Random

The first juvenile goldfinches arrived this morning - and yesterday we had a juvenile pied wagtail following its parent around the lawn.

A bit distant but... young pied wagtail

Young goldfinch - yet to get his red face


And Albert taking on his more typical pose: (webcam shot)

Also - forgot to mention this... last week we had a new garden tick - a male bullfinch. By the time I'd focused the camera he'd gone!

Goldfinch

Goldfinch

The garden is very busy with the usual suspects: 40+ Goldfinch, 40+ Chaffinch and a handful of Greenfinch (possible low numbers due to Trichomoniasis). The Blackbirds are still around, but in much smaller numbers than the 20-or-so we were getting during the hard frosts.

The lights in the bird box are now fixed, though no one has been inside since the initial visit on 18th February. It's still early days, though - and the weather is abysmal which doesn't seem to help.

I'll start collecting some nesting material this weekend - so if we don't get any occupants, I might at least get the chance to take some photos of birds collecting for their nests.

Goldfinch





Chaffinch

Chaffinch and Goldfinch

Blimey!! What an imaginative title!

The garden was very busy today following the winter-long lull. Most of the activity was in the form of our Greenfinches and Chaffinches, but amongst that little lot were two Siskins (one male, one female). It's nice to see them slowly returning to the feeders since they have been absent from the garden all season.

The sun revealed itself for a nanosecond this afternoon, too! Bit more of that and I might actually see something in the nest box! I am religiously turning the lights on in the box each morning but I don't think I'll see anything inspecting it until the weather picks up a bit. That's if we get anything in it at all, of course ...

Facing the wrong way, but nice colours: Goldfinch
Female Chaffinch

Goldfinch

More grainy images - this time a Goldfinch.

Goldfinch

I was wondering why the garden had been extra, extra quite these last few days. This morning I found Smelly Cat hiding under one the hebes at the top of the garden. As a temporary measure I have chopped up an onion and some dried chilli and thrown it under the hebe to try and keep the cat away.

Juvenile Goldfinch

There is still very little happening in the garden at the moment. I haven't seen or heard the Long-tailed Tits since their initial visit on 11th September. Our single Robin is still around, though not singing as much.

The Whites, Red Admiral, Tortoiseshell and Peacock butterflies are flitting around the buddlieas in small numbers.

We had a juvenile Goldfinch on one of the peanut feeders this morning.

Juvenile Goldfinch - minus the bold red face s/he will soon have

Feeding with a Greenfinch

Great Tit

Goldfinch

It's been a while since I posted any photos of the Goldfinches, so here are some new ones (which look just like the old ones!)

Bits 'n' Bobs

Well, the bad weather continues ... Another week of dull days, snow and rain.

We had a Blue Tit in the garden today with a couple of damaged primary feathers which has left him (or her?) unable to fly. I watched him for a while as he fed on the lawn ... He managed to scale the three foot mesh fence which we haven't bothered removing since we moved in ten months ago! ... Then he hot footed it into next doors garden. I didn't see him again after that.

All the species recorded in the garden so far this week had made an appearance by Monday, with the exception of a Coal Tit and Wren, both of which finally appeared this afternoon.

A pair of Siskins (male and female) have been in the garden most of the week, and our single Brambling is still here but it shouldn't be too long before it returns to Scandinavia (or thereabouts!)

Random images:

Robin:
[photo missing]

First time I've seen a Siskin feed on anything other than peanuts: (female)

Male Greenfinch:

First time I've seen a Blackbird feeding on the fat-filled coconut:Another Goldfinch:

An Experiment

Whilst perusing one of my many garden bird feeding catalogues I came across something called a Feast Wheel. Interesting, I thought, and so read the blurb that came with it:

Feast Wheel - A tasty blend of black sunflower seeds, peanuts, safflower seeds and red millet, bound together with gelatin and shaped into a BIG ring complete with it's own strong cord hanger. At 9" in diameter, over 2" thick and weighing over 900g, 'feast' is arguably an understatement!

And the price? £13.95 plus £2.50 p&p. Total £16.45.

And here it is:
Nice!

I decided it was something which must be reasonably easy to make. I looked in the cupboard and found a 9" silicone baking ring a bit like this one:

No idea why we have one, or what the hell it's used for, but it looked ideal and being silicone it is completely non-stick and totally flexible. Next, I knew I had plenty of seed to fill it, but I didn't have any gelatin in the house. That was easily fixed with a quick trip to the Co-Op. £1.19 for 70g (6 sachets). I found some string to put in the middle so I could hang it up. There! I had everything ready:

Mould
Seed
Gelatin
String.

I filled the silicone ring with mixed seed, chopped peanuts and sunflower hearts. Total weight: 964g. Next, I melted three of the six sachets of gelatin with around 1/2 pint water, tipped the seed mixture into a pan and poured the gelatin onto it and gave it a good mix. I've never used gelatin before (as a vegetarian I don't have much need for it!) but this seemed to work! It was turning into glue! I poured half of the gluggy (is that a word?) mixture into the ring, placed the string around the middle, poured over the rest of the mixture and then popped it into the fridge to set.

And here is the result:

Da da daaa! 9" in diameter and just over 2" thick!

Note the pretty pattern!

Total cost: 60p
(well, 59.5p really)
Total saving: £15.85!

It's the same size and weight as the shop equivalent.



Next up, would the birds actually like it?

Siskin did:

Starling did:

Goldfinch did:

Robin did:

Greenfinch and Chaffinch bothe fed on it, too.

You can see the string I used for hanging purposes ... I abandoned that idea after the ring span constantly in the wind and so I just hooked it over the hangers instead.

I am yet to see any Tits on it - but I'm sure they'll find it eventually.

It looks like it's going to last considerably longer than a fat cake usually does (around thirty minutes if the Starlings are about!). The ring has been out for two days and it's still intact - and that's with plenty of visitors feeding away on it.

Conclusion: RESULT!

And Finally ... Cold Feet

.... a few of today's images just to end the week on.

Black-headed Gulls taking grated cheese from the lawn. The different stages of moult are clearly visible:

"Here come the men in black!"
Carrion Crows also taking the grated cheese:

The grated cheese is actually provided for our Pied Wagtails (male):

Goldfinch:

Male Siskin :

(no more Siskins or Goldfinches next week, I promise!)

Soggy Birds

A day of persistent rain usually results in a garden full of activity and today was no exception! The rain brought the birds in from the nearby wood - at one point we had 65 Chaffinch alone. There was a great mixture of species throughout the day; Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Coal Tit, House Sparrow, Starling, Blackbird, Siskin, Brambling, Black-headed Gull, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, and Robin all put in an appearance today. Twelve species were recorded as being in the garden at the same time (that was everything other than the gull and the corvids).

The following photographs were taken through the kitchen window:

Soggy but still beautiful - Goldfinch




Soggy Starling

Soggy Blue Tit

Very soggy and sorry looking Greenfinch

And the soggiest of them all - Siskin.

Goldfinch Images

We are visited daily by an average of three Goldfinch. The highest number we have ever recorded in the garden was a small flock of twelve in January 2006. Today we beat the average by one! Four Goldfinch all feeding near the kitchen window! A few shots: