Thursdays favourite birds (and they're not chickens)

(photo via RSPB)


I've ditched the plant today (but I will be back later with it)
Now I live out deep in the sticks and I'm surrounded by loads of different habitats so I get to see a vast array of different species. The Birds that appear in my garden vary throughout the year in fact if I had no idea of what month or season it was I could tell just by whats hanging off the feeders.

I have my desk by the window looking out onto my huge buddleja globosa where I've hung a massive peanut feeder and right now as I type I can see a gorgeous Nuthatch upside down pecking out a nut and 4 Blue tits waiting on the Branch's for the Nuthatch to vacate, now hes gone and before the blue tits could even blink a great tit and a coal tit have swooped in. I love coal tits when I was little I used to call them badgers because of the little stripe down the back of their heads. Over in the field across the road I can see a small bunch of mallards dabbling in the flooded puddles and a few rooks in the old oak trees. In the back garden I can hear the shrill little call of a marsh tit the amazing huge song of a little tiny Wren(and the dulcet tones of tallulah who I'm guessing is laying an egg). There is my little robin with the white spot on his neck pecking at a fallen apple from the bird table, a couple of dunnocks hopping around in the flower beds. On Monday the Goldfinch's came back to the niger seed feeder telling me they have exhausted all the thistle and teasels in my field. See this is wear the seasonality comes in, I've been watching them all summer in the fields but the only appear in the garden in November and then drift of in June. I haven't seen any long tailed titsyet but they tend to turn up at the beginning of December. I hear their beautiful chattering voices first then suddenly the fat balls are covered in a flock of about 10 or more. I love long tailed tits they look like fat fluffy lollipops.
There are tons of Jays screeching out of the woods and yesterday I saw a green wood pecker sat in my cherry tree. Blackbirds and thrush's are stripping my neighbours rowan tree for all they are worth and then popping into mine for apples. The pheasants are drifting out of the woods and eyeing up my hens again. maybe soon the Canada geese pair might return to the river although they might have to shift up the Teal who have taken up temporary residence.
Over in the field its birdwatching heaven. Every morning when I go to let the chickens out I disturb a gang of field fares feasting on the hawthorns in the hedgerow and in the evening their numbers have multiplied and they've been joined by Blackbirds and Mistle Thrushes. I often catch a Tawney owl leaving her nest high up in the old beech tree and close the gate to the sounds of her and her mate calling to each other to begin the hunt. I then hear them all evening flitting between the woods on the left of my back garden and the fields beyond.

Ohh there is a big fat male sparrow just landed on the buddleja which reminds me I better put out some seed on the hanging table. I swear all the feathered and furred creatures eat better than I do, my husbands even been setting the (humane) mousetraps with my nutella (every autumn we get little wood mice creeping in through the gaps in the bricks and beams to feast on anything they can find, last year hubby hid my chocolate advent calender under the sofa, upon pulling it out on the 1st the cheeky mice had nibbled the 1st, 5th and 24th. Its not an infestation just a few opportunists, but I think the dog invites them in as I've found dropping in his bed!!!!)

When the new year kicks in I've got new vistors to look forward too like the Bullfinchs, linnetsand if I'm lucky a few scant Hawfinchs eating the new buds on the birch trees. Then when summer comes back swallows and swifts gliding over the fields and river, warblers singing in the long grass and if I'm really really lucky I might get a Pied flycatcher nesting in my bird box again.

I really must go and chuck some seed about as I think they are trying to recreate a feathered version of the battle of britain outside my window.

jess x

Birds with peoples names and courgettes a go-go

I thought you might like to see the view from my lounge window (there is a road in front of the field but its not very pretty to include) and this is the view I get to look at when I'm doing the dishes.
if you click on the picture you can get a better view of Tommy (all buzzards are now know as Tommy in my house, all male pheasants are called charlie).

Now as promised ages ago here are some before and after pics of my veg plot.


