Chaffinches On Mass

The Chaffinches are visiting on mass again now, with plenty of the youngsters eating me out of house and home.  They tend to take the food from the ground rather than battle it out for access to the feeders, though they have been generous enough to pose on the odd occasion for me! :-)

Thanks to everyone for your comments and input.  I am still WAY behind on reading peoples blogs: it seems  that while I had a lull, everyone else became particularly active, leaving me with over 600 blog posts to catch up on.  It might take me some time to get through them all!! :-)

Leave Me Alone!

Considering the number of adult Goldfinches visiting, so far I have had very few youngsters, but that appears to be changing if today is anything to go by.   This mother was being harassed by three youngsters who were adamant that they wanted Mummy to carry on with the feeding.   I got the distinct impression that if birds could talk this mother would be saying "Will you **** off and find your own meal!"  These youngsters had obviously reached the "teenage" stage when motherhood can become decidedly difficult!! :-)

Too Much Of A Good Thing?

I love seeing the Siskins and the Golfinches, I really do, but they can be a little overpowering: they have completely taken over the feeders and little else gets a look in.  I have tried positioning a feeder right next to the house for the more timid Blue Tits and Great Tits, but the Greenfinches decided that they would take over that one, thus once again leaving these diminutive Tits, my original 'Garden' birds, out in the cold.   When I first got a decent DSLR the Tits were the mainstay of my photography, though my ability to use the camera well was lacking, so I got few really good shots.  Now that I have the  photographic ability, I don't have the birds, and I miss their acrobatic presence.  In the winter I use fat balls which the Tits enjoy, but I am reluctant to use those in the summer in case they go rancid in the heat.  Does anyone else use fat balls in the summer?  I would be interested to hear of your experiences of using them?

Though the Siskins are smaller than the Sparrows they still bully them:

"Get away, you!  Get away!  This is my feeder!"

Blogger seems to be on the blink again with disappearing comments. :-(  Apologies if you posted and one and it didn't appear.  I did moderate them but then they vanished.

Found The Ringer!

Last night I was contacted by someone that has been doing some ringing in my area.  On searching some of the photos that I had taken I managed to find one with sufficient detail on the ring to locate where and when the bird had the ring fitted.  This handsome male juvenile Greenfinch was ringed on the 26/6/10 around a couple of miles from here as the crow flies, or should that be Greenfinch!  He certainly seems none the worse for the ordeal.  I was really interested to read Warren's info with regards a juvenile Greenfinch being found 18 miles away.  I can understand adult birds travelling so far, but had always assumed that a youngster would stay in the vicinity of the nesting area.  I learn something new every day, or hopefully I do: it keeps the grey matter working!  :-)

Ringing

Plenty of young birds are now visiting the feeders and eating me out of house and home.  The Greenfinches don't seem to be as common this year, with far fewer youngsters around.   Of the youngsters that I have seen though, some have had rings fitted to their legs.  I have also spotted several adults with rings.  I am not sure how far a juvenile will travel, but I wouldn't have thought it would be that far, and so I assume someone is ringing in my locality.

Motivation

I can't seem to get motivated with blogging or photography at the moment.  It is that time of year when despondency sets in: the council have just been round and destroyed a lot of the habitat along the verges, leaving me despairing about the future of our wild plants and the insects, birds and mammals that inhabit this world alongside us.  

I read an article last week about scientists trying to discover why the insect world is sharply declining in numbers.  In my area the only decent habitat for insects is along the roadside verges.  The fields are predominantly a monoculture of ryegrass, with the sheep eating out the base of the hedges leaving little for wildlife to survive on.   When those horrible cutting machines come round they macerate all of the foliage, flowers, and insects. along with the mammals that don't move out of the way quickly enough.  The Orchids once again were destroyed before they had time to set seed, and a lot of the beautiful Meadowsweet was destroyed just as it was coming into bloom, along with many other flowers.  The bankings were smashed where the blades came too close and the homes of insects that lived in tiny burrows were destroyed.   When I first moved here there were lots of clumps of Orchids around the lanes, now there are very few of them, and at the rate the council are going soon there will be none.  Is there really no one within the scientific and environmental movements that can connect up the dots: we destroy their habitat and they decline.   I have tried discussing it with the council to no avail: it has always been done this way and will continue to be done this way.  What is it they say about there are none so blind as those that don't want to see?

