Ground Guard

A couple of days ago I installed a large mesh Ground Guard from CJ Wildlife. It comes as a flat pack which is easily assembled in a few minutes to make a safe area for smaller birds which like to feed at ground level but prevents the larger birds, especially Wood Pigeons, from hogging all the food. There is a lid on the top which made it easy to put a tray of seed and a suet slab inside.



First to try it out was a Robin but so far it has been mostly used by the Blackbirds. It is amusing to watch the Wood Pigeons circling round the guard trying to find a way in and failing. I had hoped the Pied Wagtails would use it but I haven't seen them for a couple of days.

Then There Were Two

The Pied Wagtail seems to be a resident these days. I have seen it in the garden every day until ...





... now two have visited the past couple of days. The lighting was poor and the photos are screen shots from a short piece of video I managed to take of them.

Waiting for Spring

Corkscrew Hazel catkins waiting for Spring to arrive so they can open up.



The Blue Tits have been visiting the nestbox several times every day. They never stay for long but at least they seem to be showing serious interest. On a somewhat worrying front the cameras have spotted a young Hedgehog wandering about on several nights recently.



It is not unknown for one to wake for a short while when the weather is mild. I have put some food in the Hedgehog House so that it can keep up its weight and energy. I hope it goes back into hybernation when the temperatures cool down.

Nestbox Activity

At last I have been able to check on any activity in the camera nestbox. For some reason I lost wifi contact with the camera for several weeks but a re-boot of everything seems to have restored communications. There have been visits made by a Blue Tit on several different days. This capture shows a pair visiting:



Notice how the first one calls to its mate and moves to a corner so as not to act as a soft landing for the second one.