one again. I've kept the new one up next to it and the Sparrows will sometime eat from it but still nowhere near as much as the old one. I can't figure it out! 

Some of the garden visitors

House Sparrows

Blackbird

Goldfinch

Great Tit

Collared Dove

Magpie

Blackbird 

Feral Pigeon & Collared Dove

Blue Tit