Oh well, life goes on for some of us, and I am being blessed by visits from many Siskins.  Not sure whether there is a shortage of food for them elsewhere or whether the word has got round as to how useful I am. :-)

Garish Beauty - The Mullein Shargacucullia verbasci

I spotted this delightful caterpillar on one of my Buddleia plants.  I always find it suprising that such colourful caterpillars can have such drab parents - take a look here to see the dowdy brown adult: The Mullein  Some creatures just look too exotic for this country and this to me is definitely one of them. 

I am sorry not to have visited anyone's blogs this past couple of weeks but life got in the way of pleasure and I have had little time for photography or the internet.  I hope to be back to normal soon.

Still Visiting!

The Siskins are still gracing me with their presence and what a delight they are to see.    I have seen three males on the feeders at the same time, so I might possibly have more males than this visiting.  I have also seen two females on the feeder together, and two juveniles. 

I have hardly been on the net this week so I have had no chance to read blogs.  Hope you have all had a good week.  Will catch up with you all soon.

Any Idea What This Is?

The Dog Roses are now honouring the hedgerows with their beauty, and what a delight they are to view.   The insects are making the most of their presence, though what this caterpillar is I don't know.  Any suggestions are, as always, very welcome. :-)

Blogger has been playing up and refusing to let me comment, and making it difficult to post, so I am behind with peoples blogs as I lack the patience to struggle!    Hope you are all having this beautiful sunny weather that we are being blessed with.

Nature Can Be So Cruel

They are all dead, every last one of them.  It seems such a waste, and it makes me wonder about the futility of life.  I don't know what took them, whether it was birds or mammals, but it is irrelevant what it was: they are no more.  I know that in them dying, another life will have the opportunity to live on, and that is the way of nature, but I am still deeply saddened that their stay on this earth was so short.  They will live on in a few photos, photos that weren't even good, and they will live on in my memory, those little whirling dervishes.

She's Brought The Babes!

Once again I have been honoured by a wild Mallard bringing her tiny  ducklings to my pond.  I spotted them late this afternoon.  It is a sort of double edged sword having them here: they are so beautiful, but all of these birds are eating me out of house and home.  I ended up with around twenty-five Mallards visiting daily over the winter, after a Mallard successfully raised ten ducklings at my pond  last summer, and that group then joined up with another group.  I am slightly panicky as around half of those twenty-five were females: I hope they don't all think of a free meal for their babes and bring their ducklings here! I suspect that one other female will definitely bring them as she has been here almost continuously until around a week ago - she is probably now sitting on eggs.  Oh well, if I didn't spend the money on food for animals I suppose I would only waste it on that Canon 400mm DO lens that I so desperately want to get my hands on! :-) I am certainly looking forward to getting some decent photographs of the little blighters, that is if they will stay still long enough.  This evening they were racing around on the pond like clockwork toys, and from dozens of shots only a few were not completely blurred.

For those who didn't know me last year, you might like to read how the ducklings came to be here last summer.  This is the blog post I did then:

"I first heard it in the morning, in the distance, a distressed call, as though danger was close by.  The fields surrounding our land are laid down to barley, interspersed with pockets of impenetrable shrub land that would give good cover to a fox roaming in the light of day. I thought perhaps this might be the cause of the alarm, with the duck warning others of his close proximity, but as the hours passed by the call could still be heard, only it was getting closer and closer to my land.  If it was a duck in distress I knew that I would stand little chance of catching it unless it was completely immobile, and as the calls were coming closer and closer, this obviously wasn’t the case.  After lunch I headed off for a walk with the dogs, still wondering what was causing the commotion.

After a slow saunter I returned and got on with the afternoons round of work.  Suddenly I heard a commotion outside coming from the direction of the ducks area.  I dashed frantically outside to see what on earth was happening.  I could see all of my ducks sitting there peaceably and yet still there was the frantic quacking of a duck.  I raced round to the other side of the barn, and there, trying to get through the gate with eleven little ducklings, was a wild Mallard.  It just hadn’t occurred to me that it might be a duck moving her young, as it is quite late in the season and the weather has been so horrendous: not conducive to bringing forth new life into the world.  

