Busy morning

Well, I finally got the sunflower hearts out and what a great response. Everyone decided theyd like to have a try at it, even the robin. Mr and Mrs Blackcap had a good go before Mrs Blackcap decided to chase her husband off again, boy is she a stroppy so and so.. through the binoculars I could see her, beak open, not 3 inches from his face, screeching at him!! The Greenfinches were all over it too, mrs greenfinch was happy at the top while 2 males seemed to think that each one wanted all 10 feeding ports and the other male shouldnt be there!

such a lot of birds this morning, maybe the cold morning (-2C here) brings them out. I cant think of a better way to start the day than 2 cups of tea watching the little jewels of my garden get on with their morning business.

What a joy this is.

3 red robins sitting on the fence

while making my tea this morning (god that sounds so english) I had 3 robins all having a bustup over the mealworms in the feeder.. boy what a racket.

During all of this the 3 goldies stuffing their faces on the nyger seed looked on with much amusement while the big fat wood chicken on the multiseed feeder was more wondering what his name was and how he'd come to be there in the first place.

Everyone seems to be zoning in on the nyger seed at the moment.. I caught Mr.Chaffinch, (who still hasnt forgiven me for putting perches on his huge sunflower feeder, )having a good old go at it.. Ive even seen a coaltit feeding on it.. obviously noones told him that his beak is truely the wrong shape and he shouldnt be able to do it!

We have visitors all weekend, so will probably go out on the bikes (motor) tomorrow as its going to be nice.. its a pity in a way, I was looking forward to watching all the birdlife enjoying the sunshine.

Birdy Marital Issues

I think Mr and Mrs Blackcap have had a huge tiff... hes been trying to get to the suet feeder all morning, but when he gets close, she swoops in from nowhere and chases him off! Maybe hes supposed to be looking for nest building material instead of going out for takeaway?! Chores first, berry and insect yum later.

Have had a Goldie here almost all morning.. he/she flies off for about 2 minutes then comes back in again.. Im getting so used to him/her that I can recognise the spot pattern on (oh screw it Ill call it a he) his back against his friend that comes with him in the afternoon.

Other than that one of the robins has been stuffing his face on mealworms, and Mr.Chaffinch seems to have lost confidence in the sunflower feeder since I put the perches on it! Hes now coming to the Nyger seed and the multiseed feeder instead.. no accounting for taste huh. Also had a Greenfinch that seemed to like the ground peanuts that I added to the large sunflower feeder, shes been mixing sunflower seeds and peanuts for a while too.

Just some photos

Goldfinch

This time he posed for me.. Can you spot the second one?

showers and sunshine

Been a lovely morning, despite feeling like death warmed up (why do we say that?) with this cold I caught off one of my students. ( I grrr'd at him via facebook!)

At one point this morning we had:

• Goldfinch x2
• Greenfinch x2
• Chaffinch x2
• Robin
• Blackcap (f)
• Big fat pigeon
• Coal tit

all at the same time! Which is quite amazing I think in anyone's book.

The squally hailstorm we had a moment ago sent everyone for cover unsurprisingly, including Kiska (our cat) who was sitting in the sunshine watching the birds feeding (she never tries to catch them, or even stalk them).

I'm going to go and get some dowelling today and adapt the big sunflower feeder so more than 2 finches can get on it, when using the tit perch their chest covers the feeding port, so Ill sort that out. I might also put a perch on the suet feeder as well.. anything to try to encourage more species in I think.

Its amazing to think we have these results after only 3 weeks of having the feeders out.. but then again we do have 7 different types of food out for them. Here's a list:

• Fatballs
• Suet block (berry and insect flavour)
• Black sunflower seeds (husked)
• multiseed
• peanuts (almost never touched now)
• rehydrated mealworms
• Nyger seed

I think variety is the name of the game, and also different perch types/locations.

Finally, a shot of Mr. Blackcap

He flew in out of nowhere then decided that he'd stretch for the suet feeder rather than grab hold of it. Such a lovely bird! Very excited to see him






















Shortly before, Mrs. Blackcap had put in an appearance as well. Shes here alot during the day, almost entirely on the fatballs. She did try to perch on the multiseed feeder I have out for the pigeons, but couldnt work out how to settle on it.




















One of the robins also finally found the rehydrated meal worms that I put in my makeshift feeder. I think Ill stick with it as the blackbirds should be able to get in it as well.

a windy day

very windy in the garden this morning, feeders blowing about all over the shop.. but lovely sunshine and quite warm.

this morning we've had what I suspect to be the finch flock that came yesterday, which is 3 greenfinches and 2 goldies, they always seem to come in together and leave together. Mr and Mrs chaffinch are never far away and were here most of the time the finches where here.

Mr chaffinch gets a bit tetchy with them as they take his favourite perch at the top.. I think the bigger birds are having trouble getting on the small tit perches of the sunflower feeder, Ill go and buy some dowling to add some nice perches, then hopefully theyll all get on a bit getter.

Mrs Blackcap has also put in an appearance, but no Mr today yet. Its lovely here, we seem to already have a steady stream of birds of all species, far more than at the old house.

I feel rotten today having caught a cold from one of my students. Nightmare, but at least I can just watch the birds and not feel guilty for not doing anything!

greenfinches!

Ooook, yes another post! A flock of greenfinches accompanies by 2 goldies flew in, so I grabbed the camera again!!

oh, our garden layout

Our garden feeding layout at the moment. We bought a bird table from B&Q which was awful quality! so I had to rebuild it and replace the upright.

the birds seem to love the tree, it a short flight from the wood behind across the small garage block (which doubles as a huge bird table for the wood chickens and jackdaws.

well, been a little while since I posted! Since then we've moved house!! Its lovely here. We have a lovely (small) garden backed onto by a wood of about 10 acres. Along side that is a disused railway track of about 3 miles thats been laid to pathway.. this provides a lovely wildlife corridor for all sorts of wild birds and 4 legged fauna.
The gardens getting really busy now with different birds coming in from all over. Heres some shots this morning.

What I believe to be a female blackcap? correct me if Im wrong!! I also had the male shortly before but I missed him with the camera.

One of the 2 regular robins to the garden

Speedy coal tit. This guy was just on something this morning!! flying around the garden like a loony.. he even pitched on the flower pot rim right in front of my extremely surprised cat!! he did fly off fast so he was in no danger

Chaffinch. This guy is lovely. One of a pair we have very often. He always uses this fence topper as an anvil to break into sunflower seeds

Blue Tit. I dont know why, but all the birds here seem to be so vivid in their colours compared to the old house.

Robins! Presumably male and female? I cant imagine 2 males being happy to be this close

Goldfinch. This little guy visits every day, normally in the morning. I know theres a flock nearby up the railway walk as they flew over us last weekend when we were out