More Lodgers - Hog House!

This morning I noticed we'd had a visitor to the hedgehog house. I had placed a handful of straw in the entrance so that anything going in would drag the straw with it. This morning the entrance was clear! I lifted the latch on the front of the box and suddenly heard a scurrying of feet so decided not not lift the lid. I hope I haven't scared the hedgehog off ... I'll put some fresh chicken out tonight to keep him/her sweet :o)

The hog box is at the side of our house where we purposely let the grass grow long. There is plenty of bedding inside: straw, sawdust and shredded newspaper

BTO Garden BirdWatch 22-28 October

The number in brackets shows the highest number recorded at any one time this week:

Chaffinch (16)
Greenfinch (10)
House Sparrow (8)
Dunnock (1)
Starling (60+)
Blue Tit (1)
Sparrowhawk (1)
Robin (1)
Goldfinch (2)
Woodpigeon (2)
Collared Dove (2)


Highlight of the week was a new local patch tick at the Hirsel - a Dipper! Spotted him from the bridge over the Leet Water near to the Hirsel House. It's about time I got my local patch list sorted out! I'll work on that this week!

There's still no sign of The Lodger. Hopefully he'll return to the nest box once the weather gets colder.

BTO/CJ Garden BirdWatch 15-21 October

Chaffinch (10)
Greenfinch (14)
House Sparrow (3)
Dunnock (1)
Goldfinch (3)
Great Spotted Woodpecker (1)
Woodpigeon (1)
Blue Tit (3)
Sparrowhawk (1)
Wren (1)
Robin (1)
Carrion Crow (1)


The Lodger hasn't roosted in the box since 17th October.

The Sparrowhawk landed in the garden today long enough, and close enough, for me to reel off a dozen-or-so close-up photos. Most pleased as I'd waited so long for this opportunity! Thought I'd blog them all tonight. Once the hawk flew off (with no dinner, as usual) I had a look back at what I'd just managed to get .... and discovered there was no memory card in the camera ...

The Lodger

Our lodger came back again this evening. It's been a ridiculously dull day today so I thought he might turn up a little earlier than yesterday.

He arrived at 17:45 - around 35 minutes earlier than yesterday.

I need to see him inside the box during the daytime so I can look for a distinguishing mark of some kind in decent light. Also, with a bird in the box we'd have a better chance at making sure the colour/contrast and brightness are all set correctly!

I wasn't sure how the camera would perform with ambient light - but it's been doing fine. In the spring/summer I was able to see inside well beyond what would have been the birds' bedtime (but it was an empty box, of course)!

Incidentally, our lodger was up and out bright and early this morning. I was able to see inside the box soon after 7:15 this morning - and he'd already gone.

I am not prepared to commit myself to naming him just yet - so he'll have to make do with being called The Lodger for the time being :o)

Woody ... Woodpecker

We're getting a small number of sick birds in the garden. The latest victims over the weekend were a very sorry looking Woodpigeon and a female Greenfinch.

The sick Woodpigeon

Yesterday we were visited by this female Great Spotted Woodpecker. It was getting on for 16.30 when she arrived, and it was also a very dull day, so the low light levels mean even worse pics than normal! Maybe one day they will venture up near the kitchen window.

We Have a Lodger!

Early this evening I spotted this in our nest box when I tuned in 'on the off chance' - the image quality is poor because the camera relies on natural light and it was starting to get dark:

Twenty minutes later and a Blue Tit turned up

Getting comfy in the corner

Fluffs up and goes to sleep

Excellent! We have a Blue Tit roosting in our next box! It's nice to finally see an occupant! I'm guessing it's a bloke, having left a mess on the floor like that ...


I've been unable to upload any photos all day so I've opened a new account at photobucket and used that instead. I'll use it whenever blogger is playing up.

Garden Flora - Colour for Autumn

Red Admiral
Hebe
Sorbus Eastern Promise
Hebe
The Scaredy Cat Plant - Coleus Canina
Fuchsia



Geranium



Crab apples

Jammin' in da Bird Box!

Firstly, let me explain the title: We spent thirty minutes or so in the hide at Hirsel Lake early this afternoon and, as with a lot of hides, it has some graffiti in it. Scratched into the wooden ledge where you rest your elbows is 'east howden crew jamin [SIC] in da bird box 05' - as it made me laugh I thought I'd use it as the title for this blog!

No sign of the two Whooper Swans today.


On the lake this afternoon:

Mute Swan 49
Cormorant 3
Kingfisher 1
Little Grebe 6
Black-headed Gull
Moorhen
Coot
Tufted Duck
Teal
Wigeon
Shoveler
Mallard
Grey Heron


The Kingfisher posed for some classic shots - but he was just too far away each time.

Mute Swan


Here's the Kingfisher. Poor shots - just can't get close enough to him. These are heavily cropped.

The Hirsel Lake at Dusk

Vane Farm Loch Leven

This was our first visit to the Vane Farm RSPB reserve near the town of Kinross, midway between Edinburgh & Perth. The reserve is on the south shore of Loch Leven National Nature Reserve and is one of three public access points around the loch shore.

