Tits In The Garden!

[JennyMorgan]

We have several nesting boxes in the garden and for several years now we have had wag-tails making good use of them. This year, though, no wag-tails but lots of blue tits. Not only that but the primroses are out, snowdrops too. Daffodils have been out for a week or more and I got a whiff or two of varnish from next door's garage, summer is almost here! Mind you, it's been a turd of a day, rain and wind but nature moves relentlessly on, the tits have taken over the local housing stock, it's been great watching them move in. The signs are good, not long now!

[Vaughan]

"Spring is here, the grass is riz - oi wonder where the birdies is?"

[ChrisB]

Beet is being planted and the Black Headed Gulls are over my car. I had to wash the door handle this morning before I could get in.

[JennyMorgan]

46 minutes ago, Vaughan said:

"Spring is here, the grass is riz - oi wonder where the birdies is?"

Oi knows where the tits is!

[thingamybob]

Yep! Spring is sprung!

A week or so ago I spotted a couple of goldfinches teasing the seeds out of some teasels that I have allowed to grow in my garden. A couple of days ago they were back with two of their friends. I have not seen my blue tits around my nesting box though although when I went around my local corner shop there was the distinctive call in the air. C'mon Summer.   

[Polly]

We have frogs and toads spawning in the pond, over the last three days. I have seen long tailed tits, great tits, blue tits, robins, a solitary starling, nesting blackbirds, feeding on the stuff I put out, which I noticed was also being enjoyed by a wood mouse. The squirrels are out in force and the early bumble bees are on the mahonia. The wrens prefer the creepers on the fences. The pigeons have worked out how to open the squirrel feeder, as has a mouse.

No hedgehogs though, which makes me very sad, none for about three years now.

I find my nesting boxes are spurned.

I am so pleased my desk faces out onto all this, beats working.

[LizG]

Pond is still quiet. No nocturnal noise yet..... Brimstone sightings still low apart from one morning in late February. I always predict the 13th March as a Brimstone day. True sign of spring!!!

[DaveB]

Well my bees are flying again, bringing in loads of bright yellow pollen in their saddle bags! Good to see them again after they shut the hive down in October.

Spring is coming!!!

[SteveO]

I caught a squirrel feasting on the spinach in my veg patch this afternoon. Bloody thing! I thought they ate nuts and acorns. Other than that, the foxes seem to be using the garden as a party venue. I have found several obviously well-used dog toys in the garden. Either someone is having a laugh at my expense or our foxy friends are taking them from somewhere else and leaving them on our patch.  A couple of weekends ago, I saw the blue tits checking out our nesting box, but I am not sure whether they have taken up residence this year. Forsythia and Berberis are beginning to flower the Hellibores are the best I have ever seen them and we have a great drift of blue and pink-flowered lungwort under the hawthorns.

Spring is most definitely sprung!

Steve

[SueH]

Blue Tits are starting to use the bird box we bought in Oulton Broad Park a few years back.

Also a wild rabbit has appeared.  No idea where it has come from.  But it is welcome.

A new cat has appeared in the street.  Hopefully it won't come into the garden and bother the birds and fish.  Rosie can be quite quick on her feet if there is a cat around though!

 

[SPEEDTRIPLE]

Our back garden is a bit of a mess at the moment, we have to paint walls, trim down shrubs etc etc, but i would like to see hedgehogs down here, but in the 11 years we`ve lived here, i have only ever seen 1 yes, that`s ONE hedgehog. i was going to make a hedgehog box, but i doubt it would get any use. We`ve got a couple of bird boxes which we had on one of the walls, but they`ve never had any birds in them, so i took them down.We`ve also had a bird table for years, but the house part on top rotted, so i`ve got remake it. Again, we used to put food out, but hardly ever hadany birds on it.  I do wonder whether we`re doing anything wrong, but Karens mum and dad have the same things, and there boxes get birds visiting them every year. It`s a real shame, as i love to watch the birds.  

We did have a falcon take out a bird and devour it on our back lawn one day, well several times actually, as several times, we`ve been in the back garden, and seen a pile of feathers all around one small area. Perhaps the falcons are scaring the others away?.  I love birds, have numerous books on them, yet still know precious little about them. 

[grendel]

we have a nice hedgehog sized gap between the shed and the wall, we generally get one most years.

[DaveB]

11 hours ago, SPEEDTRIPLE said:

Our back garden is a bit of a mess at the moment, we have to paint walls, trim down shrubs etc etc, but i would like to see hedgehogs down here, but in the 11 years we`ve lived here, i have only ever seen 1 yes, that`s ONE hedgehog. i was going to make a hedgehog box, but i doubt it would get any use. We`ve got a couple of bird boxes which we had on one of the walls, but they`ve never had any birds in them, so i took them down.We`ve also had a bird table for years, but the house part on top rotted, so i`ve got remake it. Again, we used to put food out, but hardly ever hadany birds on it.  I do wonder whether we`re doing anything wrong, but Karens mum and dad have the same things, and there boxes get birds visiting them every year. It`s a real shame, as i love to watch the birds.  

We did have a falcon take out a bird and devour it on our back lawn one day, well several times actually, as several times, we`ve been in the back garden, and seen a pile of feathers all around one small area. Perhaps the falcons are scaring the others away?.  I love birds, have numerous books on them, yet still know precious little about them. 

Hi ST, looks like you may have a couple of falcons around your area, if they've been using your garden as a lunch area it will keep most birds well away unfortunately. not much you can do about it im afraid :-(

[Wussername]

I actually saw a couple having a picnic under a tree in Strumpshaw the other day.

A sure sign of spring. The first sighting.

Yours sincerely.

Cuckoo.

