A staycation with nature

Many of us this year will be taking summer breaks in the UK and myself included.

I was fortunate to find a very quiet and peaceful place to stay with the surrounding countryside and amazing views that were absolutely, breathtaking.

We overlooked a small garden, which was always busy with a variety of wildlife, and an array of different bird species arriving frequently at the bird table - Blue Tits, Great Tits, Robins, Sparrows, Tree Sparrows, Blackbirds plus the occasional Pigeon and Magpie to name but a few. On one occasion, we had a visit from a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker - I couldn’t believe my eyes. I've never seen one so up close before, its colours were so beautiful, but he didn’t stay long; he flew off up a tree trunk and we could only just see him in the distance pecking away.

There was also a bird feeder on the window that was very popular with the Blue Tits and Great Tits, it was close to a tree where all the birds appeared to gather, chirping away their delightful songs that we could hear first thing in the morning, teatime, and early evening.

The feeder and table we’re topped up each day with Sunflower Hearts, a big favourite with all of the birds. Sunflower Hearts have no husk on them making it easy for birds to peck at or, to pick one up and fly off to consume in the relative safety of a nearby hedge perhaps.

Garden birders prefer to feed sunflower hearts because there's never any waste or mess to clear up. There was always a queue of birds, each one awaiting their turn, some waited patiently and some less so. The flow of birds was endless.

Later in the evening, when the birds had disappeared, if there were any bird seeds left, the squirrel would have his turn tidying up.

We found there was always something for us to see, we had a baby rabbit that would run past the door and disappear into the hedge, too quick for me to take a photo and, on the odd occasion, we saw a male and female pheasant running around quite happily.

Our staycation with nature has been lovely. I think we chose the right place to be. It has been so relaxing. Watching all that nature had to offer has made it even more enjoyable.

*Photo's courtesy of Chris Jakes