I made a nesting box 3 years ago. Put it the recommended position but no interest from the local feathered community. Second year, some passing interest but no actual nesting.
This year -success! A few days ago I peaked in to see 3 cute young blue tits.
The parents are in and out almost non-stop so the the babies must be feeding well.
Now this might seem a stupid question but how will I know when the young are fledging? I mean do they pop out one day and fly off or do they fly in and out for a while?
Our birds fly/drop out of the nest and then hang around on the ground for a few days learning how to fly. You can tell because they're pretty much adult size but look a bit bedraggled (feathers not sleek) and there is usually a parent bird nearby screaming at you. Just leave them alone.
I made a nesting box 3 years ago. Put it the recommended position but no interest from the local feathered community. Second year, some passing interest but no actual nesting.
This year -success! A few days ago I peaked in to see 3 cute young blue tits.
The parents are in and out almost non-stop so the the babies must be feeding well.
Now this might seem a stupid question but how will I know when the young are fledging? I mean do they pop out one day and fly off or do they fly in and out for a while?
Our birds fly/drop out of the nest and then hang around on the ground for a few days learning how to fly. You can tell because they're pretty much adult size but look a bit bedraggled (feathers not sleek) and there is usually a parent bird nearby screaming at you. Just leave them alone.
Thanks!
I'll have to make sure the neighbourhood cats are kept away!
Whilst checking to see if I'd mentioned the swifts return, I had the swift cam open and was privileged to see what I think was the male returning with food for the brooding female. All the exchange took place right in front of the camera so it was a bit hard to work out what was happening!
We have a pair in the box with the camera, and they've also been in and out of the other box, so we are hopeful of at least two broods. I can't speak for anyone else's, but my garden is a jungle so plenty of insects there for them!
Whilst checking this thread to see if I'd mentioned tbe swifts, I had the swift cam open and was privileged to see what I think was the male arriving with food for the brooding female - though as the action was all right in front of the camera it was a bit hard to see!
We definitely have a pair in the camera box, and it looks as though they are brooding right now. They are also in and out of the other box, so hopefully they are are doing so in both.
I must get a sparrow box on the West wall, though, as this year a pair of spuggies were just settling in when the swifts turfed them out. Swifts are no1, but spuggies need homes too, and the last thing I want to see is nestlings being turfed out!
Went into the garden last evening as the sun was going down to enjoy the coolth. Happened to see a mouse scoot over the patio, then a bat swoop towards the house. Haven’t seen batty bat for years.
We seem to have a pair of wagtails nesting in a leftover stack of sacks of cement about 10m from our kitchen window. We'd seen one hopping around a lot and thought it was just finding a lot of bugs around but it appears they had other plans.
We're on hol in Mission Beach in Far North Queensland at the mo. Our neighbours include beautiful butterflies and - and you don't want to get between a male and chicks this mating season - cassowaries.
This could be a painted lady year, as many are being seen. We've seen a few, but most years we hardly see any, so here's hoping. I think in 2019, there were several million arriving, and I saw about 40 on one hedge.
Not exactly wild life but I was up at a local church the other evening when a local history group came to visit, and there's a cabinet at the back full of dead animals! Someone had done taxidermy of examples of local wildlife - hedgehog, dormouse, weasel and so on, and donated it to the church!
Our box hedge has fallen foul to box tree caterpillars, but the upside of that is spotting a woodpecker and a sparrow and it's young having a bit of a feast.
We have quite a lot of bats here, but I've never managed to work out what sort they are.
Yes, I saw at least 5 Painted Ladies when I was out yesterday afternoon, including a pair doing some sort of mating dance. I also heard, but did not see, a Cuckoo, quite unusual these days compared with when I was a child. I also heard, but did not see, some very noisy Reed Warblers, which I assume was why the Cuckoo was around.
Although it is good to hear them, whatever the books say, I refuse to describe the racket they make as a song.
This morning I sat in my back garden with my first coffee of the day and the Merlin app open. It picked up eleven different birds. Six of those I could identify myself (sparrow, robin, wren, wood-pigeon, chaffinch and starling). Three I did not hear (Canada goose, siskin, house-martin) And the last two were a carrion crow and a jackdaw, which both sound generally corvidy to me; I could hear them but not identify them beyond "some sort of crow."