If you follow my photostream on flickr you will have seen a recent photo of a duck that visits my pond every day, helping herself to the food that is always out there for the ducks and hens.  This duck, along with a couple of males, has been visiting almost daily for years, at least I think it is the same duck, as she shows little fear of me, and merely walks out of my way when I go out to replenish the food.  Of late she has only been visiting briefly a couple of times a day, so I really should have realized what was happening.  Her frantic calls must have been to encourage her ducklings to follow her on that mammoth journey, or at least a mammoth journey for such tiny new born creatures.   I opened the gate and the little family trotted off pond-wards.   At last there was silence and contentment.

For the rest of the day the mother and ducklings busied themselves at the pond and showed no signs of moving off to safer quarters.  As the evening progressed I started to worry about their welfare, as they would be totally vulnerable if they stayed in the same place overnight.   I don’t believe in interfering with nature, and I know that ducks have such large families due to the great rate of predation on the young, so I just had to hope for the best for them, and wish them well.  As night fell I visualized a protective sheet of gossamer falling over them, and I asked the Gods to see them safely through till morning.  

As dawn broke I awoke and immediately thought of them.  Would they have made it through the night?  Would they even still be there?  I needn’t have worried: there by the pond was mum and babes, happy and content, having survived to face another day at Natures mercy." 

A Rare Female Visitor

A female Siskin has now joined the two males that are visiting my feeders, and hopefully soon I might have some youngsters.  Other than the young sparrows, so far there have only been adult birds visiting the feeders, but I expect a rush of youngsters any day soon - she says with fingers crossed.  The forecast until Monday is for mainly sunshine, with gusting winds up to 30 miles an hour, so photographing them might be difficult.  Adult birds of all species are coming in increased numbers now, eating me out of house and home, as usually happens at this time of year: a mad rush of a few weeks and then as the youngsters disperse it quietens off again and my purse gives a sigh of relief! :-) This morning my poultry area looks like a scene from Alfred Hitchcock's Birds: the skies are black with Crows, Rooks and Jackdaws.  Pigeons and Doves are also appearing en masse.

Many thanks for your visits and comments.  I hope the sun shines on you over the next few days.

I Won't Be Popular!

Oh no!  I have nearly run out of sunflower seeds and my supplier won't have any in until Monday!  I will not be popular with my ever hungry Goldfinches!   I was told that they really prefer niger seeds, but having purchased two feeders, and a twenty-five kilo sack of them, I discovered that actually they will only eat them if the queue to the sunflower seeds is too long: another case of wildlife not reading the right books! :-)

The Goldfinches first started visiting me around two years ago, after having ignored my feeders for many years.  Since then they have taken over, with a flock of around thirty always present.  They are delightful to look at with their stunning plumage, but they are argumentative little devils who frighten off the more timid Blue Tits. 

Deeply Saddened

For some reason my Swallows have disappeared for the second year running.  They set about preparing an old nest, one that hadn't been used for at least ten years, lining it with fresh mud and then bedding, but for some reason have now abandoned it.

There don't seem to be many swallows around this year.  I remember a time when the skies were alive with their presence, but now I see very few.  It is deathly without their comings and goings, and I really miss the joy that they brought to the skies. 

At least the Sparrows that breed in my barn seem to be doing well.  This is a photo of a youngster that is making use of my feeders, along with several other youngsters. 

A Few Butterflies And Caterpillars

No idea what this is - any suggestions gratefully received. - ID Oak Eggar - many thanks to Dean. :-)

A beautiful Orange-tip on a Cuckoo Flower.

A Common Blue - I think! I always welcome corrections if I have identified anything incorrectly. :-)

A Wall Brown.  I do think the underneath is a lot prettier than the top of the wings with this butterfly.

An open view of an Orange-tip: such a beautiful butterfly.

No idea what these were. They were in the top of a Willow.  Anyone any ideas? ID Buff-tips - many thanks again to Dean. :-)

It is still chucking it down. :-(  One good thing about rain is that I get the chance to catch up on editing images and reading blogs. :-)  Many thanks for your visits and comments. :-)

Rare Visitor

These delightful little Siskins first started visiting my feeders last year.  I had two adults and a youngster for a short period of time over the summer months. They then disappeared, with no sight nor sound of them being seen until this past week, when once again they are coming to the feeders.  All I need now is for the wind to drop so that I can get a decent shot of them on a branch - there isn't a cat in hells chance of me doing it at the moment, as the branches are being whipped around by twenty mile an hour winds.

If this year follows the pattern of the last three, then summer has been and gone for another year: we are now back to cool, wet and windy, with the long term forecast saying that it is here for at least the next three weeks.  I hope your weather is better than mine and that the sun is shining on you.

