Garden Diaries

In between watching Wimbledon and doing work I keep an eye on the bird traffic outside and the behaviour of a young magpie who appeared out of the blue yesterday and since then has seem to taken a liking to our garden, convinced me to stop what I was doing and to write down what I was seeing.
We had many regular visits from the mother magpie for a while now and the mother seemed in a bad rather state, feather moulding, wings and tails not in top form, signs of a dedicated mother. But since yesterday a young magpie appeared on the top of one of our garden walls, squawking and demanding to be fed while his/her poor mother was carrying food to him and was trying at the same time to keep all the other big birds away (mainly the pesky jackdaws). The young magpie is quite big and at first sight it looks like an adult one and only in comparison to his mother you can see the difference.
But today he has become braver and decided to come along to where his mum is getting the food from, mostly our feeding wall, where he also discovered one of the water bowls which we keep full of water for the birds. Today of course is not a typical summer day and although is not pouring with rain yet it is pretty cold for this time of the year. But this silly young bird decided that he needed a dip in the bowl and first he started by dipping his feet, then his bottom and finally he dipped in completely emerging soaking wet, so wet that he actually scared away the jackdaws that they were eating near by at the time. I wish I could understand his reasons for doing so or that I had my camera at hand...if he wanted to get wet he could have easily just waited for the rain to start. What was the point of this cold shower this morning? Well I guess the fact that he is still quite young and inexperienced might explain it...Still the day is young and he might come back for another dip.

Well, today was a rather suprising day not only because of the amount of bird traffic we had in our garden - despite the constant downpour all day (poor people in Glanstobury) but also because of the sudden appearance of a young blackbird who reminds us a lot of the young one who we kinda looked after for a few days a couple of weeks ago. Of course it is quite probable that this is just another bird and we are just hoping but the fact remains that he hops around in the garden as the little one used to do, going to place he used to hide, comes close to the door and looks inside quite bravely and as my partner says he even tilts his head like the young one used to do. Could it be the same bird? If so why did it appear now after all this time and where had he been the past couple of weeks?
Of course we probably just hoping and expecting a behaviour from a small bird that birds usually do not exhibit but then again many migrant birds come again and again to the same place to nest and raise families. So who knows?

As for other birds there was great a good mix today, even blue teats who I hadn't seen for a few days hanging from the feeder as well as quite a few green finches (not as many as 10 as we used to see last month). All this rain perhaps has made it harder to find food anywhere else so they all came back where they know that there is food for certain. But let's hope that the weather will improve soon so we can finally get a bit of proper warm summer weather and the bird food doesn't get washed away as soon as you put it outside!!

Today after a few days of little bird activity in the garden there was quite a substantial number of feather visitors. We finally saw quite few greenfinches on the feeding wall and the feeder as well as jays, robins (which we hadn't seen for a while) black birds, magpie, the jackdaws...still, sparrows, etc and of ourse our what now it seems permanent garden resident the very loud male chaffinch. This one is becoming more and more one of the most vocal birds I've ever seen or heard since he seems to be singing/teeting/chirping non stop, allday, which makes you wonder how a little thing like that can be that vocal and loud all day without getting tired or getting a sore throat.

Although I'm not an expert on bed behaviour, I find it fascinating that birds like other known for being intelligent animals seem to be able to learn fairly quickly where there is food, who seems to provide them with food and in the case of this particularly chaffinch how to get the food from us when there isn't any left outside. On Thursday morning he was walking on the empty feeding wall after the night's downpour had washed away what ever bird food was left from the previous day and tweeting at the top of his voice till I finally got out and put some food on the wall.

This morning he appeared on the window sill hopping and chirping loudly till my other half got out and added some more food on the wall. Every day he seems to becoming cheekier, bravier and louder. Still he is very cute and more welcome than those jackdaws although I have a soft spot for one of them, the pirate one, the one who walks and hops on one leg. Unfortunately he never seems to come alone and the others will follow and cause havoc but I guess the fact that they are not coming as often is at least some kind of improvement.

Well the past two days we had a mixed kind of weather, one minute nice warm summer sun, the next lightning, thunder and downpour...British summer I guess. It is a petty though that the summer so far has been so unpredictable no sun friendly at all...maybe it has something to do with Glanstobury and Wimbledon??

