The Mock Turtle

PIKES! Bloody autocorrect!

I see (or at least hear) ring necked parakeets a lot. I’m surprised you having considering you’re near the park!

I think I might have heard them flying over, but only once or twice in the past year. The large, shouty birds around here are still all corvids.

I have juvenile blue tits flolloping about squeaking and being fed.

I'm trying not to think of how many siblings they might have done in before this point.

Brutal nature

My bee hotel is doing well

Nuts are going down. Wonder why....

Little sweetheart!

Clever!

Marvellous mouse! I am inundated with an army of fledgling blackbirds at the moment. They fall over each other fighting for fat balls.

Aw! I had some young coal tits squeaking around yesterday.

The bullfinch pair are back and there’s another male! The birds all seem to be coming much closer to the house than before. I’ve moved the bird feeder which must have changed things. I realised this morning that I need to grease the pole so that the birds have a chance against the squirrels.

I had a sedge warbler the other day according to my birdsong app. I didn't see it though. Currently we have our annual fledgling starlings boisterously practicing flying from the house behind to our house, yelling at each other the whole time. Thankfully the cats no longer take any notice other than when they interrupt a nap. My baby squirrel Persephone is getting bigger and thankfully a bit less bold/dependent and only pops over once a day, rather than just sitting in the garden with me waiting to be fed. And a big fat toad has taken up residence in the pond.

Pippedydeadeye wrote: ↑Mon Jun 08, 2020 11:40 am The bullfinch pair are back and there’s another male! The birds all seem to be coming much closer to the house than before. I’ve moved the bird feeder which must have changed things. I realised this morning that I need to grease the pole so that the birds have a chance against the squirrels.

So jealous of this! Bullfinches!

Cerise wrote: ↑Mon Jun 08, 2020 12:08 pm

Pippedydeadeye wrote: ↑Mon Jun 08, 2020 11:40 am The bullfinch pair are back and there’s another male! The birds all seem to be coming much closer to the house than before. I’ve moved the bird feeder which must have changed things. I realised this morning that I need to grease the pole so that the birds have a chance against the squirrels.

So jealous of this! Bullfinches!

And me! We had a brief visit from one a couple of months ago but nothing since.

All the juveniles. Here the LTTs are back in a lovely big group, mobbing the fatball feeder, with the youngsters flailing around trying to land on verbena etc. Plenty of young blue tits and there seems to be a single juvenile male blackbird, who is very tame and a bit of an idiot.

There were nuthatches nesting in next door's roof at the back so hopefully there are some young ones of those around too but I haven't noticed them.

And finally, some supremely annoying juvenile magpies.

I ordered ladybirds to eat the aphids and received them this morning so they're now pootling about the roses and hopefully eating those flaming aphids. Next door thinks I've gone insane.

I'd love bullfinches in the garden. We've had fleeting visits but nothing hanging around.

Oh there’s a juvenile robin on my feeder RIGHT NOW!

We had a pair of bullfinches over winter, which then became three regular visiors (two males, one female). Now, we have the pair back, but intermittently. I assume they're finding more sustenance elsewhere now it's spring.

I am deeply jealous of the sedge warbler, though. BUT. Greater spotted woodpecker on the fat balls this morning. Obviously it buggered off before I coulod get a photo.

We have had a couple of hoopoes here over the weekend!

ParisGal wrote: ↑Mon Jun 08, 2020 3:12 pm We have had a couple of hoopoes here over the weekend!

Show off!

I've never seen any before - MrPG thinks it's because of the lockdown but I don't think there's been enough change in human activity locally to make a difference.

That's a great spot PG.

From my id search we had nuthatches at the peanut feeder earlier. Massively exciting.