It's Not Fair!! I missed them! I missed them!

I have new neighbours who are bird orientated, which makes a very pleasant change in an area where most people view birds with complete indifference or with malice.  Chatting to them yesterday I was asked if I had seen the Red Kites.  In shock I said no and asked where and when they had been seen.  "Last Friday." came the reply "They were over your house and fields for about half an hour. There were two of them."  I was stunned!  Not only had I missed them, but they had actually been seen above my house, not just in the area, and I missed them!  I have scanned the skies year after year in the hope of seeing Red Kites and when my eyes were averted the little B's come and visit!  

Do you know the poem:

"We have fallen in the dreams the ever-living
Breathe on the tarnished mirror of the world,
And then smooth out with ivory hands and sigh."

I often think of this poem, but instead of imagining the God's sighing, I think of them having an extremely good laugh at my expense: my neighbours seeing them, and telling me, is like the God's rubbing salt in the wound!

Oh well, hopefully they will come again and this time I will be looking in the right direction.  

As I can't show a photo of a Red Kite I will show a moth instead.  I think that this is a Silver-ground Carpet moth - id from a photo on Dean's blog - please correct me if I am wrong. 

Morning Has Broken....................

I actually took this photograph of an evening while sitting with the poultry, but on seeing it on the computer screen I was immediately taken back to childhood assemblies.  The school had a large easel, situated in the corner of the hall, that housed the song sheets for our morning hymns.  I used to love those sing-alongs, even though I was tone deaf and couldn't sing a correct note if I tried.  One of my favourite hymns, then and now, was Morning Has Broken.  It used to take me in my imagination out into the fields and woods where I longed to be, instead of having to spend a day in a stuffy classroom.  When I look back at all of those beautiful woods and fields of childhood, it saddens me deeply to think that many of them are now under roads, houses, factories or shops.

I spent today making the most of the beautiful sunny weather so I am once again behind with viewing blogs.  Many thanks for your visits and comments - I will catch up with you all soon.  Hope you are enjoying the same beautiful weather and will join me in song - probably more tunefully than me!

Morning has broken, like the first morning
Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird
Praise for the singing, praise for the morning
Praise for the springing fresh from the word

Sweet the rain's new fall, sunlit from heaven
Like the first dewfall, on the first grass
Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden
Sprung in completeness where his feet pass

Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning
Born of the one light, Eden saw play
Praise with elation, praise every morning
God's recreation of the new day

I'm Useful!

Of an evening I sit out with the poultry until it is time for bed, as I want them to enjoy as much daylight as possible, but don't want to leave them vulnerable to predators.  As I sit quietly wild birds come and make use of the poultry's food supply.  Meet a few of them:

Male House Sparrow

Female House Sparrow

This male and female mallard are regular visitors that have become very indifferent to mine and the dogs presence: they sense that we are no threat.  Perhaps this year the female might once again bring her ducklings and rear them at my pond. 

Snooze time.

While the female keeps an eye out for trouble.

A feral pigeon.  I get as many as 40 of these at times during the year.  At the moment only one is visiting.

This Rook was determined to have some seed, though he was very wary of my presence, and who can blame him as they are so horribly persecuted in this area.  I have picked many up over the years that have been left with terrible injuries from being shot at.

I get around 40 Collared Doves visiting during the winter but now I am down to around four.

And I shall sneak in one of my own handsome boys: a Rosecomb Bantam cross.

Many thanks for your visits and comments.  I am still catching up with everyone's great blogs.

Visting Again!

My beautiful Buzzard is once again coming for food now that the bird scarers are quiet.  This is a photo taken this evening.  Not a good one I know, but it is nice to have a record of his/her presence, and as I don't have a long lens this is likely to be the nearest I will get - the image is cropped. 

As soon as I saw the Buzzard, waiting on top of this hide that I have in the corner of my field, I put out some rabbit heads.  It frequently waits here if it can't spot me.  It also nearly always eats the food here.  I made this old building into a hide about two years ago, but sadly I have only managed to get a couple of shots of a bird from it due to the local magpies, crows, rooks and jackdaws taking tries and turns to stand on top and scream "'She's in here!  She's in here!  Stay away!  Stay away!"   I am wholeheartedly against shooting any bird, but even I have had murderous thoughts about them!

