My Wildlife Garden

An update

2009-07-17T22:36:00.003+01:00

Sorry havent reported much for a while but i have been very busy with my allotment, animals and general life things...lol

We have just had 2 beautiful weeks of hot sunshine, but now we are having heavy thunderstorms, with the rain battering the blooms :(

below are some pics took recently

Buds are Blooming

2009-04-11T08:40:00.003+01:00

All the buds are really starting to open now, and the weather has been quite warm., the tadpoles have all hatched and the birds are singing their hearts out, but still havent any in the bird boxes yet :(

The grass has started to grow super quick but i havent used the lawn mower yet as the chickens are doing a great job of keeeping it llow..haha. There are a pair of mistle thrushes that keep sounding off and fighting with the nesting magpies, I assume they too have a nest near by. A pair of blackbirds have been collecting nesting stuff too but arent nesting in my garden.

Below are some of the flowers that have bloomed this month....

Spring has sprung

2009-03-26T19:06:00.003Z

Lots of things are starting to shoot up now, the Daffodils are out along with the snowdroops and Primroses, the Tulips are starting to bud aswel. All the leaves on the bushes and trees are also starting to bud.

On March 19th I had my first frogspawn, all that weeek the frogs were going mad, first time i have heard them like this, there must of been atleast 18-20 frogs!

As for the birds,

still getting lots visit but have noticed havent had many bluetits this year or Green finches, havent a clue why not!

Also im not having much interest with my bird boxes :( My kids have seen 2 Goldfinches going in to the box near my French Doors but I havent, and i dont think these usualy nest in boxes do they?

Coldest February in a decade

2009-02-19T21:16:00.002Z

Well This February has been the coldest in 10yrs!, we have had quite a bit of snow too. the ponds have been frozen over for most of the month and I think the chickens are fed up with the snow too. The bird feeders have been emptying pretty fast, and have had daily visits from the Long tail tits amongst the regulars. Yesterday being the 18th Feb I took a look around the garden as all the snow had gone :) and i noticed the snowdrops are just starting to flower, which is quite later than the last few years, hopefully get some pictures up soon.

A SAD DAY

2009-01-16T18:59:00.000Z

Today we lost "Dolly" the Hen, remember the one that had all her tail feathers pecked out, well she managed to grow more but was never a really healthy hen even though i tried everything i could. 2 days ago i noticed she was very fluffed up and wasnt sure if it was the very cold weather we were having, anyway yesterday she was just standing on the coup floor all on her owwn fluffed up and didnt even flinch when i picked her up, she just kept shutting her eyes, so i put her in the dog crate i have with some hay and food and brought her in home, hoping the warm would help her, but sadley it didnt and today she died :(

Cold start to the New year!

2009-01-08T19:06:00.002Z

Well January has started off being very cold infact its been recorded that it was actually -12 in some parts off britain, which even froze the sea sea edge!! I think our lowest was -9, mind you that hasnt stopped the Magpies starting their nest in next door but ones garden! The Climbing hydranger has started budding too along with the elderberry. I was amazed one day this week at how many Longtail tits arrived together in my garden, you can see a pic of them below.

The Early Winter Garden

2008-12-02T19:23:00.012Z

Well the garden doesnt look much now the winter is here. The birds have started to flock back though and getting lots on the feeders. The chickens dont seem to be out much but it is very cold at the moment and we have had a few very small snow flurries. The Grass doesnt look to healthy either, think the chickens have took the goodness out of t :(

Coal Tits for the first time

2008-11-30T21:39:00.002Z

OOOOOHHHH today I had 2 Coal tits on my bird feeder, I was in the garden at the time without my camera :( At first I thought they were Great tits but noticed the real black markings on their head and the backs being more of a grey colour... It was only after searching on google images that i found out they were Coal tits, im thrilled! Just wish id of got a photo of them... hopefully they will be back when i can get my camera out.

We Had a snow flurry!

2008-11-25T19:18:00.002Z

Well On Sunday 23rd November 2008 we had a snow flurry! I quickly filled all the bird feeders up.
It was a good job that I had cleared the garden up the day before, I also was going to clean out the middle pond but after scooping a few leaves out I found lots of baby newts amongst them so decided it was best to leave the pond as it was, just hope the baby newts survive I thought they hibernated amongst rocks and logs in the winter?
Also Today I saw a gull on my neibours roof, they dont usually settle near our gardens..have seen them flying over but never still.