The weather had also, it seems, an affect on the birds that they are regularly visiting our garden, with the exception of course of the jackdaws who will come raining or shine......The most regular are a couple of chaffinches and in particular the male who is currently the loudest of all the birds that they are around. He could have easily have won any bird singing competition. You will always see him either on the bird feeder or on the feeding wall, eating and chirping. He is one of the bravest little birds as well as he doesn't seem to be bothered by other big or small birds around. He is not only a great singer but also a very good looking bird, one of the prettiest finches I have seen so far.

Yesterday also we saw again after a few days of disappearance the mummy blackbird coming to our garden to feed like the old days, mostly before the sudden appearance of her little chick. Which of course brought to mind fond memories of that cute bird and questions of whether is still around and if so where about. I guess this is one thing that we'll probably never find out.


Today also it looks like a more promising day with a lot of sunshine and some more bird appearances including the shy jay. Also it hasn't been so bad with the jackdaws which they are seem to have reduced in numbers. Do I dare hope? Only time will tell!

Well there goes another day trying to shoo off those pesky jackdaws from our garden. As I said before I don't mind the occasional one or two (there is one which has only one leg and I will normally let him eat some of the bird food and bread) but it is the sheer number of them that they scoop down and it looks like a scene from Hitchcock's film 'The birds' that it is the problem...Now they have also become cheekier and bolder as they don't get discouraged or scared that easily. You will shoo them off and they won't leave first time around, they will just wait for the second try and even then they will stick around on the rooftops, trees and top of garden walls and they will just look at you, quite innocent like they are trying to say 'in human terms': 'What did we do wrong?' or 'We only want to eat...'. Let's stop right now trying to anthropomorphise them and start feeling sorry for them, they are stubborn and annoying and they are scaring the little ones...

On a more lighter note, when I went to the local shop for some light shopping earlier this afternoon on my way back I looked around on the nearby rooftops and I was suprised not to see not even one jackdaw flying by or sitting on any roof. Well, my suprise was cured when I got home and looked in my garden....there were all there gulping down any seed or piece of bread left from earlier....They were having a party while I was away. I wish there was an easy away to keep them away from my garden without having to stop putting food for the smaller ones. Even the occasional magpie that comes in our garden chases them off...I will say it one more time...these pesky jackdaws.

On the positive note I saw quite a few blue teats yesterday hanging from the feeder and on the little dead tree!

After the excitement with the appearance and disappearance of the young blackbird, the last few days have been rather quiet. We still get the normal amount of small and big birds to the feeder and bird wall although the number of blue and coal teats seems to have been reduced a lot the last three days. Perhaps this is because of the very unpredictable weather, too much rain for this time of the year.

The pesky jackdaws still come in big groups and they don't seem to get discouraged that easily. The moment you turn your back there are 15 or more on the wall feeding. It seems bizarre that they appear out of nowhere (the twilight zone???) all of the sudden and now they are mutliplying each day. They do not appear only on our garden but you can constantly hear them or seeing them wherever you are in the town.


I don't want to stop putting food for the birds on the wall as I want to keep encouraging medium size birds to visit our wall like the jays and blackbirds (now there is only one male blackbird that it comes to our garden although occasionally and late in the day I can still hear the mummy blackbird chirping quite loud and now and then appears on the little dead tree).

Oh well I guess we have to be as stubborn as they are and keep trying to keep them away from our garden! Pesky Jackdaws, they are quite stunning but very loud and far too many!

Finally, after 5 days, our little blackbird flew off, he managed to leave our garden and to venture into the real world. Of course we were both relieved and sad as we had got used to seeing him hoping and occasionally wing testing as well as loud chirping into our garden and admiring the dedication of his mum who was bringing him food endlessly and at the same always being there to protect him when she thought that he might been in some sort of trouble.


I've always liked birds and particularly hen chicks but in general I am a cat person and although I knew that bird parents can be really dedicated to their family, having seen it on TV and read or heard it I was more than surprised and amazed to watch such a dedicated mother taking sole care of her little chick.