The star of the day was a single Little Egret, apparently called Egbert, who is a returning visitor to the reserve. He arrived this year on September 10th and is usually seen on the flood lagoons at the furthest hide. He wasn't close enough to photograph - but we got good views through our bins.

The Pink-feet (1000s) and Greylag (1000s) were mostly on St Serf's island in the middle of the loch but there were a handful of both species on the shore line.

The list for the day looks like this (I didn't do many actual counts):

Little Egret (1)
Whooper Swan (6)
Greylag Goose
Pink-footed Goose
Mute Swan
Teal
Tufted Duck
Pochard
Wigeon
Mallard
Gadwall
Cormorant
Coot
Moorhen
Oystercatcher
Lapwing
Grey Heron (photo taken at a flood lagoon)
Great Crested Grebe
Curlew
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Black-headed Gull
Magpie
Carrion Crow



There is one species I've left off the list because I can't read my own handwriting. I'll add it as soon as I decipher it :o)

BTO/CJ Garden BirdWatch 1-7 October

Greenfinch (26 - highest number recorded at any one time this week)
Chaffinch (23)
House Sparrow (15)
Woodpigeon (2)
Goldfinch (2)
Dunnock (2)
Blue Tit (2)
Coal Tit (1)
Starling (8)
Robin (1)
Collared Dove (1)
Pied Wagtail (1)

The Siskins have been absent now for 8 weeks and the Pheasants have been absent for 15 weeks. I wonder when they will return?

We still have hedgehogs in the garden - we can see the tracks they leave at the side of the house where we deliberately leave the grass to grow long - but no takers of Hog House as yet.

Bag o' shite Blogger won't let me upload my photos again.

Birdman has the week off and If I can peel myself out of my pit in the morning, we have a trip to Loch Leven planned.

Hirsel Lake

We spent an hour in the hide at the Hirsel Lake today (12.30 - 13.30).

Whooper Swan 2
Mute Swan 89 - only spotted 4 juveniles among these.
Grey Heron 9
Tufted Duck 2
Little Grebe 6
Tufted Duck 2
Kingfisher 1
Coot
Mallard
Shoveler
Black-headed Gull
Herring Gull
Pheasant
Blue Tit
Blackbird

I think we struck lucky given the size of the lake - the two Whoopers were right in front of the hide.

Unfortunately, there was 100% cloud cover today, so the photos are rubbish! Is that a good enough excuse? :o)

And top marks to Birdman for spotting the Kingfisher to the left of the hide.

Whooper Swan
Mute Swan
Mute Swans with a Grey Heron at the back
Kingfisher

Woodpigeon

Eyelids close from front to back - like a woodpecker

More Garden Randomness

Here's the sick Greenfinch (taken yesterday). I have emptied and cleaned the water dish each time she's been on it.

And here she is compared to a healthy Greenfinch - her larger 'fluffed-up' size is very apparent. Both pictures were taken yesterday. She hasn't been seen today.

Our Robin lands on his favourite look-out post
Male Chaffinch
Woodpigeon. I like these. They vacuum up the mess :o)
Female Greenfinch
Proving difficult to photograph, as usual. The Blue Tits are rarely still ...
... and when they are, they turn away!

Fighting again. Tsk!

Of all our garden birds, these Greenfinches are probably the most quarrelsome - closely followed by the Goldfinches.

This 'n' That

It seems to have been a day of sick birds today: a female Chaffinch has hung around the garden all day and a young Greenfinch (photo included) has shown the first signs of illness (salmonella or trichomoniasis in both cases), then we had a male Chaffinch with Fringilla papillomavirus (crusty legs) and a further two possibly sick Chaffinches, but I didn't get a good enough look at them to be sure.

I didn't manage any photos of the Blue Tits as they didn't come close enough to the kitchen window, the Coal Tit was far too quick for me and the Great Tits didn't show.

So, here are the photos I did manage to take today:

Greenfinches. The one on the right was trying to peck the seeds out through the plastic, but he soon got the hang of it!
Male Chaffinch came along for a quick drink
... as did these Greenfinches
Yikes! As quarrelsome as usual!
Female House Sparrow on top of the ladybird house

This is the sick Greenfinch. Anyone who has had similar sick birds will know what I mean. Maybe it's not immediately obvious from the photos, but they are always a lot bigger (fluffed up) than any of the others Greenfinches in the garden. They are also listless, stay close to the food source and have heavy/laboured breathing, among other symptoms. This bird is in the early stages ... two or three more days and if he's not recovering (as can sometimes happen) then he'll be close to death.

BTO/CJ Garden BirdWatch 24-30 September

Chaffinch (15)
Greenfinch (10)
Blue Tit (1)
House Sparrow (12)
Robin (1)
Goldfinch (1)
Dunnock (2)
Coal Tit (1)
Starling (44)
Woodpigeon (2)

The Swallows and House Martins are still around, but in very small numbers.

I have placed a feeding pole near the kitchen window in the hope of getting some new and better photos of the Blue/Great and Coal Tits - so hopefully at least one of those will turn up at some point this week.