A Dunnock Comes to Call

When I noticed some activity on the outside of the Blue Tit box I took the camera down to the bottom of the garden to take some photographs. Needless to say, even though I was well away from the box, no Blue Tit was to be seen anywhere. About twelve feet from me was a tall Buddleia Globosa and every now and then a Dunnock would arrive and sit near the top of the branches.



There it would sit for a while, fly away and return a short while later.



It didn't seem to be too bothered by my presence or the camera mirror clattering. Every so often it would make a call.  Peep ....... peep ....... peep.



The number of times it kept coming back to the same bush to make its call I guess this was its chosen vantage spot to call for a mate. I did go back and collect the camcorder but the sight of a tripod seemed to be too much or it had given up calling for a while. There was a cold breeze and my fingers were growing numb so I left the Dunnock in peace and will try again another day now I know where it likes to perform.

Blue Tit Pair - Will They Make an Offer?

The Blue Tit pair are still examining the nest box. Every now and then they remove some of the dried grass stalks I put in after cleaning it out last Autumn. Last year all the wood shavings I put in were removed before they started to build a nest which unfortunately was abandoned part finished. Will they make a firm offer on such a desirable residence this year?

A silent video clip captured yesterday afternoon. Blue Tit box in the top two views.



Bottom right is the Robin box where the flickering shadows of nearby trees keep activating the recorder.

Of Snowy Weather and Spikes

We had just over an inch of snow yesterday morning. Nowhere as much as some but more than enough for me, and for the local birds. Unlike me they were not put off by a bit of the white stuff. It has been a while since I have seen more that a couple of Goldfinches at a time at the feeders.



It takes more that a covering of snow to put off a Chaffinch from surveying his realm.



At one stage I wondered what kept blocking the view from one of my cameras.



A short while ago Adrian (Adrian's Images) had mentioned, and shown a photo of, some instep spikes he had bought to aid walking on snow and ice. They looked ideal to me for dog walking around a village where ice and snow is never cleared from the pavements. I had a good look around the internet but couldn't find any like that so ended up with these walking spikes which fit to shoes or boots. They are called 'Get-a-Grip'



When they arrived I thought to myself how could such short, blunt spikes help to walk on ice. I fitted them to an old pair of shoes and waited for the bad weather to return. This morning they were given a good testing on our early morning walkies. Result - perfect traction. Those short lengths of tungsten carbide crunch straight in the ice and there is no possibility of slipping and sliding. The sensation is a bit peculiar when walking over the occasional clear stretch of pavement as there are only six small pieces of metal in contact with the ground but anything is good which makes walking safer in the present weather conditions.

A couple of nights ago the crescent Moon was clearly visible so I had another go at photographing it. Two different exposures here. I can either get a clear view of the craters at the edge of the shadow but overexpose the rest or underexpose somewhat and see the other features more clearly.



The temperature is steadily rising this morning so I hope it will be reasonable later as I need to collect an item from the local Argos store which I had ordered and will be sent back if I don't go today.

Winter Aconite, a Change of Diet, Goldfinches in the Snow

The cultivated Winter Aconite corms I bought on eBay arrived a couple of days ago and they were left to soak over night in rain water before being planted in the rockery.



It is a plant I have always wanted so now I am looking forward to my own display of cheerful yellow flowers to welcome the Spring. I hope they will eventually look like the ones in the local church yard.



In a trough in the garden the yellow crocus seem to have appeared out of nowhere.



Yesterday I noticed a couple of birds on feeders where I don't usually see them. These last few days the peanuts seem to have come in to fashion again after being ignored for many weeks. These House Sparrows were pecking away when a small piece of peanut fell out of the feeder. The sparrow on the right deftly caught it and flew off with its prize.



Quite a surprise was to see a Coal Tit on the slab fat feeder. Usually they are just interested in sunflower hearts for eating straight away or black sunflower seeds for taking and storing.



It has been snowing for the last hour so I can see it is going to be another day of keeping warm and watching through the window.



The above was filmed a short while ago. It has now been snowing for three hours. As the snow continued more and more birds arrived to frantically top up from the feeders.

A Brief Inspection

Both Blue Tits made a brief inspection of the nestbox today. One arrives and nips inside. The second immediately arrives at the entrance hole and eventually joins the first inside. The first leaves straight away and the second bird leaves soon after that.

First a still clip from the video:





 It could be a while yet before the female starts performing the 'nest box shuffle'. This can be seen HERE in a capture I made last year.

Friday at the Flicks (Frogs and Blue Tit Nestbox Inspections)

This is the piece of video I took the other day of a pair of frogs seemingly in a mating clinch. The smaller greyish one is easier to make out in the second half of the clip and it is possible to make out a front leg wrapped round the larger frog's belly. Bobby can be heard asking if there are any other dogs about.



It has been interesting to be able to watch the outside of the Blue Tit nestbox as well as the inside. The sound is a bit hit and miss as I was trying a different microphone nearer the box. To two top scenes are the main nestbox and the lower right is the interior of a different box. This time it is not Bobby barking.



Just the outside camera this time. One Blue Tit clears some dead grass from the entrance and enters the box. A little later a second pokes it head in and immediately flies away. The second bird returns and again flies away when the first leaves the box.



The question is - are these rivals or a mating pair. My money is on the latter.
The bird has been seen several times visiting and inspecting the outside of the box.

Have a great weekend observing the wildlife around you.

A Frog, He Would A-wooing Go

A frog he would a-wooing go,
Heigh ho! says Rowley,
A frog he would a-wooing go,
Whether his mother would let him or no.
With a rowley, powley, gammon, and spinach,
Heigh ho! says Anthony Rowley.



I was having a look in my garden pond to see if any fish had survived the many periods of ice covering this Winter, at one stage reaching two inches thick, when I spotted something in the edge of the reeds. Just the eyes and mouth of a frog were showing through the surface of the water. For several minutes I could only make out the shape of one large fat brown frog which appeared to have a grey patch on its back. It was only after I had taken some video (saved for Friday) that I realised the grey was in fact a smaller frog clinging to the larger one - presumably a male and female though it seems a bit early and cold as yet to be producing spawn. In fact even after they dived out of sight there was no evidence of any spawn in the pond.

One thing which may have encouraged the frogs was a day of glorious sunshine, apart from one hail shower, and temperatures which actually topped 7C in the afternoon though it soon dropped back to 2.5C when the Sun went down.

I did see two small fish swimming about so at least some have survived the worst of the cold weather. There will no doubt be more as there were last year when I didn't see any until well in to the Spring.

The verse at the top is the start of an old nursery rhyme / childrens' song which can be seen in full on many sites on the internet including Mama Lisa's World, House of English Nursery Rhymes.