[thingamybob]

12 hours ago, SPEEDTRIPLE said:

Our back garden is a bit of a mess at the moment, we have to paint walls, trim down shrubs etc etc, but i would like to see hedgehogs down here, but in the 11 years we`ve lived here, i have only ever seen 1 yes, that`s ONE hedgehog. i was going to make a hedgehog box, but i doubt it would get any use. We`ve got a couple of bird boxes which we had on one of the walls, but they`ve never had any birds in them, so i took them down.We`ve also had a bird table for years, but the house part on top rotted, so i`ve got remake it. Again, we used to put food out, but hardly ever hadany birds on it.  I do wonder whether we`re doing anything wrong, but Karens mum and dad have the same things, and there boxes get birds visiting them every year. It`s a real shame, as i love to watch the birds.  

We did have a falcon take out a bird and devour it on our back lawn one day, well several times actually, as several times, we`ve been in the back garden, and seen a pile of feathers all around one small area. Perhaps the falcons are scaring the others away?.  I love birds, have numerous books on them, yet still know precious little about them. 

Do you have any cats around? A friend of mine complains that he does not see many wild birds in his garden but both he and his neighbours keep cats. Cats destroy so much wild life, they are banned from my garden. I so wish cat owners would fit them with collars with bells on.

[smellyloo]

1 minute ago, thingamybob said:

 they are banned from my garden. I so wish cat owners would fit them with collars with bells on.

How do you stop the pesky vermin from using your garden as a toilet etc. I'm surrounded by cats and am powerless to stop them using my garden!!

Cats really are the filthiest beasts .......... or maybe their owners should do as dog owners do and clean up after them?

[thingamybob]

Just now, smellyloo said:

How do you stop the pesky vermin from using your garden as a toilet etc. I'm surrounded by cats and am powerless to stop them using my garden!!

Cats really are the filthiest beasts .......... or maybe their owners should do as dog owners do and clean up after them?

I use cat repellent pellets from Wilco, sonic Defender boxes and the odd squirt of water. These are all legal to use and most cats get the message fairly quickly. Unfortunately I have had to stop putting food scraps out for my little bird friends as it attracts cats.

Yes, you are right, they are filthy creatures. I have had to stop growing veg in the open ground of my garden due to the risk of infection by Toxicara Felis which a lot of cats carry. Look it up on the internet, it is a nasty parasite.

[MauriceMynah]

Whilst I agree that cats kill birds, may I add that a mouse problem we had has drastically reduced since our neighbours cats found a welcome in our garden. We also had a few rats about. Not any more we don't. A small price to pay for the loss of some of  the birds,  

[ExMemberBobdog]

I mentioned this title to 'she who must be obeyed', and she said "it's not nearly warm enough yet".

[thingamybob]

18 hours ago, Bobdog said:

I mentioned this title to 'she who must be obeyed', and she said "it's not nearly warm enough yet".

I wondered just how long forumites could restrain themselves.

[JennyMorgan]

19 minutes ago, thingamybob said:

I wondered just how long forumites could restrain themselves.

Reckon the obvious wags have taken themselves in hand, well done fellas!

[addicted]

A house we lived in during the nineties had quite a large garden and was visited by more species of bird than you can shake stick at and any house guests we had seemed to spend most of their stay standing at the window watching the show which included the antics of a a colony of squirrels that occupied the 15 or so mature Oak and Ash trees we had. We had a bird box on the top of a feeding table just outside the  kitchen door and each year great tits nested in it. One year I knew the babies must be close to fledging  but the parent birds were behaving strangely, bringing food but hesitating outside the box seeming confused, We looked inside the box and all the babies were dead. So we cleared them away together with the lining of the nest and within minutes the adult birds were back re-building the nest again,  they raised another brood to fledgling stage but sadly again they all died. I wrote to Country Life magazine to see if anyone could shed some light on what may have caused  this to happen. Not only did they publish my letter they published my full address and within days I was getting letters from all over the  country  offering various explanations. The next two years the birds successfully raised their young with no problems. Once again I wrote to Country Life thanking all those who had taken an interest.  Telling them that all was now well again. A few days later I received a telephone call from the letters page editor asking me to send a photo of the bird table/box as they wanted to make a feature of it  this  they did and a 2 page spread with a picture of my humble bird table graced the next weeks issue.  Fame at last!  We never did solve the problem of what  had killed the fledglings. I suspected crop spraying in neighbouring fields to be the culprit, but never knew for sure.

 

Carole

[vanessan]

On 06/03/2017 at 11:32 AM, smellyloo said:

How do you stop the pesky vermin from using your garden as a toilet etc. I'm surrounded by cats and am powerless to stop them using my garden!!

Cats really are the filthiest beasts .......... or maybe their owners should do as dog owners do and clean up after them?

Get a dog! 

[vanessan]

Many years ago I was late for work one morning, all due to blue tits. (Careful now!....) We had a tit box, still have actually, and I was watching mum and dad go in and out feeding. Suddenly, one by one, the babies came to the box entrance, teetered on the edge and then launched themselves out and onto the nearest branch. By this time mum and dad were on branches nearby calling out instructions to the little ones, I think in total about 6 babies appeared. There was no way I was going to leave for work while all this was happening, it was a magical event. We have had the tit box for years and it is very rare for it not to be used each spring.

[Jim]

Loads of Goldfinches here which is great. Neighbours cats can be a problem from time to time especially if they leave a "present" in our garden.  We have a brown tabby cat that quite happily stays indoors and only ventures in the garden when supervised by us.

Our first brown tabby who we lost in 1989 was a real character.  He actually looked after birds and if any other cats were around, he would shoo them off. Needless to say, after all these years, he will not be forgotten!