News Report

Here you will find news about what is happening in my garden; last updated on Sunday, 21 March 2010. There are also the nest box diaries to read.

Blue Tits in my Nest Box follows the day-to-day nesting activities of a family of adorable Blue Tits in a nest box fitted with a camera. The book is available as an e-book with all proceeds going to British Garden Birds. More details...

£1.25 each

March 2010

Although it may not feel like it, as far as the birds are concerned, spring is in the air. Both Mistle and Song Thrushes have been singing for a while now and this week I've heard my first Blackbird singing.

The number of Blackbirds has dwindled with only a handful now present. At least 2 Song Thrushes and a Mistle Thrush continue to visit. There are at least two pairs of Mistle Thrushes and a few fights have broken out as they set up their territories.

The wintering male Blackcap is still feeding on the suet balls and occasionally on sunflower hearts. Today (18th), it has started to sing. The female has not been seen for a few weeks.

A couple of Blue Tits and Great Tits are regular visitors. The pair of Long-tailed Tits are in the garden throughout the day, feeding on the suet balls, and possibly nesting at the end of a neighbour's garden. A Coal Tit visits rarely now.

Numbers of finches is still reasonably steady: a couple of Bullfinches feeding on black sunflower seeds together with up to 6 Greenfinches, up to 6 Goldfinches feeding on sunflower hearts and niger and 2 Chaffinches feeding on the ground.

Up to 3 Dunnocks are now present, with lots of wing-flicking and chasing going off. There are two Robins present; one is often singing from atop the neighbour's elder tree and regularly chases the other away (which seems to originate from further down the road).

There is a maximum of about 9 House Sparrows usually in the garden, feeding mostly on kitchen scraps, mixed seeds and sunflower hearts. Increasingly, they are preening and sunbathing in the Photinia tree, and chirruping incessantly.

Two Jays continues to visit the peanut holder, collecting several in its crop before flying away to cache them. Often, they perch on a nearby fence, placing the peanuts on the fence post before proceeding to eat them one by one.

A number of Magpies are around but only one ventures into the garden occasionally, usually to try to get peanuts the same way that the Jay does. The Magpies have started nest building.

Up to 4 Wood Pigeons visit now and then but rarely feed, more often than not they are looking for water to drink.

The female Great Spotted Woodpecker and a Nuthatch have not been seen for a couple of weeks.

A couple of diminutive Wrens are glimpsed darting around the garden, searching remaining nooks and crannies for invertebrates.