It was a weird spring and summer season. I had a lot of expectations and plans regarding bird watching. In particular, I wanted to meet the bittern, which dominates the RSPB Ham Wall and Shapwick Nature Reserve, and its characteristic mating sounds can be heard from a distance. It is harder to see, as it is a shy bird with great camouflage.
Anyway … the quarantine effectively thwarted my plans. I would say even, once I’ve been caught by the police in the bird reserve (sic?), I had no more courage to stick my nose outside the village. All my observations boiled down to a hiding place under the table and looking for garden guests from behind the curtain.
I had the impression that the world stopped for these 2-3 months, and nature revived somehow.
And I don’t know if it was due to the lack of car traffic or because I spent more time at home, but my garden turned out to be a lively natural park, and for me, personally, also an amusement park. 😉
We fed the birds all winter, but we weren’t very attractive to many bird species for some reason.
The greater was my surprise when one April morning, a great woodpecker came to the garden and ate peanuts from the feeder! It was early morning, at 6 am, I got the whole house on my feet because the woodpecker graced us with his presence. We have one big old tree next to the house, and I’m sure it’s not his spot. I bet he flew in from a nearby cemetery. 😊 I only met him twice. I still hope he shows up sometimes, even though I don’t see him anymore.
But there was another individual that was keen on peanuts. The gray squirrel started to visit us more and more often. At first, she would only drop by for a moment, shyly looking around the area, and with time she would spend more and more time with us. We set her a table of plenty in the middle of the garden, and she feasted.
But the news must have spread around the neighborhood because sometime later, another one started coming to us. She would drop by for a short time, pick up peanuts and bury them, mostly under a tree.
The moment had finally come when the two met. What happened in this garden! We had such a spectacle that you would not believe it! I couldn’t get over it. For 3 years when these nuts were hanging there, I didn’t see any, and this year I had to sprinkle nuts every day. Not everyone likes to have squirrels in their gardens as they destroy the feeders and eat the birds’ nuts and seeds, but I didn’t mind. Until now, our leaky feeder hangs on a tree, and I believe that everyone will find something for themselves here.
For a long time, I thought it was just squirrels who steal so many nuts, without moderation! But recently, I also spotted two magpies! They collected everything in a few hours!
Magpies are not the only ravens that started visiting us in spring. We experienced a real siege here. And this is due to the jackdaws, which flew in more than twenty and ate everything they could.
They also came with the young! Mainly rock pigeons competed with them. Neither group wanted to let go. This year, I mentioned already that I also started to sprinkle grain on the lawn to an injured pigeon in the late winter to not have to walk and search so much. Less than two weeks had passed when he was dropping by with his friends. Maybe it was because of him that so many birds flew into the garden?
Despite my sympathy for all birds, I felt sorry for the smaller ones hiding somewhere in the bushes. I was especially sorry for the blackbird pair, which made a nest here every year, and this year, despite attempts, they didn’t breed.
I’m not surprised. Too many birds flew into the garden. More than once, I have witnessed a blackbird chase the jackdaws away from its territory, but in the end, it gave up on its own. It was a great joy to see the female blackbird build a nest and big sadness when the birds flew away, leaving it empty. It was my failure.
At the time, I thought that it was probably all because of the hanging additional fat ball feeder. We haven’t had it in previous years. Or is it the grain on the lawn? It seems such a small thing, and it can upset the balance even in a garden ecosystem so much.
Fat balls brought another group of birds into the garden, i.e., starlings! It was a real raid!
Starlings and sparrows (these are our permanent residents) brooded here, and we were able to watch the young birds take their first steps throughout the spring and summer, still clumsily tangling under their parents’ wings. How they learn to fly and get food. 😊 There are several dozen sparrows in our garden. I don’t even know how many broods they brought out. In August, I got lost with counting. This is the dominant bird species in the garden, sparrows have a few favorite spots, but they often sit in wild rose bushes.
They fly in great swarms onto the lawn, several of them sitting on the feeder, swinging it and sprinkling grain onto the green rug. A little unforeseen movement is enough, and in a moment, they are all back in the bushes. And so in the morning, afternoon and evening. They dine several times a day at fixed times. 😊
We also have a feeder by the window. There we often see how some of them do not like to share. One sparrow sits along the entire trough, literally on these grains, and will not let any other in. And three would fit! These are the characters. 😊
Blue tit and robin visit us regularly, though not so many. This year, robin did not breed in our garden. I didn’t even see any fledglings (maybe apart from this one?).
The adult one just came back for winter? Every morning, when I leave for work, I listen to his wonderful, loud singing. He sits on the roof or at the top of a tree to let the day begin. 😊
Maybe this winter, there will also be some lucky observations? 😉
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