I was fortunate this morning to get two video clips of young Goldfinches being fed by the adults. It hasn't taken long for the goldies to get used to the new, larger feeder which is just as well as there are now quite a few visiting on and off all day.
They often arrive with two or more youngsters which spend much of their time calling and flapping their wings.
One youngster was sat in the tray under the small feeder happily eating the thistle seeds the adults had dropped until a few adults arrived. Then the tactics changed to the usual wing flapping and begging to be fed. Eventually an adult turned up and performed its parental duty. After the young one had been fed the adult sits there staring it straight in the eyes as though to say - "There, I've shown you what to eat - now find some yourself."
A short while later an adult was at the edge of the grass where I had emptied some of the spilt seeds.
It seemed to be gathering quite a few. Fortunately I switched the camcorder on and this is what followed.
There was no let up for the harassed adults. Wherever they went at least one youngster was sure to follow.
To Enjoy a Meal - Sit in the Dish.
After an exchange of ideas on Twosie the Hedgehog I decided that the bulk cheap mealworms I had bought on eBay were useless. The Hedgehogs ignored them and even the Starlings left them. Fortunately I still had a few packets left from my usual supplier so I put some of those along with Sunflower hearts, peanut nibbles and crushed unsalted peanuts in a spare mesh dish. Then it was a question of waiting for a visitor. What a difference! Honey turned up and made lots of short visits to the dish, even climbing in it to get at the free grub more easily.
One piece of action I missed recording was when Honey wanted to know what was under the dish so she stuck her nose under and nearly tipped it over as she pushed it out of the way.
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.
Yesterday spotted two pairs of Common Darter Dragonflies joined head to tail spending a lot of time over the garden pond. I tried for a while to get a photo of them in flight but my ability to adjust the manual focus fast enough defeated me. I did manage a few fuzzy photos of which this is the best.
After a while they moved on to try somewhere else. Later I noticed a lone female spending some time around the pond and had more luck in snapping this one as she flitted about.
Eventually she settled and spent quite a while in the same spot, occasionally flying up and returning to the same resting place.
One thing I was hoping to record was the unusual way the wings of the dragonfly are designed. At first glance they appear to be flat but if you get the chance to look very closely ridges can be seen. The wings actually have a corrugated or pleated effect.
It can be seen if you study the left front wing shown above.
I would never have spotted this if it hadn't been for a post on Kelly's excellent blog - Red and the Peanut. You can see the post here - "The Stylish Pleats on a Dragonfly's Wings ....". Kelly did some research and recently it has been found that the folds in the wings create circulating currents of air which reduces the drag on the wing. This design appears to be unique to Dragonflies. Once again Nature has the edge on us mere humans in designing an efficient wing.
Taking one of my quick browses round the garden pond yesterday I spotted what I first thought was a beetle climbing one of the marginal water plants.
It continued to explore the plant and at one time fell in the pond. As I was interested to see what it was I rescued it and placed it on the edge of the pond.
At the time I hadn't the faintest idea what I was looking at. I just though it was an interesting beetle. Much later, after a lot of searching the net looking for the wrong thing, I finally identified it as a Vine Weevil. If I had known that to start with I would have been tempted to leave it when it fell in the pond. It was back near the beginning of April when I was investigating the demise of my strawberry plants in the greenhouse that I found the compost was full of the grubs of the Vine Weevil. See Grubbing About.
The weevil must like walking as much later in the day I saw it, or a relative, walking at the top of the kitchen window which at least gave another chance for a double reflection photo opportunity.
How do they manage to walk on smooth vertical surfaces?
Addendum: Jan (Shysongbird) gave me a link to an interesting article from New Scientist on the subject of how creatures walk up walls and across ceilings without falling off.
Why evil? It, or one of its relatives, was responsible for killing off my lovely strawberry plants which I had moved to the greenhouse in the hopes of an early crop.
While I was still on auto-pilot early yesterday morning I glanced at two small Sunflowers and thought - what has happened to the centre of each? As the brain cleared I could make out that each Sunflower had its own visitor - a Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly busily topping up with nectar.
Fortunately they stayed long enough for me to grab the camera and creep outside to get a closer look.
When I filled up the new larger Niger / Thistle seed feeder I bought on Thursday I moved the old one. The next morning there were no Goldfinches in sight! Later in the day I put the old one back in its regular spot and hung the new one next to it. At one stage this morning there were four Goldfinches on the old feeder and one brave bird on the new feeder. I think the Goldies have got so used to the landing pad on the old feeder. They like to stand on that and reach to pick out the seeds. Also over the past couple of days some of the Chaffinches have been landing on that pad. They never take seeds from the slots in the feeder but pick up any seeds which have fallen out or been dropped by the Goldfinches.
I wonder what is in that ugly looking yellow thing?
It is most unusual, here anyway, to see a Goldfinch on the ground but this youngster was spotted rummaging in the grass I laughingly call a lawn.
Yesterday - a leisurely morning followed by a reasonable carvery at a local hostelry with a friend. On the way home I decided to pop in to the town to get a replacement electric car aerial for the greenhouse. I didn't know about the road works at the major junction in town so that was a seven minute wait to move a hundred yards. At the car parts shop my luck was in. They had one aerial left.
On the way back home I called in the garden centre to see whether they had a large Niger seed feeder and against expectations they did so I bought one and stocked up with bird food. There - two items off the Round Tuit list in the space of an hour - whatever next?
By the time I got back home it was time for Bobby to take me for my afternoon constitutional so we nipped down the lane to the cricket field. There were quite a few Southern Hawker Dragonflies flitting around the hedges. Every now and then one would rest. The only camera I had with me was the one in my mobile phone so I tried for a couple of shots. The phone has a wide angle lens so to get a reasonable picture of something like a dragon it needs to be very close. One dragon was obliging and let me get the camera within a few inches.
After a quick cuppa I set about modifying, testing and fitting the car aerial to the greenhouse door.
Top to bottom - door closed, on its way opening, fully open, some uPVC to keep the worst of the rain away from the cables.
While I was in the garden centre I spotted a small ceramic bowl that looked just the job for putting hedgehog food in. I wondered how long it would take for a hog to use it. Not long at all!
When I think of it - that makes three Round Tuits in one day as I have been meaning to buy a bowl for the hedgehogs for ages. No wonder I slept like a baby last night - exhausted!!
To be honest I don't know as I have not put any out for them to try. What I do know is that until very recently I had never seen the local Goldfinches drink even though the bird bath is only a few wing flaps away from the feeders. What changed? A short while ago I bought a bottle of CitroSan.
This is a natural product extracted from oranges. According to the blurb on the back of the bottle - "It is a very good sanitizer against a wide range of pathogens and a stimulant for maintaining natural immunity." A small amount is added to drinking or bathing water.
The day after I added some to the water in the bird bath the Goldfinches started drinking from it.
Coincidence? Who knows?
This is not meant as an endorsement for the product just an observation of what happened in my back garden. Having read of problems with finch diseases on other blogs I wanted something natural, without harsh chemicals, that I could add to the water and spotted this and decided to try it out.
Up until this morning I have only seen two Goldfinches visit at any one time. Today there were six vying for a space on the small Niger seed feeder. Looks as though I will have to buy a larger feeder!
No part of this post may be used by the manufacturer or any distributors or sellers of CitroSan for any advertising or endorsement purposes. It is not meant as a scientific test!
