Love birds

Out of all the birds which visit our garden there is absolutely no doubt that the Wood Pigeons and Collared Doves are the most attentive to their partners needs. This pair regularly have a date on the top of the trellis and on more than one occasion their necking session has progressed to greater things. Lots of baby Wood Pigeons will be on the way methinks.

Out and about

We have a large number of Buzzards in the neighbourhood and I spotted these ones today which were locked in aerial combat with the local crow population! The crows don't like these large birds getting too close to their offspring.

The Oyster Catchers are having a tough time of it just now as the ground is baked hard.

More birds

I have set up a new Blog for my garden pond.

http://muffinman-mygardenpond.blogspot.com/

I hope to be able to get some more photos of Oyster Catchers which can be found in fields close by, also photos of Nuthatches which are nesting in an old tree trunk not far from us for the 2nd year in succession.

More Heron and Blue Tits

Another fairly quiet week in the garden.

The Blue Tits are still fairly frequent visitors to the box though there can also be lengthy absences which causes me a little concern. Both they and a Chaffinch are visting the window feeder and today I spotted a Greenfinch on the new Nyjer seed feeder, the first bird to visit it. I had hoped to attract more Goldfinches but so far they are only feeding on the Sunflower hearts on their rare visits.

The first tadpoles are emerging from the frog spawn and I have scooped up a large number and put them in an old bath filled with water from the pond to keep them out of the clutches of my fish.

I spotted some Dippers at the river this morning and went back with my camera. However all I saw was my old friend the Heron and a pair of Grey Wagtails which were too quick for me to snap.

Weekly Report

This has been a very quiet week in the garden. With the recent fine weather the birds are not coming to the feeders in their usual numbers and the sun flower hearts are now into their third day without needing topped up. Normally this feeder is completely empty every morning.

The Blue Tits are still visiting one of our boxes on a regular basis though I have seen little evidence of nest building. On the one occasion that I saw a bird with a load of moss in it's beak it managed to drop it and never made any attempt to retrieve the moss before going into the box.

I managed to capture a rare visit from a common House Sparrow which I'm afraid to say is one of the highlights of the week!

Down by the river

Spotted this pretty little Grey Wagtail while walking the dog, picture could have been sharper and the problem seems to be a slow shutter speed of 1/25 sec. The sooner I master this camera the better! The Grey Heron is quite oblivious to passing humans and dogs and it is easy to get very close to it.

Meanwhile in the garden today I had to try and stop a fight between two female Blackies who were having a real set to on the lawn. However my presence only made them move to a more distant area of the garden where they continued their brawl!

More birds

Blue Tit activity increasing

"wonder what's in here"

"anyone looking?"

"this seems a nice area"

"this one will do nicely"

"I think this must be a Great Tit box"

"Good fast food facilities on the doorstep as well!"

Loving my new camera, just shooting in Auto mode at present and I have an awful lot to learn but I am enjoying the results!