So Thursday night was when the young blackbird finally left our garden (just after I finished writing here), after he spent the entire day in our garden, doing his normal things - mostly nothing - just waiting for his mum to come and feed him and occasionally pruning himself or pretending that he can fly. So we thought that we will have again to bring him inside for the night but as the previous night his mum stayed up quite late feeding him, even after we have taken him in for the night we decided to take him in a bit later than the previous night so we don't upset and worry his mum again unnecessary. So just before half nine we went out looking for him in his normal spot in the corner of our garden. But to our suprise he wasn't there anymore. Worrying and starting to panic a bit we started looking in every corner and under every plant possible in or garden trying in desperation to locate him. We were both hoping that he had just found another hiding place for the night as it was getting late and that he wasn't snatched by a cat or another predator while we weren't looking.

We searched for sometime and while we didn't want to stop searching we were running out of spaces to look and as the worst case scenario started looking more and more as the only logical explanation, suddenly my partner spotted him. It was the quiet chirping that he kept hearing that alerted him. The little rascal had managed, through flying and climbing I guess, to get to the top of our high garden wall where the greenery was. But as he looked more like he was just hanging dangerously there and he was just about to fall down anytime soon our first thought was that we might have to grab him and take him indoors after all. But when we got a bit too close he suddenly got a better grip on the wall and then he flew further away to a safer spot and away from the edge. All of the sudden he had flew off the safety of our garden and now he looked like a capable almost full grown small blackbird.


Although we felt a bit sad and we were still worrying that he might end up becoming a cat's late night snack we had no choice but to leave him there and finally let the nature takes her course. We had done our bit and now it was up to him to look after himself. So reluctantly we went back inside with an empty nest box sad but at the same time quite relieved that we didn't have to keep looking up for the little bird every ten minutes to make sure that he is safe or having to get up at really early stupid hours in the morning to let him out so his mum can feeding him. Of course since bad habits are quite hard to get rid of we ended up that night keep going out and looking out for him as we were still worrying that he might fall off from where he was hiding back to our garden.

But he did manage to survive the night and to make a quick appearance the following morning on one of the branches of the small tree that is hanging above our garden before he totally disappeared into the wild world later on. Needless to say that we spent most of Friday keep looking into our garden and hoping to see him once more into his favourite spot. We haven't seeing him since but we have spotted his mum as she still comes to our garden for food, along with another male blackbird and of course the many small birds that are visiting constantly our bird feeding wall.

I still find fascinating the fact that the smaller birds like finches, tits, robins, sparrows, etc are so much braver than the bigger ones like collar doves, crows, magpies, etc as they don't seem to mind us when we are out and about as much and even to wait on the branches above till I have finished refilling their feeding stations and then to scoop down to be fed. While bigger sized birds like jackdaws and collar doves seem to be really nervous and very weary of us, which I guess is a good thing since we get a lot of these pesky jackdaws who they do eat a lot and scare the smaller ones.


Here is the last photo of our little blackbird chick, he was so cute!

Well, it is the 5th day since the little blackbird appeared and he is still hoping and chirping in our garden and now he looks more and more like a 'proper' blackbird. This morning, which I admit it was a bit later than normal - around half seven - he quickly flew off from his nest box as soon as I took it outside but he flew quite a long distance as well as height. The problem with our garden is that is well protected with high walls which it makes difficult for a young fledged bird to fly off as we are at the bottom of a small hill with a churchyard with many trees just above which might explain how the blackbird ended in our garden, he probably fell off from somewhere above where the trees are. Today I've also ventured in the churchyard above and saw the greenery where the ladybird mum tends to disappear and appear from. It could easily have been a nest upthere as it is well protected and hidden from at least two sides.