I went for a walk in the local nature reserve this morning. When I went a few weeks ago I heard tweeting in the reeds but couldn’t see what it was (there are often reed bunting there). Today I opened the Merlin app and discovered not only reed bunting but some very noisy reed warblers and a linnet and a sedge warbler. I knew there were linnets locally as I had seen some but I was pleased to capture the warblers.
I am hopeless at identifying birds, so Merlin is fun to use. Sitting by the river the other evening it identified thirteen songbirds in addition to the gulls and geese and ducks and herons. The little redwing blackbirds were the most common, and the sandpipers somehow the funniest. It's a busy place.
I've been walking across the fields on my way to the community archaeological dig at a local castle site over the last week, and spotted a rabbit hopping along the hedge yesterday - quite unconcerned that it was close to a popular dog walking path.
The reverse migration of painted ladies was only discovered in 2009, before then it was assumed they perished in winter. But they set off from Morocco in spring, and move north in stages, breeding as they go, then suvivors start heading back to Africa. And it is a painted lady year in the UK.
The reverse migration of painted ladies was only discovered in 2009, before then it was assumed they perished in winter. But they set off from Morocco in spring, and move north in stages, breeding as they go, then suvivors start heading back to Africa. And it is a painted lady year in the UK.
I think I am right in saying that the returning flocks fly at a surprisingly high altitude for butterflies, which is why nobody had ever seen them
Ten minutes in my back garden with the Merlin app this morning picked up 11 different birds; blackbird, sparrow, greenfinch, wood pigeon, robin, collared dove, blue tit, goldfinch, wren, siskin, and ...curlew. Interestingly they were not the same eleven as last week. The first ten seemed plausible as I've seen them around at various times, but I'm not convinced that the curlew was correctly identified.
I was pleased that the app picked up a siskin both times; I am fond of siskins but haven't actually seen one recently. It's nice to know they're around.
Two days ago I tried filling a small sinkhole in our back garden by the river bank. (I had a load of sawdust that I thought would discourage burrowing creatures - tamped it down good and hard). Yesterday morning there was a weird sight that turned out to be a snapping turtle emerging from it, covered in sawdust and laying eggs in the open where they'll be soon be eaten by predators.
Ten minutes in my back garden with the Merlin app this morning picked up 11 different birds; blackbird, sparrow, greenfinch, wood pigeon, robin, collared dove, blue tit, goldfinch, wren, siskin, and ...curlew. Interestingly they were not the same eleven as last week. The first ten seemed plausible as I've seen them around at various times, but I'm not convinced that the curlew was correctly identified.
I was pleased that the app picked up a siskin both times; I am fond of siskins but haven't actually seen one recently. It's nice to know they're around.
In our experience we’ve found that suggestions from the Merlin app are just that.
Merlin identifies common pigeons as rock pigeons, which are their ancestor (so presumably sound the same). Other than that minor issue, it has identified 13 birds in my garden and they are all present. The ones it identified in the reed beds in the nature reserve are what I would expect there; reed bunting, reed warbler and sedge warbler.
The Merlin app heard a blackcap in my garden last week and I’ve finally seen it on the feeders. We noticed it yesterday but today I was able to watch it closely from my office.
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Our birds fly/drop out of the nest and then hang around on the ground for a few days learning how to fly. You can tell because they're pretty much adult size but look a bit bedraggled (feathers not sleek) and there is usually a parent bird nearby screaming at you. Just leave them alone.
Thanks!
I'll have to make sure the neighbourhood cats are kept away!
We had an elderly golden retriever with us. Thank God he was very well trained and ignored the bird.
We have a pair in the box with the camera, and they've also been in and out of the other box, so we are hopeful of at least two broods. I can't speak for anyone else's, but my garden is a jungle so plenty of insects there for them!
We definitely have a pair in the camera box, and it looks as though they are brooding right now. They are also in and out of the other box, so hopefully they are are doing so in both.
I must get a sparrow box on the West wall, though, as this year a pair of spuggies were just settling in when the swifts turfed them out. Swifts are no1, but spuggies need homes too, and the last thing I want to see is nestlings being turfed out!
We have quite a lot of bats here, but I've never managed to work out what sort they are.
Although it is good to hear them, whatever the books say, I refuse to describe the racket they make as a song.
I was pleased that the app picked up a siskin both times; I am fond of siskins but haven't actually seen one recently. It's nice to know they're around.
The Merlin app heard a blackcap in my garden last week and I’ve finally seen it on the feeders. We noticed it yesterday but today I was able to watch it closely from my office.