Wildlife in May

Much of the UK is in terrible drought conditions, yet we have had 4" of rain - with rain falling on about 24 days of the month. Good month for sitting watching wildlife then! Fledgling birds galore in the garden, but the highlight of them all so far has to be this little chap. They really don't come much more cute than a baby tree sparrow.

Another highlight of the last couple of days has been another red Squirrel visit - sadly no pictures of the squiggle itself, but here's some evidence instead (footprints for those with small screens!).

Christmas All Over Again

Just over twelve months ago, the side garden looked like this.


The area immediately in front of the gate and wall was just a bodged semi path, the gate opened (in our opinion) the wrong way, and as the main route for wheel barrows into the back garden, it was a bit of a pain in the neck.


After removing some of the conifers etc last year, we made use of the space for a few veg as a temporary measure



Since then it has been a bit of a building site, although we have been busy turning it into a more proper veg plot and installing a turf path up to the gate without a slalom course for the wheelbarrow.
But now, thanks to a belated Christmas Present 'Busman's holiday', Husbands son has turned the gate around and given us a wonderful hard standing area in the gateway and along the wall.

A quick coat for the gate - an how's that for a transformation? All with stuff we had saved from our predecessors landscaping efforts - and a bit of windbreak for the beans, donated by the local farrier!

Stormy Over Barton

A day of well publicised storms, although thankfully we have not had it anything like as bad as some. We have had our fair share of winds, with gusts of over 40mph battering us throughout the day.

It seems bizarre talking to family and friends, who have not had a drop of rain for months. We emptied 7mm this morning, taking May's total to date to 3" (I know, I'm mixing imperial with metric - but I bet all the rest of you who measure rain do exactly the same!). At least another 7mm has fallen through the day today too. For those who are struggling to remember; this is what rain looks like.

At times it has really closed in. This is the view of Barton Fell from the sunroom (notice the angle of the bamboo in the tub!).

Through all that wind and rain, our daily visitors kept up their routines. This one's for Bilbo....

Did you spot the Tree Sparrow?

How Not to Photograph Wildlife

The light is beginning to fade. It is 9.30pm and we have had a pretty horrible day. So trying to take pictures of a visiting Leveret probably wasn't very bright - but when did that matter?
A bit of photoshop auto brightening and 'hey presto'.

OK, so it's a crap picture, but at least it's evidence!

Busy B's

We seem to have some new residents this morning. The Blue tits in the nest box on the shed have gone from the peace and quiet of incubation to the frenzy of activity of feeding newly hatched chicks. Having seen little of them for a while they are in

and out constantly this morning. Pooh sacks carried out and the lot!

More Pond Life and the First Swift

How exciting (if you are a nerd!) We have at least one tadpole with all four legs, and we saw the first swift of the season this morning - nearly a month later than last year, so maybe they've been avoiding us.

Not only that, we have Dragonfly larvae too!

Hard to believe there wasn't even a puddle there 7 weeks ago!

For those who are less excited by pond life than me (and my friend Bilbo who will be REALLY impressed with the dragonfly), this is what the re landscaped bit of the back garden looks like at the moment..........


you might want to double click to see that there is a bit of colour there now.

A Splash of Colour

After a short absence, we had two of our most colourful visitors today. A male Siskin (normally they are abundant, but just at the moment there is just the odd one every now and then) and a Male Redpoll (we haven't seen one for a few weeks, but briefly we had two this morning).

Both tiny birds, but beautiful additions to the feeders
To my delight, the Redpoll decided to investigate the puddle and then have a bath!

Metamorphosis

The back legs have arrived..........

Happy Hour Again

Corny title I know, and it will be lost on anyone who isn't familiar with Paul Heaton's music, but our House Martins are back.



They arrived on the 19th April last year. Although it is quite possible that they have been here for a day or two and we've missed them, it still seems pretty late considering how early this spring has been

Mistle Thrush

Simple things please simple minds..............

We are really thrilled to have a few Mistle Thrush appearing at close range most days. I guess they may have finished nesting by now, but as we haven't seen any fledglings, but have seen frequent trips into a nearby sycamore by one or other; perhaps there will be more to come.

Nature Trail

Our walking these days seems to be limited to walks straight from the door. Not for any reason other than that there is just so much to see on our doorstep and we have acres of private woodland and farmland, which we are lucky enough to be able to wander at our leisure. On a couple of occasions recently, we have seen evidence of a flock of less well known residents. Today, we thought we'd see if we could find them.
The reason for today's exploring? These piles of pine cones

dropped beneath hawthorn trees around the edge of a (mainly) coniferous wood.

These are the evidence of a flock of Common Crossbills. Which take the cone from it's tree, onto a nearby tree such as hawthorn, where they then use their amazing crossed bill, to remove the seeds. Often with the help of somewhere to hold the cone steady.

Having seen a brace of deer, two Jays, a song thrush and countless other everyday birds, we were finally rewarded with the sight of a female Crossbill, high up in a pine tree. Too far to be able to see her bill, but given away by her (and her fellows in the area) chirpy song.