Sparrow hawk Back!!

2008-10-19T19:22:00.003+01:00

Look who is back!!... hope it doesnt bother my chickens !!

The weather this month has been lovely, think summer came a bit late! whats the betting it changes this week though as the kids are on school holiday for a week.

Also this week I have seen regular visits of the mistle thrush

The Chickens have sorted the pecking order out atlast!

2008-10-18T17:01:00.006+01:00

Well the chickens have atlast sorted out the "pecking order" so to say, Millie is top dog then molly, then polly, then dolly, then holly, they seem to be able to roam around the garden now without the visous fighting!. Im still getting 2 eggs a day aswel, even though they are in moult (they are from Millie and Molly the Amber stars) I cant wait for the "Black Rocks" to lay but i suppose it will be spring before they do!
Elsewhere in the garden... I have seen the sparrow hawk back lovely to seee but im really worried about the little birds now :(
Autumn is realy here too as the trees are turning beautiful colours, also droping their leaves everywhere, which the chickens love when i brush them all up and put in to a pile, they then like to scrat through them scattering them about again!..lol

And another Chicken!!!

2008-10-15T19:33:00.003+01:00

Well on the 12Th October I went to the "East of England Autumn show" and when I went to the chicken section, I mention to one of the owners that I was having trouble with the Amber lees not taking to the Black rocks and that "Dolly" the one who has a sore back and gets bullied severely was really depressed, guess what he said.... "Add another"!!! well i couldn't resist so ended up with another "Black rock" who we have called "Holly", so now we have Millie,Molly,polly,Dolly and Holly, the pecking order began again but 2 days later 4 of the hens were getting on great apart from "Dolly" the one with the sore back... she still spends most of the time in the pen on her own :( so im wondering if i should maybe send her back to where she came from :(
below are a couple of pictures.

2 more Hens

2008-10-05T16:40:00.004+01:00

Well I couldnt resist... I got another 2 hens on Friday 3rd October 2008 , the are "BlackRocks", I brought them from a lady who owns a garden center called "Algrips", she only charged me £2 each for them. One though had got a sore back apparently from the cockeral they had, they do this I read, poor things! Trouble was when I put them will my other 2 hens Millie and Molly they just kept attacking them, Molly especially went for the one with the sore back, I know this is called the "Pecking Order" but its awful to watch and it must be soooo painful for the hen herself :( hopefully they will settle very soon!

Spiders webs are everywhere!

2008-09-24T14:33:00.004+01:00

Well my garden seems to be full of spiders webs everywhere, not nice when you walk in to them though! the weather has been a bit nicer today so the chickens have been free ranging in the garden and seem to be loving it, not sure my grass is as happy though with them scratching it up :(

I have pickled some beetroot today from what i have grown up the allotment and have prepare what we call an allotment dinner, to see those pictures go to my allotent blog.. link on the right.

There doesnt seem to be many birds around today ive noticed, not sure why, the bird feeders are all full! also havent seen any baby frogs for a while so they are either hiding or hybinating

peppers are ripening

2008-09-23T14:09:00.002+01:00

In my greenhouse....my peppers are coming along nicely and are now turning an orangy yellow colour, the mixed lettuce leaves are coming along too as are the fennel and cardoon plants. As for the chickens, they are board cause ive not let them out today because its raining :(

photos below.

I have my chickens !

2008-09-23T08:27:00.003+01:00

well on Wednesday 13th september I went and fetch 2 chickens from a lady who was giving them away as someone had given them to her but she hadnt the room for them. Apparently they are "Amber stars", not quite sure how old they are but they are both laying an egg a day for me already, so they must like their new home. The kids have called them "millie & Molly",They are soooo friendly and everytime i go in to the garden they come over and talk to me, I never thought chickens were this friendly, myself and the kids love them!

Here are some pictures of them...

im going to have chickens

2008-09-16T19:06:00.001+01:00

woooohooooo ive decided to have a couple of chickens..i have had a coup/run built by my dad and good neighbour carl, will get a few pics up as soon as i have them.

Latest Update

2008-08-12T18:38:00.006+01:00

Wow cant believe its August already, Ive missed July sorry about that. Below are a few pictures ive took in my garden in the last couple of weeks

The Bug box,

A very large dragonFly.. the colours were amazing in the sunlight, if you look at the head it looks like he has a face and is looking at you!

