Wildlife in our gardens

~Chameleon~

Davesnave wrote: »

Cats are not a problem if the feeders etc are off ground. I have two and the birds know about them. The key is cover. Without big bushes/trees we would not see as many birds as we do.

Same here!!

I have two cats but my regular birds are very aware of them and don't mind coming in the garden to feed when they are there. My cats are very good though and know the birds are "off-limits" but that didn't stop one of them having a playful lunge at Mr Blackbird whilst he was cheekily hopping around and chirruping just a couple of feet away from them!!! :rolleyes: :rotfl:

June - if you want to encourage birds to your garden at this time of year then the best thing you can offer them is live mealworms. If you do this though you must be commited to keep it up every day, often feeding several times a day, as they come to rely on the food source to feed their chicks.

It will cost you too, depending how many birds you are supporting, but I'm currently managing to get through approx 500g regular/mini mealworms a week feeding two families of robins and blackbirds, plus the scavenging starlings when they manage to steal some!!

To me it's worth it though as I'm rewarded by being able to observe these birds at very close quarters, and almost feel as though I've built up a bond and level of trust with them. If they see me in the garden they come immediately and if I don't spot them straight away they will call out to me and follow me around until I feed them :rotfl:

debbie_dee

great thread, we have all sorts in our garden. gold finches,green finches, siskins, wood peckers, collar doves, pigeons, 4 type tits, robins, blackbirds, thrushes,the list is endless and as i have a bird table and bath outside kitchen window dinner is often late.... they are such fun to watch. we also have robin chicks in outside loo and now a great tit on nest in our post box luckily my teenage son put a temporary one up for the post so they will not get disturbed.
The one we do not like is, while admiring the collar doves flying above us with my young son a kestrel swooped on it and took one for lunch ...........

Larumbelle

I love this thread... I have moved to a bungalow with a big overgrown corner plot and my garden is alive!

We have blackbirds, robins, bluetits and sparrows nesting in various spots around the garden, but all of them have shunned the nesting box. They are great, hardly seem bothered by us being around. The blackbirds come and drink from the cat's water bowl and the robins will come and sit a foot or two away from you as long as you aren't too noisy and don't move too suddenly. We also have some other birds, which I don't know what they are but I'm going to find out.

We also have a bumblebee nest in the compost (you might have seen my plea for help earlier). Now I know they're not going to be a problem I feel quite priveleged to have them there and we have hedgehogs living in the undergrowth.

I have seen a fox once or twice but he isn't a regular visitor. There is also a squirrel who comes by, although our garden just seems to be on his route from A to B, he doesn't stop long, apart from one time that he was banging around on the roof one morning. OH stuck his head out of the window to see what was going on and Mr Tufty hung upside down from the guttering and stared cheekily back at him :rotfl:
A heron is another occasional visitor, we don't have a pond but a neighbour does, the heron has already stolen all the fish from it but pops by every now and then in case it's been restocked!

I love watching the animals come and go. I'm a bit of a towny and I'm still learning what even the most basic creatures are. I'm finding the bees in particular fascinating, although I only discovered them a few hours ago so that might be why. My cat is completely dim and has never looked the slightest bit interested in any of the lives going on around him. I think the birds know that, they are totally unimpressed and ignore him altogether.

~Chameleon~

You've certainly got a lot going on in your garden, sounds wonderful!

The story of your squirrel made me laugh :rotfl: I've only ever seen one squirrel in my garden and I think he was just passing through.

Had a lovely surprise visit from a pair of red-legged partridge at the weekend though! I seem to remember they passed through about the same time last year too but I don't know much about them or their behaviour to know what they might have been doing or where they were heading - must have a read up about them.

The House Martins are still too busy feeding themselves up to bother with any nest building yet, although they did swoop by to inspect the "nest" at the weekend and seemed quite upset that Mrs Blackbird was perched on the gutter directly above it. Just hope it hasn't put them off wanting to move back here.

floyd

Ooh I love this thread, we have lots of regulars in our garden as we live near a large area of woodland and a huge cemetary and crematorium so we get a variety of visitors. This will sound like the 12 days of Christmas by the time I have finished writing

2 pairs collared doves
Dozens of woodpidgeons
A few magpies
Kestrel (only seen twice)
2 pairs of robins
2 pairs of blackbirds
Greenfinches
Goldfinches (highest count at one time was 30:eek: )
Siskin
Chaffinches
Bullfinches
Sparrows
Starlings (don't like them, they are bullies)
Bluetits
Coaltits
Great tits
Long tailed tit
Wrens
and a family of foxes

There are probably more that I have yet to identify but we are lucky to see so many in an urban garden. We don't have any nests in our garden as there is only a small apple tree but we have a house sparrow nest with 1 hatchling left (the other one fell out).

My favourite are the robins, they are just so cheeky following me round the garden because they know I throw them chafer grubs or apple sawfly grubs if I find any :rotfl:

wearside_2

I love to sit in the conservatory and watch the various birds in our garden. A woodpecker has started to call in the mornings and early evenings for a nibble on the nuts. I had not previously seen one in the wild so thought this great to see. Much better than some of the dross on the TV.

~Chameleon~

I'm glad I'm not the only one who doesn't like starlings

And neither does Mr Blackbird! you should see him chasing them off if they dare to try to steal HIS mealworms!!! He's absolutely hilarious to watch and even battled with 5 of them the other day, dive bombing them and all while he had a beak full of worms himself :rotfl: :rotfl:

Gingernutmeg

I've been watching the family of birds that are nesting in the pipe lagging outside my kitchen window. They're coal-tits apparently, they're such titchy tiny little things and they're whizzing back and to all day. It's lovely to hear the baby birds start squealing when one of the adults returns to the nest I've also got a few young blackbirds visiting the garden regularly, they're so sweet as they've still got patches of fluffy feathers, and they sit and shout to be fed, and look so disgruntled when mum doesn't turn up with a beakful of worms and they have to feed themselves!

System

A small earthen ware pot, put out for a hedgehog to drink from, has been spotted by birds,even though they have countless other vessels to drink from. But the latest surprise as we waited for the hedgehog at dusk, is to see a lone dormouse run out from beneath a patio pool and collect various bits and pieces and return them to the safety of the pool base, and then to come out and drink from the hedgehog/bird pot. Oh, in case anyone is wondering if we are sure about the mouse, it has huge bulging eyes and ears like I've never seen before and the general shape of the body is quite different.

margaretclare

islandman wrote: »

A small earthen ware pot, put out for a hedgehog to drink from, has been spotted by birds,even though they have countless other vessels to drink from. But the latest surprise as we waited for the hedgehog at dusk, is to see a lone dormouse run out from beneath a patio pool and collect various bits and pieces and return them to the safety of the pool base, and then to come out and drink from the hedgehog/bird pot. Oh, in case anyone is wondering if we are sure about the mouse, it has huge bulging eyes and ears like I've never seen before and the general shape of the body is quite different.

It may possibly be a wood-mouse. http://www.the-piedpiper.co.uk/th1g.htm

Dormice are incredibly rare and AFAIK live only in woodland. http://www.the-piedpiper.co.uk/th1k.htm