The Early Winter Garden

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

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!

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!!

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!

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!!!

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

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!

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

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 !

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

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

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

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 :(

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

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

New visitors to my garden

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 :)