Tuesday 17 July 2018

NEWS FROM THE GARDEN



A lot of people have said that house martins seemed to arrive late this year. Ours were right on time and wasted no time in raising their first brood.


They left the nest under the eaves of the gable end of our house and spent a few scary moments hanging on for dear life and still begging for food every time the parent birds flew past.


Having found their wings they moved halfway up the roof where they stopped for a rest..


..before finally reaching the top. Last year we lost one at this point to the local sparrowhawk, but thankfully all went well this time and they were soon fully on the wing flying around the house with the adult birds. As far as I can tell the next brood is well on the way, they might even make three this year.


Nuthatches are great and we're lucky enough to see them in the garden almost every day. A couple of weeks ago there were at least four, a family group I think.


The parents bring the fledglings to the feeders to show them how it's done. Their cousins the great spotted woodpeckers did the same with their red crowned youngsters this year and they are still visiting but look more like adults now.

And finally, on sunday afternoon I had one of the best sightings i've ever had from the garden, when no less than four great white egrets flew over the house heading roughly north. A few years ago, a single great white would have sparked a significant twitch, such was their rarity in England. To have four flying over my house together is astonishing to say the least!

1 comment:

Ken. said...

Hi Phil.
Sorry I haven't checked in for ages. It looks like your garden bird list is going from strength to strength. Hope you and Carol are ok.