Sparrowhawk drops by for breakfast

I opened the curtains this morning to find a sparrowhawk tucking into one of our garden birds on the corner of the compost heap frame.
By the time I saw it, the prey was pretty much unidentifiable but, from the colour of the feathers, I wondered whether it was a nuthatch.
I spent a good fifteen minutes watching the sparrowhawk tug and tear at its breakfast before it cleaned its beak on the wooden frame then flew away, leaving nothing but a pile of feathers.
Unsurprisingly, the nearby bird feeder is unusually quiet this rainy Sunday morning.

Threatened hawfinch rescued in garden

A hawfinch had to be rescued after being found in a garden in Etchingham unable to fly.
The birds, which are on the RSPB's Red List of threatened species, are the UK's largest finches.
Trevor Weeks of the East Sussex Wildlife Rescue and Ambulance Service (ESWRAS), which rescued the hawfinch, said: "This is the first time we have ever had one to rescue or to treat in 26 years.
"It has a swelling on one wing near to the shoulder but we don't think there is a fracture, but it is being checked by the vet to assess the damage.
"We know they can be difficult in captivity to treat, and hope that it will be able to go outside as soon as possible and released quickly too.
"It has a large and powerful bill and is an amazing colour, and much bigger than I was expecting."
ESWRAS said hawfinches had previously been found in Kent but were "not so common" in East Sussex.
It is estimated that there are between 3,000 and 6,500 breeding pairs in the UK.

A tale of two feeders: the outcome

A while ago I wrote about my bird feeders.
I have spent a considerable amount of time and effort on this topic, partly to encourage the goldfinches into my garden and to discourage the pesky squirrels from destroying my peanut feeder.
Well, the good news is that I seem to have had some success. Not only have the goldfinches at last discovered the £1.99 nyjer seed feeder attached to the shed, I also have a steady stream of greenfinches visiting the garden.
Sadly, the squirrel completely wrecked the peanut feeder but I have already installed another, which seems to be working well so far. I was worried the woodpeckers would be discouraged too but I have just seen one feeding quite happily - despit having to perform some extra acrobatics to reach the peanuts.
I have also purchased the Gardman "guaranteed squirrel proof" peanut feeder but have yet to find a suitable place to install it - it only works if the squirrels are forced to approach from above. I hope to borrow a ladder and fit it to the eaves of the house some time this week to see if it will work.
In the meantime, the lovely wooden peanut feeder given to me at Christmas hangs forlorn on the shed as a testament to the squirrel which systematically ripped all the wire mesh to pieces, removed the stopper on the back, snapped the wire which held it to the shed and chewed all the wood.

A tale of two feeders

I bought a nyjer seed feeder for my birds this week.
My motivation? To encourage some of the goldfinches from the neighbouring woodland into my garden to join the party.
At £1.25 from Wilkos, I thought it was worth a try. One of my Twitter friends said theirs worked a treat and the goldfinches are regular visitors to their garden nowadays.
Having filled it full of the tiny black seeds, I nailed it to the shed.
It's safe to say it did initially generate a lot of interest from the great tits and blue tits - even the nuthatch came and had a look - but, with the exception of one or two blue tits, none of them managed to master the art of standing on the little green perches and feeding from the hole in the tube.
Meanwhile, the peanut feeder at the opposite end of the shed continues to be oversubscribed with a steady queue of woodpeckers, nuthatches, coal tits, great tits, blue tits and even a robin managing to cling on and feed.
Underneath, the chaffinches, dunnocks, blackbirds and occasional magpie, jackdaw and pheasant feed off the crumbs dropped on the ground.
Cut back to the other end of the shed...
Nothing.
I'll go back to the drawing board and see if I can find another feeder that would give the tweetlets easier access.
They look interested, but not interested enough to persevere.

Birds: a minute in my garden

Birds in my garden - 10 January 2011 from Roz Tappenden on Vimeo.

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Happy New Year

Well, with all the snow and festive celebrations, I haven't spent much time in my garden lately, although I have been watching the birds from the comfort of my living room.
My brother bought me a new bird feeder for Christmas and on New Year's Day I attached it to my shed.
I can report that within 24 hours, my garden had turned into bird chaos - I've had a male greater spotted woodpecker, two nuthatches and countless blue tits and great tits squabbling over the peanuts.
When I have a little time I intend to film them and post the video on here.
Ridiculous work commitments in recent months have meant I put off planting my narcissus bulbs for way too long and they had started to sprout on my window ledge.
On Sunday I whacked them in the ground and hoped for the best. The professional opinion of my gardening partner is that I probably won't be lucky enough, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they will grow.
I've planted dwarf February gold (narcissus cyclamineus), dwarf baby moon (narcissus jongquilla) and dwarf hawera (narcissus triandrus). They are in a cluster on a protruding ridge in my lawn. I just hope I don't regret not putting them in sooner.

Garden birds: making new friends

I love little birds - the smaller and noisier, the better.
It's incredible how a little wren, as tiny as it is, can make such a loud sound.
One of the most exciting things about my garden is the birds. The southern perimeter is surrounded with Rhododendron hedge where the birds love to hide.
Already I have seen a young green woodpecker and a kestrel on my lawn - although not at the same time. I suspect the kestrel is on the look out for one of the mice which live at the end of the garden.
Other species I have seen include wrens, great tits, blue tits, chaffinches, song thrushes, blackbirds, sparrows, goldfinches and my very own robin, whose favourite spot is on the gable end of my shed.
In nearby woodland I have also seen jays, long-tailed tits and buzzards.
As my vegetables began to emerge, the great tits in particular could be seen hopping up and down the rows of rocket and mixed leaf salad, picking off the bugs and flies.
To make the garden more bird friendly, I bought a terracotta dish and filled it to make a bird bath and put out a few crumbs but I quickly abandoned putting any food out because it seemed to attract magpies. Instead I have bought a half coconut shell packed with seeds which I will hang from the eaves of the house (just as soon as I can borrow a ladder).