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.

A Negative Day

Woke up to another colder than usual day for mid December here. As the readings (stored on the Wunderground web site) from my new weather station show it never reached the dizzy height of 0C all day - up to the time of writing:



My old weather station was starting to become unreliable so I invested in a new one which I installed a few days ago when the temperature was better at +3C. The indoor readout is quite spectacular:



A large display, bright and clear, readable from anywhere in the room as it is hung on the wall. It comes with the outdoor sensors as usual but also has an extra module which I have in the unheated conservatory to show temperature and humidity in there. The only reading which needs adjusting is the air pressure. That is a bit fiddly to set on this display.

I didn't really want to get out of bed this morning but eventually surfaced to the winter wonderland. Looking at some of the greenery you would be forgiven for thinking it had been snowing



but it is just days of accumulated frost building up on everything. As the ice in the bird baths is now too thick to remove easily yesterday I put out a large plant-pot saucer filled with fresh water. This morning the ice in it was 10mm thick but I managed to remove it and refill with water. The Pied Wagtail was one of the first to take advantage. That was at 9 a.m.. By midday it was frozen solid again and needed refilling.



It has been spending most of each day in the garden. As it will only search for food at ground level I scatter some seed on the grass for it to find. There appears to be a possibility we may have some snow tomorrow, Wednesday.

Pied Wagtail Returns

Today I set up the camcorder ready for any interesting visitors to the bird feeders. After a night where the temperature dipped down to -3C there seemed to be far fewer than yesterday. One which did return for another quick visit was



the Pied Wagtail. I was ready for it this time. It was quite bossy and kept chasing the local House Sparrows away from where it wanted to feed.

Busy Bird Feeders

As the weather has been so cold, yesterday and today the bird feeders have been in great demand. Along with the usual small birds I counted four Rooks, three Magpies, several Crows and a couple of Jackdaws. One which took me by surprise was a fleeting visit from a



Pied Wagtail. Managed to grab a few hurried stills but as soon as I started to set up the camcorder it flew away. I have often seen them in nearby grassy areas but I don't remember seeing one in my garden before today. I always have a smile at the antics of the Starlings. I emptied all the ice out of a bird bath and refilled with water. Within a few minutes the Starlings were having a good old splash around in spite of it being all of 1C out there.

The end of a Dull Day

Quite a change in the weather yesterday. Saturday had been sunny all day but Sunday started out overcast and continued that way with rain on and off all morning. At least it brightened up a bit for the afternoon walk. As we were returning across the cricket field there was one solitary Pied Wagtail. Though it kept a wary eye on us we were able to get reasonably close to it but it still looked very small to the Lumix, even at 12x zoom.



 I was pleasantly surprised how clear small crops from the photographs turned out.





There is starting to be a profusion of blossom on various bushes and trees now. I am pretty sure this is Blackthorn growing in the field hedgerow.



In one garden hedge the Berberis is opening its tiny flowers.



By 8 o'clock it was pleasant outside and we sat in the garden for a while listening to the birds. I could hear four different Blackbirds, two of them very close while a Dunnock did its best to make its much quieter song heard.

A Bank Holiday at Home and a Hedgehog Night

This morning I am still laughing. I have just been watching the antics of a young Goldfinch which couldn't quite get the hang of landing on a perch on the feeders and ended up sitting on the head of a young Greenfinch.

I never have been one for getting the car out on a Bank Holiday weekend. Great sunny day yesterday so the coastal towns would probably have been packed and not far inland there had been the usual warning from the police about traffic congestion on the approaches to Cadwell Park. (Motor bike race meeting)

Bank Holiday Monday started off cloudy and cool but soon developed in to a beautiful warm day for checking what was going on in the garden and even to do a bit of weeding.

I decided to snap a few views of the pond as the last time was back in the Spring. As I was taking the last couple of shots a pair of Common Darters, once more linked with the male's tail fixed to the female's head, flew across the shot. At one stage then dipped so low on the water the ripples could be seen. Somehow, in spite of three pictures being taken as they flew across the pond, they managed to stay invisible to the camera.



Fortunately a short while later they settled on a stepping stone and waited patiently while I got a few shots in. They were definitely at risk on that chosen spot as there is a large mass of spiders sticky threads just below the female.



I find it amazing the agility these creatures must have to be able to fly in unison whilst joined in this fashion. Eventually they flew off together.

The only other life on the pond, apart from visiting wasps, were a couple of pond skaters - one resting on a lily pad and the other on a floating bird feather.





As we were setting off for afternoon walkies there was the usual crowd of flutters at the lavender bushes.



A Painted Lady on the path.



A cheeky Small Tortoiseshell hitching a ride on Bobby's back.



As usual at this time of year there was a group of Pied Wagtails grubbing round the grass on the cricket field. It is difficult to get close to them to get a good clear shot. I very carefully took a few steps nearer each time one looked away but if I got too close for their liking they just walked further away.



At about 9 p.m. the clouds were racing across the Moon giving tantalising glimpses every so often.



By 9.30 Henry the dominant Hedgehog made an appearance on the feeding area and proceeded to scatter the mealworms from the dish. At the bottom there were Sunflower hearts and peanut nibbles. The last brief part of this video shows Honey, the shy adult Hedgehog, arrive, ignore the dish and carry on to the rest of the garden. Later she did come back for a long drink of water.



I think there must be plenty of natural food about for them as they spend more time foraging in the garden than on the feeding area these days.

At bedtime Bobby caught the scent of Hedgehog and within a couple of seconds had found Henry who proceeded to curl up and stand his ground. Honey always runs away. I waited for a while and Henry slowly peered out to see if it was safe to move on. I turned round to see where Bobby was. By the time I turned back again Henry had vanished. They really can get a move on when they want.



If you enjoy watching the antics of Hedgehogs I have recommended Hog Blog in the past - great videos and photos. Just recently I discovered Twosie the Hedgehog - another site with lots of videos of their Hedgehog visitors and lovely descriptions of what they get up to in the garden there.