The First Visitor

The camera feeder is in rather an out of the way position but it took less than two hours for the first brave visitor to inspect it. What was it? Just think which common garden bird is always close by when there is anything happening when you are gardening. The Robin.



It was very cautious at first but as the only visitor so far it now has its own private source of food. I am seriously thinking about moving the feeder to near the bottom of the garden. There is plenty of bird activity there plus lots of trees and bushes as safe places for them.

P.S.



A Blackbird has finally found the feeder. Things are looking up.

A Few Birds

From time to time I have spotted a Song Thrush on the lawn, especially while the Blackbirds were gathering food for their younsters.



The Blackbirds had a nest in the garden hedge. Great to see two youngster have fledged and spend some time each day feeding on the seed scattered by the Starlings. For the first few days the Male Blackbird stayed near them, watching, as though to keep them from harm.



Finally - when I videoed the Rooks at the feeders I also managed to take a still which gives an idea of the wing span.



I now have three or four Rooks coming to the feeders every day. I am having to think of a way of making the feeder which holds the suet logs more large beak proof. The Rooks, with their large heavy beaks, keep hacking at the logs to break them up so they can extract the pieces and fly off with them.

Balckbird, Sneak Thief

Male Blackbird acting nervously, or guiltily, as it sneaks in the Hedgehog feeding station to steal some food.



A similar thing happened last year with the old feeding station.

Not Only Hedgehogs

There are visits by Hedgehogs about five nights a week but others have also discovered the supply of free food.



I haven't seen the mouse for a while. Maybe the Fox found it.

Bathing Black and White Blackbird

My water feature using the old waterfall from my pond is still under construction. I had to replace the filter unit as the old one was leaking. At somewhere near twenty years old I couldn't find any spare parts for it. I didn't like the solid wood background so I replaced that with a couple of layers of greenhouse sun shading material. Not that the birds are bothered whether it is a finished product or not as long as there is water to drink or bathe in.



This blackbird is easy to recognise as it has a few white feathers.

How Time Flies

After a bit of judicious trimming of vegetation and re-positioning the IR detector I set things up again to see what wildlife was visiting for a drink or a quick bath.

Here is the IR detector in place:

 

I was thinking I had built this a couple of years ago and was astounded when I found out I had originally written about building it ten years ago here (Heath Robinson Strikes Again). While the weather is fine I have left the detector in place so the birds get used to it being there.

A few regulars from Tuesday:

House Sparrows


Female Blackbird


Robin

(must remember to set the camera to manual focus)

Wood Pigeons


At least there were fewer false triggers and empty photos to delete.

Attacked from Above and Below

This large suet log has been hanging in the garden for weeks without any takers.

 

All of a sudden, now there are hungry youngsters to feed, it is being attacked from above and below.

As well as the inevitable Starlings there has been the occasional visit from a Rook to attack it from above:



A bit of jittery video, hand held looking through the kitchen window which was in full sunlight:



The attack from below is from a Blackbird:

 

He flies straight up, grabs a beak full and drops down again.



I have watched Blackbirds use the same tactic to grab the berries from ivy hedges when there is no place for them to land on the plant.

The Singing Aerial

Sat on my 6 meter band halo aerial:



Sorry about the heavy breathing.
Forgot to stay away from the camera when not using a directional microphone.

Blackbird Serenade

A bit grim first thing with the temperature at 1C but plenty of Sunshine took it up to 13C and encouraged, as if it needed any, a nearby Blackbird to serenade us:



As for the camera nestbox - the squatter has had the last 'word'. No sign of the Great Tits for ten days and the bumblebee continues to be active. I wonder whether we will get to see some 'baby' bumblebees emerge. Unfortunately its nest is hidden under the nesting material supplied by Mrs GT.

Brrrrr

It's definitely still winter.
Today's temperatures, so far:



Just put out the third lot of seed for the birds.
Always a toss up who will be waiting nearby, Robin or Blackbird:



Also had to change the pot of water I put out in cold weather. It soon freezes over.

Something I don't see much these days, icicles.
These have been slowly forming during the afternoon:



Though snowfall here has been sporadic, when it has come it is like blizzard conditions.
Yesterday it nearly all melted but not today.

