Garden and General
The month started with a warm and dry but very windy spell. By the middle of the month some rain had set in and the weather was generally changeable with some heavy downpours at times. We hope we are winning the war with the neighbouring cat but now we cannot put any food out on the feeding table without it being consumed immediately by the Woodpigeons – I even found that one had figured out how to sit on the roof of the window box ! They have obviously become a bit emboldened after our absence whilst in Wales for 4 days.
20th May
We have been a bit disappointed that we haven’t had anything nesting in our garden this year – especially since we put up a nest box cam this year just where the Blue Tits nested last year. In fact we have not seen much of any fledgling birds this year. We usually see a young Robin or two and young Blackbirds but not yet. What we did have today though was a visit from two parent Great Tits (one looking distinctly bedraggled) with their four fledglings showing them where to find food and water in our garden. They got the full tour of both bird baths, the feeders and the log pile. I am wondering whether the very cold snaps at the start of the year have perhaps taken their toll of the local garden birds. We haven’t seen a single fledgling Goldfinch this year but mid May might be a bit early for them yet.
21st May
Having said earlier that the Woodpigeons are all over our garden all of the time, they don’t have it all their own way and on 21st May we found a very large number of feathers spread around the lawn bearing all the hallmarks of a Sparrowhawk attack on either a Woodpigeon or a Collared Dove. Neither of these was to be seen anywhere for the rest of that day for some reason ! I also saw the neighbours’ cat in our garden today despite the strong deterrent measures we have taken but I don’t think it was a cat did for the bird today – it looked too much like it had been plucked.
22nd May
Two fledgling Blackbirds in the garden today, one happily demolishing a slug about the size of its own head ! The fledgling Great Tits continue to buzz around the garden.
23rd May
One fledgling Goldfinch on the feeder today. In previous years we would have seen around 12 adults and a similar number of fledglings at this time of year – but not this year !
24th May
Now starting to see some fledgling Blue Tits so the garden is getting quite busy with youngsters. Heavy downpours today saw a couple of Starlings pay a visit as well as some House Sparrows and a Greenfinch !
25th May
We have started to see a male and a female Chaffinch visit our bird feeder recently. Previously when we have had them visit the feeders they seem to have had difficulty perching on the straight rod perches we have. These two, however, seem to be coping quite well.
I am still a bit surprised at the total lack of a visit from a Robin of late. The month ended with some dry weather.
Bird Group
Last month we missed a couple of the Bird Groups outings as we were either on holiday or not able to find the time. We did go to Moore, Pennington Flash and Macclesfield Forest but we both got a dose of the flu towards the end of the month and that kept us from going birding – at least with other people.