Garden Watch

I ended up being struck down with a flu type bug over the past week, the upside being I was able to spend a lot of time garden watching. It coincided with the icy blast of snow over the weekend too and to be honest I was glad I didn't have any plans!

I did make sure the feeders where kept topped up, I think it was one of the busiest bird weeks in the garden so far this year.

First up the Squirrels made the most of the peanuts, if I make sure there are always a few in the seed tray then they don't chew the feeders.

We keep getting a mouse in the window feeder and on Sunday after the heaviest of the snow I spotted one peeking out of a hole in the snow alongside the shed.

On an evening we are still getting the odd fox at the feeders but on Saturday night I saw one that looked a little tatty, part of the fur on it's tail was missing but that was all I could tell in the dark. Sunday morning though about 11.30 it appeared in the garden again and went straight for the feeder and it didn't look in the best of condition. I believe it has mange, I have tried to contact someone about it so we'll see what they suggest as it has been in the garden since.

The Woodpigeons and Collared Doves were making the odd attempt at flirting though one of the Woodpigeons seemed to be cooing at a Blackbird at one point.

In the front garden the House Sparrows take over the feeders hanging by the door and spend all their time flying backwards and forwards in front of the window.

A Wren hops all around both gardens and there's been a Goldcrest too, though their numbers are down compared to last year. Starlings come in fits and starts, usually clearing out the food tray and squabbling with any bird around.

Blackbirds are still the first birds in the garden each morning and often the last around as it gets dark too. A couple of times Dunnocks have been on the feeder but mostly they sit at the top of the Laburnum singing.

Long-tailed, Blue, Coal and Great Tits are all regular visitors during the day, the number of Coal Tits has gone from one to two and the flocks of Long-tailed have numbered up to 9.

There has also been an increase in Goldfinch numbers, usually we get a couple sometimes four, we've had up to 12 the past week or so and they are around most of the day.

The heavy snow overnight Saturday brought the Mistle Thrush into the garden again, it came barreling in just after 7am scaring off the other birds briefly, again it hung around most of the day.

Thanks to the snow we also had a flock of Fieldfares around, with three of them landing in the Laburnum and around another 10 or so landing in the trees at the back of the gardens. Mostly they sat in the trees for half an hour motionless before something spooked all the birds and everything flew off!

Finally who can resist a Robin in the snow.........