My Bill Oddity moment ;)

[Taffycat]

Has anyone else noticed all the baby birds beginning to appear in their gardens or general surroundings? We have seen quite a few already, quivering and fluttering, constantly pestering their parents for food with lots of twittering and open beaks. It happens every year, but the enjoyment never alters.

We also have a family of magpies nesting in one of our trees. Whenever I say this, it usually brings forth howls of protest about how terrible magpies are ..... however, we've lived in the same house for more than 30 years, and the magpies rarely leave. There are the odd "unpleasantries" but it doesn't happen often and in any case, we sometimes get visits from passing sparrowhawks (..... Nature is Nature after all) they mostly co-exist with their smaller neighbours without too much bother.

They are such comedians! Local cats have to be very wary of them, because many's the time we have seen them being ganged-up on by one or two magpies, who will make a game of tweaking the cat's tail with their beaks. The same thing happens with the resident squirrels too, who look quite cross when their tails are pulled. They also play quite a lot, with bits of twig or whatever else takes their fancy, (not just at nest-building time) just for the sheer fun of it.

Ok, I shall cease my "Bill Oddie" moment now... he's much shorter than me and the beard wouldn't be a good look at all on this Taffycat

 

[muckshifter]

Has anyone else noticed all the baby birds beginning to appear in their gardens or general surroundings?

Not from my 'Hovel' but it is a different tail to tell from my brother & sisters gardens.


I think a lot of 'early birds' will be havin second clutches this year.

Me Sister's gardens are as good as the nature reserve a couple miles up the road from her ... and she does her bit to encourage all to come visit her gardens front & rear.

She is a little lucky that the back garden backs onto another large semi-wild garden ... fact is, they are all semi-wild garden all around hers, which I hasten to add is very well kept.

So far we have seen the 'usual' residents which include finches, tits, blackbirds, robins, Magpies, Wood Pidgeons, squirrel (gray) & foxes ... not to mention the Flutterbuys & bumbley bees and other abundant insects ... the only one we ain't seen this year is the resident Hedgehog family who lives under her shed, that may be due to the fact we are not up at 1am in the morning to view 'em. I hope they are still there though.

My sister is like the rest of us and will do what she can by planting the right sort of plants to attract the right animals, insects & birds ... she also supplies proper food & water for bathing & drinking plus a small spot for the good old sand-bath. We all do our bit.

Me Brother's garden don't fare as well but we still get to see some nice birds.


Southport has several good Nature Trails & wildlife reserves and the parks are great as they too all have running water & lakes.

 

[Taffycat]

A garden seems much less interesting if there is no wildlife in it. Our garden was next to a field until fairly recently when some new houses were built on the other side of the (natural) hedge. We were a bit worried that the buildings would reduce our wildlife population, but fortunately, there is still a strip of wild-ish land just beyond the hedge, where a small stream runs, so thankfully the bird population hasn't diminished, and I think most of the insects will still be around. Is it me, or are the bumblies getting bigger?

Your sister's garden sounds lovely Mucks, she is so lucky to have foxes - we have seen the odd one or two, but their visits have been very infrequent. Hedgehogs, on the other hand, seem to make a bee line to snuffle around amongst the shrubs, although like you, we haven't seen any yet this year, which is a bit unusual.

Our squirrels are a cheeky lot.... one day (a year or two back) my husband was outside in the far corner of the garden, when he thought he felt rain. As he looked up, in time to spot a squirrel in the branches above him, "leaking" happily onto his head!