Hobbies and Crafts

A lovely surprise a few minutes ago.
There was a young woodpecker drinking out of our bird bath.

It's years since I saw a woodpecker of any sort in the garden.
The one today was a lesser spotted woodpecker with a bright red head.

Edit at 8.15

A wood pigeon has now taken charge of the water and is crouched in it again after a bit of gentle preening.

A case of 'This will suit me just fine while it's hot.'

During lockdown I had two rather unpleasant incidents regarding birds. One morning I looked out to see what I later found out was a sparrow hawk eating a pigeon on my patio. A few weeks later a Carrion Crow was pecking away at something in my neighbours garden. I found on closer inspection that it was the guinea pig they had buried a week or two before !!

Ugh! Rather you than me.

A few years back we lived in a rural area. One day I was at the kitchen window watching a pair of starlings on the lawn fussing round half a dozen baby starlings when the window went dark as a sparrow hawk flew down and grabbed one of the babies. Even though there was a sheet of glass between us it frightened me to bits. Close up it looked so big and cruel.

Must admit it was not a pleasant experience, yours wasn't very pleasant either.

They do look like cruel birds don't they, especially when attacking baby birds. Nature sometimes is cruel (to us). But it is just how it is. Did you know the female is bigger than the male?
Of course Magpies and gulls will take baby birds as well. A baby starling would have been a large mouthful.

But as you say not nice to watch. Menacing!

Lovely to see a woodpecker in the garden. we did once (only once as far as I know) have one on the feeders in out garden.

Until this summer, I had never seen a Jersey Tiger Moth in this area, but this summer, I've seen several.
Their distinctive shape and colouring are what makes them stand out.

For the last 3 or 4 hours, one has been settled on the outside of my kitchen window.
It is very warm and still today, so perhaps it's just resting.

http://www.wildlifeinsight.com/british-moths/jersey-tiger-moth-and-caterpillar-euplagia-quadripunctaria/

Oh that is a pretty one, I don't think I have ever seen one of those.

Striking isn't it, Ann?

From the write up on that site, it would seem that we may be more likely to see more of these in the south east in the future.

I have never seen one of those moths. It’s certainly striking. The most unusual moth I’ve seen locally is the Elephant Hawk Moth which is a very attractive pink and green. I’ve been told they are fairly common but I’ve only ever seen that one.

I wonder what is the range of garden spiders ?

How far do they roam?

Yesterday, daughter and I went out in her car. As I got into the front passenger seat, we noted that a spider was busy on the wing mirror that side.
We travelled on local roads with the spider clinging on tight and it was still there, when we parked to buy greetings cards.
Next we travelled along the motorway to Ashford,- about 15 miles, parked up at a shopping centre, where we stayed for a few hours before leaving for a stop off for groceries etc. at Tesco on the way home.

Spider was still in situ. when we pulled up outside the house !

We moved at the start of the year from about 2 miles from the centre of Chelmsford to about four miles from the centre of Colchester. It does not seem that there should be much difference in the wildlife but it is quite noticeable. for a start the birds here seem much more timid and don't hang around much. There are plenty of blue tits, robins, goldfinches and dunnocks about but they don't show themselves much. Possibly because there are more predators about, such as kestrels, sparrowhawks and buzzards. One evening we were thrilled because a Merlin had landed on the garden table, but then horrified when it suddenly flew and caught a robin.

There are, of course, a few wood pigeons and collared doves around most of the time but the most numerous birds here are Starlings and Jackdaws, far more here than at Chelmsford. There are also several crows and magpies that visit but so far no Jays, which we used to see often at our old home. Gull activity is similar here but the geese are more impressive and have seen many large formations. I do enjoy the sound they make. One other bird which I heard most days for a couple of months was a cuckoo, Sadly I never actually saw it, but I hadn't even heard one at Chelmsford for many years.

Regarding other wildlife, squirrels seem to be as common, and I often hear foxes. We saw bats most evenings around late August, early September, never saw many at Chelmsford. We had a surprise recently when there was a grass snake in the garden. It was the day after we had seen a small frog, I don't know if there was any connection. I was quite impressed by the way the snake climbed a fence when it was leaving.

We were puzzled by something that was coming under a fence every night and moving a block of wood that we replaced every day for a few days. One day there was a dead fish left on the lawn. It turns out that an otter was clearing out next door's fishpond. Unfortunately we haven't seen it yet.

It sounds as though you have got a lot of wildlife around you Kense. Great to have an otter around. Are you near the river, or perhaps the reservoir?

We've had similar moves to you in that from 1972 to 1986 we lived about 8 miles from Chelmsford, then we moved into Suffolk but only about 12 miles from Colchester and in 2013 we moved another 6 miles and a bit further into Suffolk. It was our last move of only 6 miles that we noticed the biggest difference in bird life.

At the old home we had so much visiting the garden, including green and spotted woodpeckers, jays, and all the common birds including loads of chaffinches. In the 8 years since we moved here I have only seen 1 chaffinch and certainly no woodpeckers or jays. I've put the difference down to the difference in the area. Our old house was in a rural area with a half acre garden surrounded by farmland. Now we live in a much more built up area with a small garden.

Wonderful wildlife there Kense.
It must be great to see such a variety.

Vera, We seem to have very few types of birds in our garden, with just the occasional unusual visitor. At the moment we are having respite from the gulls, which dominate for most of the summer months and the magpies and jackdaws seem to be feeding elsewhere too, but will doubtless be back.
I haven't seen a thrush anywhere for ages.
On Wednesday, I went for a walk with a friend and was pleased to see this year's cygnets looking very healthy and swimming with their parents.They are so big now, almost as big as the adults, but still with mottled colouring.
I hadn't seen them for ages, but another friend says that they are often to be seen on a waterway in a nearby small town, - probably more food readily available there.

No idea how long they stay as a family, but the paired adults usually nest a few minutes walk from here, so presumably the 2021 brood will be on their own by then next spring?

I visited Dover Castle yesterday and saw the 4 young choughs there.
These have been captive-bred in a wildlife santuary and are just visiting in a purpose built aviary to advertise a project.
They have been hand reared and it is hoped that in time they can go on to help provide young, which can be released, so that coughs could fly wild over the White Cliffs again.

We had a jay in the garden today. I think it’s only the second one I’ve seen in the 8 years we’ve lived here though we used to get them at our old house. They have such lovely colours.

Opened our sitting room shutters this morning and watched the acrobatic flight of a swallow. It's the first one I've seen this year.

Soon the sky will be full of the chattering acrobats.

Spring is on it's way and your swallows, swifts and house martins will be flying towards UK.

In today's world we needed good news :-D

The first swallow of spring Pat a lovely sight.

One bird I forgot to mention in my last report was the chiffchaff. We made three or for sightings of them in the garden and had to refer to the field guide to be sure. Now having checked up on their call, I now know that the land beyond our back garden has many living there.

So far this year the highlights have been yellowhammer, marsh harrier and red kite. Also actually in the garden was a male pheasant on a couple of occasions.

Our swallows and swifts are lining up in the afternoon. This usually means they will be leaving soon.

The younger birds fly several weeks after their parents when they have gained weight and strength. Wonderful how they know where to go, unless the parents leave them a map. ;-) :-D

Amazing how the young ones navigate, isn't it Pat.?

I always think that about young cuckoos leaving UK too.... How do they know to do that ?