An Apple a Day ......

.... is one of the surest ways to attract Blackbirds to my garden:

Blackbird Singing

I don't care how much the wind blows I'm going to sing:

Blackbird Family

Well, dad and two of the three kids. One moved away just as I started to take photographs.



Where can I find some more food:


I'll try here:


 

That wasn't much of a beak full, try again:


And so it went on for several minutes.

A short while later I spotted a Jackdaw in the same place:



Don't see those very often in my garden.
 

First Brood of the Year

I've been watching two pair of Blackbirds collecting food recently. One pair nesting high up in a tree and the other in the nearby hedge. From time to time there has been the occasional altercation as they dispute who has the feeding rights in my garden. Yesterday one family took to the wing so the parents have been chasing around feeding them.

Just a couple of snapshots as the light was fading:





As for the Robins and the watering can - I once spotted a Robin staring back at me from inside the can but otherwise I've not really seen much sign of a nest, eggs or brood.

I've Got My Beady Eye On You

About tea time yesterday we were sat outside enjoying some Sunshine and the warmest part of the day when a female Blackbird settled on the roof of the Summerhouse just a few feet away:



Fortunately the camera was within reach as I had just missed a great photo opportunity. I had heard some sounds. Just the occasional single squawk. At the same time the local Wood Pigeons had scattered to the four winds. When I looked out to see what it was I was astonished to see two birds of prey flying round together. Not a sight I get to see more than about once a year, if that. Too high and too far away to identify and even further away by the time I grabbed a camera. It was then I decided to sit outside hoping they might fly back this way but that was not to be.

Also missed this morning, a bit of Robin bonding. Female was on one of the cameras when the male flew up to her and fed her the Sunflower heart he was carrying. I've only seen this happen once before and would love to photo it or even better - grab some video.

More moss was being added to the watering can today.

Don't Forget the Ground Feeders

With mornings like today - foggy, air frost, just about 2C - our feathered friends appreciate some high energy food to start the day. What better than a fat ball or two? Most times we tend to hang these in nets or specially designed containers. That is fine for the smaller birds who can hang on but often near impossible for ground feeders such as Blackbirds. I have seen them keep flying up, trying to peck off the odd piece before they fall down again.

Recently I have been placing a fat ball or two on the bird table so they can all eat their share:



This female Blackbird was certainly appreciating it.

Visitors to the new Bird Table

It didn't take long for the locals to start using the new bird table.
First brave soul was a Robin:


Others included.....
Dunnock:


female Blackbird:


Starling:


Great Tit:


and Chaffinch


I also noticed a Blue Tit but it was too fast for me. There were plenty of House Sparrows but they seemed to prefer the hanging feeder under the bird table.

Title was created with the Mac app Art Text 3 and the FeatheredFlight font.

Friday at the Flicks - Blackbirds Love Apples

Today's royalty free soundtrack comes from Positively Dark.
Another place for good quality royalty free music is Purple Planet.

My New Buddy

For a couple of weeks a female Blackbird has usually flown in to greet us when we returned from our mid afternoon walks. She usually lands on top of the fence a couple of feet away, watches and follows me knowing that I will be putting some food out for her.



She has gradually become bolder and will now feed a few feet away from me. For this bit of video I crouched down about three feet (1m) away. She watched me for a short while and then tucked in to some mini suet sticks:



I try to get a bit closer each day and hope she may end up taking food from my hand.

Any Puddle Will Do

We often see Blackbirds and House Sparrows taking advantage of puddles down the lane as bathing areas. I try to get the occasional photo but usually by the time I have zoomed in and pressed the shutter the birds have flown, as with this Sparrow:



Today one particular male Blackbird was made of hardier stuff and watched to see how close we were going to get:



We stopped a short distance away and Mr. Blackbird concluded it was safe to carry on:



I don't blame him as the temperature was about 24C with a strong warm breeze. Once we started to approach again he watched us ....



... until we got too close for comfort. He then flew a short distance away. Once we had passed I looked back and he had returned to finish his disturbed ablutions.