Anyway today I was a bit worried as last night we took inside the blackbird chick slight earlier than normal as it was a bit too cold and rainy and the mum did come back to feed him a bit later while he was already indoors in his nest-box. But thankfully she is always being around so this morning as soon as he started chirping when he was out, quite loud for his size, she soon appeared and started feeding him. So he has being fed quite a lot again today although it seems like his mum is trying to coach him to try and fly off. He has tried though but still his wings don't seem to be strong enough to allow him to fly over our high walls. So it seems that he will spend another day indoors although tonight we are planning to take him inside a bit later than usual or at least than the previous night.
Although we have enjoyed the experience of being foster parents to this little blackbird we will be glad when he finally flies off as it has being really hard work keeping big birds like jackdaws (which at times they seem to come in groups of 15 to eat at our bird wall and they do eat a lot and make a lot of noise which scares the little ones) or the two jays and especially the neighbouring two cats who occasionally visit our garden, particularly at night (which was the main reason that we decided to interfere with the little blackbird). One of the cats appeared today early in the afternoon on the wall above where the chick was and we got a big scare but fortunately he didn't seem to notice the small bird or he wasn't brave enough to jump from that high wall!


As for the other birds today we had visiting our feeding wall the normal ones, finches, wood pigeons, blue teats and a great teat on the feeder, the shy small dunnock, the very noisy chuffins (male and female) and of course our little dormouse which appears from the one of the holes in the garden wall and goes to the bird table (wall in our case) and nibbles on the seeds and nuts. He used to appear early in the morning but the last couple of days he has become a bit braver and appears during the day to get some nuts and nibble to some leaves near by his hole. Very cute.

Still our little blackbird chick shows no signs of being able to fly away and leave the safety of our garden. Again this morning we got up before 5 in the morning to let him out as his mother was calling him. There were no traumas this time, no other birds around like yesterday for his mum to chase away although the chick wasn't so keen as the previous day to leave the comfort and safety of his new warm and cosy nest-box.

Eventually after quite a bit of encouragement from his mum and a little pushing from us (we kinda tipped a bit the box) he finally flew, yes indeed flew out of the box. His mum soon followed and she started again feeding him straight away. There is a particular corner in the garden which he seems to prefer and practising his flying which is the most protected spot in the entire garden especially today which was raining since lunch time. Fortunately it didn't turn to a flood and he managed to stay fairly dry for the rest of the day. His mum also spent quite a lot of time today feeding him more than yesterday and even trying to emcourage him to fly or climb the wall in our garden. It might be that the nest from where he might have fledged was just above that wall in the greenery as this is from where his mum seems to appear quite often.
We were hoping that he will finally fly off today but it seems that he will have to spend another night indoors, which he doesn't seem to bother that much. Even his mum doesn't seem to mind us being near to her chick and she carries on with feeding while we are watching close by.

Along with the usual birds that they come to the wall to be fed, which includes a lot of blue and great tits, finches, chuffins, black birds, wood pigeons, robins, the cheeky jackdaws which they don't take notice of us or the mum blackbird, a couple of really shy jays, etc, today I've also spotted a rather shy dunnock, very cute. The blue tits are generally extremely bold and seemingly unafraid of us while they are carrying big chunks of bread with them. But of course the mummy blackbird now is in charge of our garden and she is only allowing the birds that she likes to come and eat.
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Our little blackbird chick still can't fly after three days since he appeared in our garden. He has spent the past couple of nights indoors as leaving him outside is not an option due to different predators that seem to visit our garden at night(mostly neighbouring cats. But this does not seem to have any affect on his relation with his mother who still feeds him constantly. I was a bit worried this morning as I put him outside a bit late but thankfully his mum was more than pleased to see himr even if it was later than normal. It is also getting a bit chillier the last couple of nights for a small bird to be on his own. Hopefully his flying ability would get better tomorrow as he seems quite capable of flying quite a bit now.

The blue tits seem to also enjoy bit chunks of bread, some quite big for their own size, bread which was originally left for the blackbird mother which she seems to like it quite a lot...

As the weather finally changed for the better more new birds appeared on the bird table or wall in our as we call it in our garden. One of them, the youngest of them all, is this blackbird chick that is still being fed by his mother. Still unable to fly he merrily chirps and hops in our garden. Although we don't want to interfere with nature we have 'sort of' adopted it by making sure that is not being disturbed by other birds and possible predators and taking in during the night for his own safety. Despite all warnings of not interfering with young birds as their parents will look after them, our intervention has not caused any problems with the young bird's and mother relation. Which kinda make you wonder how much all these 'experts' on TV they really know!!