I have a red frog

2008-06-09T14:10:00.004+01:00

well i found this litttle chap siting on some bog in my pond
the other day, hes very red and apparently
this is quite normal :)

With all the rain and sunshine we have been having my garden is looking very green, mind you the grass is growing sooooo quick aswel!

Sad Day :(

2008-05-15T18:31:00.002+01:00

Well today is a very sad day as after not seeing the blue tits going in the box for a week i decided to see what had happened as i opened the box the female was sitting on the nest but she was dead :(
There weren't any eggs. I'm not sure why she died but can only guess that the sudden rise in temperature maybe caused her to dehydrate or the male was sooo busy defending the territory that he forgot to feed her. what ever it was has really saddened me. I have removed her and the nest and can only hope another pair will decide to build a nest there.

TODAYS FINDINGS in my WILDLIFE GARDEN 28th April 08

2008-04-28T16:52:00.005+01:00

I took a stroll round the garden and below are what I saw that interested me.

New visitors to my garden

2008-04-25T15:52:00.005+01:00

Today 25th April I saw a chaffinch in my garden so all the different bird food i putting out is defenately attracting different species of birds.
On the 13th April i found this little guy/girl on my decking, think it lives under my decking

Also on that day I had a Greenfinch in my garden, first time ive seen one of them in my garden too :)

Crazy weather!!

2008-04-07T19:38:00.000+01:00

well the 4th April saw my very first tulip, the sun was very warm and i sat in my garden for ages,A squirrel came and joined me but had a mad itching moment and a pair of snails cudded up together, I hope they dont decide to have babies!! it was just a beautiful day.

But then the 6th of April we had a heavy snow fall !! can you believe it, T-shirts one minuite then big coats the next.... Crazy weather!

snow flurries today

2008-03-22T10:39:00.001Z

well can you believe it.. we are having small snow flurries, its not settling though thank goodness, im just hoping its not going to affect the frogspawn, in fact im very tempted to lift it and bring in to the home but im thinking thats messing with nature ;)
A bluetit was banging away at the hole in the beech birdbox, see the picture.

And a Mistle thrush came and visited the garden, infact i had a pair so im thinking they are nesting somewhere near but cant find out where.

MY SELF MADE HEDGEHOG HOUSE

2008-03-04T14:36:00.001Z

I decided to have a go at making my own hedgehog house with stuff i had around the garden. I used a round terracotter pot, some pipe and log rolls, below is a picture of the result.

27th February... love in my frog pond

2008-02-27T16:48:00.000Z

Well finaly i found 2 pairs of frogs together in my pond, just waiting for the frog spawn now.

Also I found fungi on one of my bird boxes.

TODAYS FINDINGS in my WILDLIFE GARDEN 23rd Feb 08

2008-02-23T16:39:00.000Z

Today in the pond i just managed to catch these baby newts basking on a small plant pot that had blown in to the pond. I was quite amazed as i thought would be a little early? just hope we dont have any really cold weather!

Also today the goldfinches came for their regular meal from one of my feeders.

I managed to take a photo of 2 beetles that were near the pond, not sure of their names,

First Butterfly in my garden This Year

2008-02-10T17:21:00.000Z

Well today I took some photos of the first butterfly to visit the garden this year. I thought it was a bit early for them to be out but it has been quite warm the last couple of days. If you look closely you can see how hairy the butterfly is..lol.

Also today, well tonight really, I took these lovely
sunset pictures, the sky was just amazing

Wren Nesting..is it too early?

2008-02-06T16:56:00.000Z

I have a wren nesting but im wondering if its too early as its only the begining of February!
here is a preview of it making the nest, its in a straw birdhouse in my archway thats been there for years.

LongTailTit in my garden

2008-02-06T16:49:00.000Z

Well this is the first time Ive ever seen one of these in my garden so I was really surprized!

4th February 2008...

2008-02-04T15:45:00.000Z

Today I just managed to catch a thrush sitting on top of my neighbours ariel.

28th January 2008

2008-01-28T22:17:00.000Z

Just had time to capture 3 birds in my garden today, a goldfinch, magpie and a crow. Whilst looking round the garden I noticed the daffodils are sprouting up really quickly now and also noticed the odd tulip.

Greattit

2008-01-26T17:12:00.000Z

I found this little chap feeding on 1 of my many feeders.