Gardening for Wildlife and Wildlife in the Garden

[Mountain Goat]

Oh that's lovely. Both the limping pigeons and the baby birds.

I mentioned this on FB but I have a new toad visitor who made correct use of my Amphibian Superhighway extension (original AS goes from our pond to the pond in the garden behind) which leads to the logpile, where the insects live, and the rhubarb patch, which provides good cover for a creature prone to drying out, via a sheltered hopway that they can traverse without being easily spotted by Bruce. I was thrilled to see him climb out the pond and round the back and emerge correctly by the logs and stay there for twenty minutes, darting his tongue in and out, while Bruce ambled about the garden oblivious and even had a good sniff around the pond. It was so nice to see it actually work as intended without anything going horribly wrong. I saw him again today, sitting on the trowel I needed.

I also saw two baby magpies have a flying practice from one roof to another roof, across my street, back and forth, as I deadheaded my wallflowers.

[Rebel Pebble]

I love the tame wildlife you get, Goat.

Baby birds left right and centre here too. LTTs

[Cerise]

You’ve got baby LTTs? Well jel!

[Bat Macdui]

I am also exceedingly jealous of baby LTTs. We now seem to have a visiting juvenile Greater Spotted Woodpecker, which is JOYOUS. And this morning I am being serenaded by a handful of juvenile great tits, who are waiting for their parent to pick bits of fat ball off to feed to them.

[Cerise]

I have a Love Garden Birds order due today that contains a squirrel feeder!

I have now seen a juvenile goldfinch to add to the collection and the young robin is getting his red breast.

[Bat Macdui]

Oooh, which one did you get?If it's one of those lidded ones be prepared to be startled by thunks coming from the garden. Up, down, up, down. They can't close a feeder lid quietly.

[Cerise]

Yes, it’s a lidded one.

[Rebel Pebble]

I'm HUGELY jealous of a juvenile great spotted woodpecker. The young LTTs are physically almost indistinguishable from the adults but utterly hopeless at judging their own weight versus, say, a blade of grass. There is a lot of undignified flolloping about as they all descend en masse.

My juvenile blue tits are getting their adult feathers, so they look a bit messy these days and are bathing a lot more.

I really should get a squirrel feeder. I chased one off the nyger feeder this morning.

[Bat Macdui]

Squirrel feeder reduce squirrels breaking other feeders by between 30-50%. That is SCIENCE FACT.

My GSW was back again this morning.

[Rebel Pebble]

Fantastic.

I can NEVER get pictures of them on the few occasions they visit. They are so sensitive to the tiniest movement, even from indoors.

[Bat Macdui]

R got a slightly better one. We also seem to have a wren in the magnolia now. I am DELIGHTED.

[Rebel Pebble]

Fantastic photo! I'm glad you have a tiny shouter now too.

Juvenile goldfinches all over the place now. Lots of angry buzzing and pushing and shoving on the nyjer feeder.

[Duophonic]

Oh wonderful! That's a great photo.

My nyjer feeder has been sorely neglected since I put it out but now, I have a pair of goldfinch that use it hopefully on a regular basis but I've only seen them twice.

Tons of juvenile sparrows all fighting on the feeders and eating me out of house and home. Oh! and a juvenile collared dove feeding from the scraps on the patio.

[H1ppychick]

The wild lawn is back in full effect! I’ve trampled it slightly today halfassedly weeding the border on the right but I CBA doing any more today as my green bin is nearing capacity from when I sorted out the front garden on Saturday. The insects seem quite happy anyway.

[Texaco Shirley]

We have a couple of regular GSW visitors but I’ve never managed to get a decent picture of one. We had a sparrowhawk yesterday. It was perched on the extension roof until it lost concentration and a strong gust of wind sent it sliding down the corner tile.

[Bat Macdui]

That's fantastic, Tex. My Mum gets occasional kestrels and sparrowhawks, mainly because she has a million sparrows and an open garden. She's basically running a raptor breakfast bar. I don't think our garden is as good for them; it's quite cramped so there's no easy real facility for in and out swooping.

[Rebel Pebble]

The sparrowhawk is marvellous. Since that one pigeon-kill years ago I've not seen one in our garden, although I often see raptors circling high up, probably eyeing up the cricket ground over the road.

My local GSW got the memo! The UV blinds were down which meant it was easier to take photos and move around inside without spooking it but it's why the first two pics look washed out. Then Mr R crept outside and got the greener one plus bonus blackbird arse.

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[Duophonic]

These photos are fantastic.

Our sparrowhawk hasn't been seen since spring and I was hoping for regular visits.

My Nyjer feeder is sorely neglected and my dreams of rustling a few goldfinch into the garden from next door was a pipedream but lo and behold one goldfinch found the sunflower heart feeder and two days later they're all fighting over it.

3 times today I've filled that feeder, they're eating me out of house and home.

[Pippedydeadeye]

Sunflower hearts > nyjer seeds. And less mess too.

[Bat Macdui]

I get more finches on the sunflower hearts than the nyjer seed but the goldfinches do like the nyjer. And the less confident ones use the nyjer feeder as it's miles away from potential predators, at the top of the garage. The sunflower heart feeder is the one that attracts the bullfinches and the greenfinch which visited occasionally over winter. Also, the black cap came in for that.

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.