Interesting Snippet no.3

My chives are doing well! I just left them in this pot over winter, where they were sown last year. I'd mostly forgotten about them but they were busy growing anyway. Then I noticed they had developed purple flower buds! I can't wait for them to open. I want there to be loads of new chives because I love their oniony taste and like to use them in my cooking!

Interesting Snippet no.2

A bee has been buzzing happily around the grape hyacinths! I think this is a buff tailed bumblebee. Bees like purple flowers, so if you want to help them plant some in your garden! (Or a window-box if you don’t have a garden.)

Wood pigeon – visited garden

This wood pigeon is enjoying a meal of spilled bird-food from beneath the bird table. Sometimes the wood pigeons visit in a pair and sometimes there is only one. They usually feed from the ground but I have seen them on the bird table too – it looks rather cramped for them! I have often seen one perched on the neighbour’s roof, waiting for it to be safe to come down, but often it just flies off.

Starling – visited garden

These are the birds you see flying around in large flocks, either urban areas or in the country. At the start of the month, sightings of starling were few and far between and just one was enough to get me excited. I saw one investigating a neighbour’s gable end for nesting possibilities and also one collecting nest material (which involved frantically trying to tug a marking ribbon off one of my plants!). I don’t know where they ended up nesting though. I heard the familiar clicking and whistling of a starling song from the distance and I thought that was as good as it was going to get. But, one day there were loads of starlings feeding from lawns and flying up to near-by roofs. I saw them a few times before they eventually visited our garden. Yippee!

Skylark

Because we live quite near open grassland, we are lucky to often hear the beaufiful song of the skylark in the distance and occasionally a bit closer. They sing in a sort of hovery flight above the grassland, which is where they nest. You may have heard them above you if you have been walking in the sorts of areas they like.

Robin – visited garden

The robins have become more elusive towards the end of the month but I saw them quite regularly earlier on. As you can see, there are two robins and they are quite at ease in each other’s company. (I will try to get a better picture than this, but the robins always see me and fly away!) This means they are a pair, as both male and female robins are territorial and will not usually tolerate any other robins on their patch. Both sexes sing to mark their territory and will fight off any intruders. The robins were singing more often at the start of the month, but more recently I have only seen one (and then only fleetingly) and have not heard much singing. I strongly suspect that they have a family and there is always one robin at home to look after the young and the other is busy looking for food! (The other bird muscling in on the photo is a dunnock.)

Raven

I saw these more at the start of the month. You normally hear their deep cronking call before you see them, which is how I noticed the pair who visit our area. They were calling to each other and flying quite high up. I was even lucky enough to see them displaying to each other, which involves doing mid-air somersaults. They are quite acrobatic! I also saw them very near the house (for ravens) as they took off from the fields behind the housing estate.

Pied wagtail

These were quite difficult to identify as they only ever flit overhead at a medium height. I’m still not positive I have seen them. They bounce overhead making short pipping noises.

Pheasant – visited garden

I love the pheasant with his bold colours. Unfortunately he's not popular with everybody because he eats things that he shouldn't, like seeds that people are trying to grow, so he gets chased away a lot! This is the male – I am yet to see a female – enjoying himself in our garden. This month he has been making use of our bird-bath by having a drink and has been eating spilled grain from the lawn. I have heard him calling from around and about. I wonder if there is only one nearby or whether he has friends!

Magpie – visited garden

The magpies are quite shy and won’t feed if they know you are looking. I have seen them sneaking food from the bird table though, and pecking around on the pavement. They pass over from time to time too.

Linnet – visited garden

I had never seen a linnet before this, and I only saw them in the garden once, although they had quite a lengthy visit. They were happy on the front lawn eating…dandelion seeds! I knew those “weeds” would be good for wildlife! The male linnet is the one standing on a dandelion stalk. He has a pale underbelly and a grey head. He is also perched on the low bush, showing off his red breast markings. The female is the more uniformly brown speckled bird.

Kestrel

Nearer the beginning of the month, there was quite often a kestrel hovering just behind the housing estate but I haven’t seen one recently. They hover to hunt, watching the ground for mice, voles and other small mammals. They fly into the wind when they hover so are effectively flying forwards and do not truly hover like an insect might.

Jackdaw

These I have mostly seen flying overhead, sometimes with nest material. They don’t visit the garden, but I saw one perched on next-door’s aerial once.

House sparrow – visited garden

This is a male house sparrow, making use of the feeder in the tree. Sometimes I hear a gang of sparrows chirruping away in a bush. They visit to feed too – sometimes from the feeders but more usually from the ground or bird-table. I have also seen them collecting nest material. They are nesting under the apex of next-door’s garage roof, where they can be seen going in and out. A male sits on top of the apex occasionally and chirrups, as if he is saying “My house, my house!”

House martin – living in garden

The house martins came back very recently (they don’t stay for the winter). They have been flying about overhead and calling. I assume they’re also eating insects up there, which they catch in flight. The house martins are nest building at the moment. They collect sticky mud and mix it with saliva. They use this mixture to build up a roundish nest, which you can see in the picture. They nest mostly under the edge of roofs on our estate.

I was watching the house martins swooping towards other houses and was disappointed that none were coming near our house. Then I heard a commotion outside, above the kitchen window. It sounded a lot like house martins. I went outside to investigate and found the reason why there was not much activity near our house. There was a little black and white bird face peeping out of a house martin nest. As we left last years nest up, there is no need for our house martins to swoop around building things. They simply moved straight in! The resident wasn’t letting anyone else in – hence the commotion and lack of other birds. One bird did get in though, after they both sung confirmation that they knew each other.

So we have house martins living with us again and they are already a pair. I wonder if they are the same pair as last year?

Gull

I have only ever seen these flying high overhead. I don’t think I have even heard them calling.

Great-tit – visited garden

The great-tits are just as bossy as the blue-tits. Both constantly get into fights. This picture shows a great-tit yelling at a dunnock to get off the bird table! The great-tits have been calling, feeding from the table and feeders and were investigating nest boxes. No boxes seemed suitable though so they have gone to nest somewhere else.

Goose

No pictures of these I’m afraid. I’ve only seen them twice, early in the month. Once they were flying overhead, on the way to somewhere else. The other time they were flying north, high up in formation. Geese travel together in a V formation, with the goose at the front doing all the hard work and the others flying in their slipstream. (Don’t worry; they do swap round when the front one gets tired!)