Life has gotten in the way over the past few days so I have had no time to read or write blogs.  Hope to catch up with you all soon.  Many thanks for your visits and comments.

Elusive Birds

I have been trying to photograph some of the local warblers, sadly without much success.  The birds round here seem, on the whole, to be rather camera shy.   This one Willow Warbler did very kindly pose for me, though it didn't believe in staying still for too long!  Now if I could just get those dastardly little Sedge Warblers, that seem far greater in number this year, to come out from amidst the branches and leaves! :-) 

I read in the local paper today that we have had the driest spring for 54 years.  I am already rooting out my waterproof gear ready for the backlash come summer, as somehow I don't think we will have the drought that they are forecasting!  Hope you are all warmer than we are here in cold and windy Wales.

All Fluffed Up!

It isn't only me that is all huddled up with this cold weather.  Looking at the forecast for the rest of the week it will stay just as cold, with the same biting wind.  Has summer been and gone for another year?

Chaotic day ahead of me again today, so little chance to catch up with blogs.  Many thanks for your visits and comments.

An Oasis

I usually find, tucked away, near the centre of each town, is a small oasis where peace and tranquility can be found, and one can commune with nature.  I spent a pleasant hour in such a place yesterday morning on a visit to Pwllheli. 

When entering Pwllheli from Caernarfon direction, take the left hand turn down at the side of the railway station.  Follow the road along for a short distance and you will come to parking bays at the side of the harbour, park here.  On the opposite side of the road to the harbour you will see a low wall; at each end of this low wall are a set of steps that lead down to a path along the edge of the a reedy area where the river flows into the harbour.  It is here that time can stand still, and you can enjoy the company of wild birds while the hustle and bustle of town goes on in the distance. 

Some photos from yesterday of the birds that are accustomed to human activity and therefore much easier to approach.

Blackbirds seem keen to have a good look at me this week: this little lady hopped into a bush at the side of me and watched me for some moments. 

This Jackdaw seemed very interested in the strange lady on the grass with the long lens pointing at him.

This delightful little Pied Wagtail was one of a pair that flitted continuously back and too along a stretch of piping that crosses near the bridge.

A selection of gorgeous Gulls.

And a wonderful Heron that was perched on the same pipeline as the Wagtail while looking for his next meal.

There were other water birds including Shelduck, but unfortunately I didn't have a long enough lens to get a photo of them. 

I had a very busy day yesterday, besides this lapse, and so I am still trying to catch up with blogs.  Many thanks for your visits and comments on mine.

Avian Encounters

I sat on the damp newly mown grass with my back to the hen hutch.  My collie sat on the wall at the edge of the poultry area, calmly and quietly surveying his territory.  My two lurchers lay to my right, dozing in the late evening sun.  A chill wind played around us as I watched the three-quarter moon rising above Mynydd Rhiw.  I was hoping for some photos of the Sparrows, and perhaps the Collared Doves that visit the hens food supply in large numbers.  The Doves tend to be very wary though, so I knew that a shot was probably unlikely, especially as the feeding area was not much more than 8 feet in front of me. 

A small shallow ditch which carries away the overflow from the duck pond, a ditch that is damp come winter and summer, lay between me and the food supply.  It was in this ditch that I spotted her, at the same time as she spotted me. 

She hesitated and stood alertly, assessing the situation, working out whether I was a danger, or insignificant. Thankfully she decided on the latter, and carried on her business of gathering a good supply of worms from the damp soil.   I couldn't believe my luck as she hopped closer and closer, totally engrossed in capturing worms.  She moved from in front of me and came over to my left.  I was sure she would startle and fly away, but even as I gently edged the camera and lens around towards her, she barely bothered.  By now she had gathered more wriggling soil covered worms.

She was a good Mummy, and decided that none of her brood were having mucky meals!  She turned, backtracked, and then went to the shallow area at the side of the pond.  Here she washed the worms thoroughly, and then flew away.  I thought that would be the last that I would see of her, but within minutes she was back.  This time she flew in from my left and watched me carefully as she hopped along the ditch, checking for more worms. 

She worked her way along the full length of the ditch, but no luck, not a one to be found.  She turned, stood  alertly on the top edge of the ditch, stared in my direction for long moments, and then was gone.  

Another precious few minutes in the company of Mother Nature: who needs a TV when you can have this?

P.S. I got rid of my TV over thirteen years ago and it was the best thing I ever did!