Plenty to look at
I’m very pleased to say that the woodpeckers are now daily visitors to the garden and I will either see one or two at a time.
They have learnt that it is easier and quieter for them to take suet from the suet logs that hang in my cobnut tree rather than from the busier feeders hanging in the dead tree stump on the other side of the garden. The logs have certainly been going down more quickly but I’ve also seen both the crow and the young starlings using them. One woodpecker the other day, when it was raining, seemed to be sheltering amongst the branches from the rain. The starlings are coming in a group of probably 10 or so and see them on the feeders and logs, sitting in the top of a large conifer sunning themselves in the evening or eating the peanuts and suet square. They have also been involved in communal bathing again this week with four or five birds at a time in the birdbath saucers. They tend to play follow my leader, as one goes in for a bath, another one joins it and couple more come for a drink and before you know where you are, there are five of them sitting in the saucer. The woodpecker the other day was fighting off some of the starlings, as it obviously assumed that the suet was just for woodpecker use.
As I mentioned above, the crow has been coming to the garden and I even saw two at once the other day. Occasionally it will go into the cobnut and peck at the suet log from a distance as it can’t get close to it and of course then has to wait for the log to swing back, before it can take another bite. The magpie does occasionally try the log and also takes some of the seed from the feeder tray. I’ve seen a few collared doves during the course of the week and there were three together yesterday evening and I’m also seeing at least two wood pigeons. Two collared doves feature in the photograph with a woodpecker as bonus bird. The wood pigeons will sometimes push away the starlings from the feeder but the collared doves just seem to get on with them.
The blackbirds have been very busy hopping about on the lawn and sitting on my fence with beaks full of worms and so forth and it is possible that there was a youngster in the garden the other day. but as it was pretty wet I can’t be sure. The jackdaws have been coming generally in a pair but they always disappear form my garden for the summer so I’m not too worried.
The sparrows have been hopping about and flying around in their little groups but I haven’t seen any nesting material taken into my neighbour’s roof during the course of the past week. I occasionally see a blue tit in the garden and of course the feral pigeons are still coming at various times of the day. There is now a completely white one in the group which looks as if it’s got albino eyes, so I suppose that is from the group which consists of mainly white birds with a few black or brown feathers.
There have been quite a few bees around in the garden on a variety of flowers although I think it has been too cold and wet recently for butterflies to be seen. What I have seen on two evenings this week is a bat flying around in my neighbour’s garden just after sunset. I don’t see them that often and it’s certainly the first sighting this year, but you’ve got to be in the right place at the right time to spot them I guess. Other wildlife coming to the garden includes a squirrel who has been taking and eating peanuts at the feeder and I know that the fox has visited on a couple of occasions, as it is managed to dig up some of my salad crops in the vegetable plot.
Written by Margaret Emerson
