Gardening for Wildlife and Wildlife in the Garden

[Cerise]

LTTs have been to visit! And there were some tiny scruffy looking ones which I assume are babies. Thank you, Rebs, for sending them to visit.

In other news, squirrels got the feeder off the fence and ATE IT rather than lift the lid. Arseholes.

[Duophonic]

Love Garden Birds are good value on 22.5kg sacks, Duo. And also, they once sent me two by mistake when I'd only ordered one.

I've got all my huge bags from there.

Bloody squirrels! We did have six at one point but Eric now patrolling the garden has curtailed them quite a bit. We get two that raid the feeders early morning before Eric's had his breakfast and been let out for the day. They also realise that the rain will put him off going out too so they go wild in the garden when it's raining.

[Rebel Pebble]

LTTs have been to visit! And there were some tiny scruffy looking ones which I assume are babies. Thank you, Rebs, for sending them to visit.

In other news, squirrels got the feeder off the fence and ATE IT rather than lift the lid. Arseholes.

How very....squirrel. Ungrateful bastards.

I'm happy to share the LTTs. They are racing through my fatballs at the moment.

[Bat Macdui]

Squirrels are brilliant.

[Mountain Goat]

I love those squirrels. I'm amazed Eric can keep them in check, my squirrels are in charge of the cats here.

I rescued a vole the other night (at least I hope I did). Poor baby was screaming its head off (unhurt, Bruce was enthusiastic but couldn't reach it). I've never seen a live vole before so it was quite exciting, if also traumatic. (I put it out the front where the cats don't go, and a few minutes later, heard it screaming again, this time because a fox was bothering it, again unhurt, so I carried it in a tea towel down to the wildlife area in the railway sidings. Have you ever carried a panicking vole in a tea towel? Don't. God knows what the neighbours thought was going on, it's not that close and there was a lot of theatrics.)

[Bat Macdui]

The wren seems to have become something of a fixture and even ventured onto the bird table in front of the window this morning. It didn't stay long enough for me to get a photo, though, obviously.

[Mayday]

Not in our garden, but a little further up the road, we saw a baby kestrel learning to fly yesterday It was on the ground when we first saw it, with mum somewhere nearby utterly shrieking at it, then flew/flapped up to a branch above us and watched us for ages.

[Duophonic]

A kestrel!

We had a vole incident here too. Eric brought it in unharmed Mr D picked it up with some kitchen roll and we relocated it outside at the top of the garden to give it a head start.

Very bad decision as thirty minutes later when Eric went back outside and came running back in depositing a dead vole on the living room rug.

I think it may have died of shock.

[Mountain Goat]

Oh Duo. I hate it when you try to save something but don't.

But baby kestrels! And wren!

My bird feeder is still out of favour but the sambucas is very popular with great tits so that's something. The baby squirrels (not so baby now, but still babies to me) are being delightful and now eating out my hand (I didn't do this intentionally, they just lost patience with waiting for me to put the nuts down and came over to get them direct instead), and on Fri evening we sat in the garden with drinks and the cats, and one of the baby squirrels came and lay down flat on the lawn with us, a little bit away, but part of the group. Also, they keep depositing apples in the garden. Three now, one a day for the past three days. Is my garden their larder? Are they gifts? Is my garden a dustbin?

[Bat Macdui]

Oh, I am so jealous of the kestrel. And Eric is a Bad Cat.

Our juvenile robin is starting to get a proper red breast now, it's lovely.

[Cerise]

Ours too. The goldfinches still have plain faces.

[Duophonic]

That might be what I'm seeing. I've rustled a few goldfinch from the surrounding gardens and I keep seeing a bird with white wingbars and sort of buff coloured no yellow or red.

I've bought a spyglass monocle or whatever they're called to get a better view of the feeders.

Oh and I could've sworn I had a woodpecker at the peanut feeder.

[baargain]

I've found a cat proof feeder set up! (hopefully). The birds all hang out in the bushes outside the room I'm using for video appointments, it's the spare bedroom so is upstairs.

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[ParisGal]

Ooh, where did those come from, Baa?

[baargain]

https://www.reallywildbirdfood.co.uk/

I had the hanging feeders already, but I got the hooks and the little platform (plus food) from that site.

[Rebel Pebble]

Ooh, that looks excellent Baa. Hope it works.

I'm at the same stage with juvenile goldfinches and robins. There are two robins and as they're getting their red breasts they're starting to properly go for each other.

[ParisGal]

Thank you, Baa!

[Duophonic]

We have tons of juveniles too and they've been shedding their tiny fluffy feathers.

We had two bird incidents today.

I took my delivery of more peanuts and another seed feeder which I attached to the fence near my patio doors. Bad idea.

I went into the kitchen and there's a small dunnock hopping around and trying to get out of the window. I go to the window to open it, the bird obviously is not having me next to it so it flys into the dining room, panics and heads left to the stairs and literally flies directly into Eric's mouth. It died instantly. I was gutted.

In cheerier news we have a confirmed sighting of our woodpecker. It was on our peanut feeder for ages this evening.

[Rebel Pebble]

I am currently running a bird spa. I'm refreshing this about three times a day. There are also two larger, deeper ones on the other side of the house

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[Ella77]

They're so beautiful!