Before (taken about the end of April)



After (taken Sunday morning)

I've spoken briefly before about the slice of ground my mum gave my when she moved cottages earlier this year. Digging it over was a nightmare as it had a huge rigid swimming pool sat on it (on top of 5 layers or weed membrane, 5 inches of sand and paving slabs) the husband worked out that there was about 100 tonnes of water pressing down on it!! So after back breaking digging and lots of bags of muck and manure I'm really pleased with it. Ok now the observant of you might note the explosion of courgette plants and indeed that is far too many plants to put in a space that size but what the heck. When I got the chance to sow seeds and plant it up I went a bit crazy. Next year will be planned with military precision I'm already sketching plans and browsing seed catalogues.

So what have a got well the Red duke of york potatoes have been lifted and replaced with a green manure the late board beans did ok and will be replaced with some spring cabbage (when I sow it) there's a block of celeriac, a row of leeks. A block of sweetcorn a tiny row of dill, a row of kale and swiss chard and 4 courgette plants, a marrow a mini pumpkin, a summer squash and a butternut squash that popped up from the compost. None of my runner beans or french beans germinated but that's no loss as there was no space for them and I'm bartering eggs for beans with a few friends and my next door neighbour.

Thursdays fave will have to wait till tomorrow as I have a courgette that needs to be turned into a chocolate cake but not until I've had a cup of tea and watched the baby birds (still unnamed but now known collectively as the cheepy cheepies) playing on the lawn and being gorgeously adorable.

bye bye babies

Just a quick post to say that my sparrow chicks have gone, they fledged on Friday.

It's now very quite in the wall no more cheeping.

Although they were getting very loud in the last few days I kinda miss their chatter.

Good luck babies

xx

Thursdays favourite plant

Choosing just 1 plant is proving to be difficult so at times I might be indulgent and have a few.
So I have a bit of a woodland feel here today.

First up I have the gorgeous English bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta)



I'm really lucky to live near woods that are absolutely carpeted with bluebells in the spring, to me they epitomise an english spring. I don't think I need to say how lovely they are. Obviously they are protected by law in the wild but you can buy seed and nursery grown bulbs here and here
One thing with bluebells is to watch out for the Spanish ones (Hyacinthoides hispanica). These invaders cross pollinate with the natives and take over. It's quite easy to tell the difference the spanish bluebell is larger with a straight stem, bigger paler flowers, and no scent.

Solomon seal (polygonatum x hybridum)



I adore these plants, they're so graceful with their aching stems and green tipped white bells dangling under the leaves. It related to lily-of-the-valley and grows in woodlands (another native wood lander). There are a few different varieties of these(the "multiflorum" being the native)such as a variegated one and a bronze one that I saw at the chelsea flower show last year called "bethberg" that I'd love but have never been able to find. The name Solomon seal comes from notion that if you slice the rhizomes (thick root stock) you can see shapes and markings that resemble Hebrew script.
Polygonatums are really easy to grow but watch out for Solomon seal sawfly.These little swines will strip the leaves bare if they can, I pick the caterpillars of as soon as I see them and feed them to the chickens.

Bleeding hearts / dutchmens breeches (Dicentra spectabilis)



These babies originate from china and like a bit of shade and nice rich soil. They have such pretty heart shaped flowers, I love the pink ones but there's also a white variety as well.

All three of these plants look really good all planted together, and as a bonus they all like the same conditions.


One last thing don't forget to keep feeding the birds, It used to be said that birds only needed feeding in the winter months when food is scarce, but with all the rushing around they're doing catching bugs and flys for the babies, having a nice fat ball to grab a quick snack from will keep their energy up, but don't put whole peanuts out in case they try to feed them to the little ones, it'll make them choke.

jess x

More seed sowing

So I'm busy busy busy in the garden right now, I'm pleased to say that I've pricked out and potted on all the baby seedlings, only for the flipping slugs (or snails) to come along and nibble all the lettuce and basil seedlings, thankfully that's all they seem to have eaten so far (fingers crossed x).
So I've sown more of the above and started on the may seed sowing. I try to be organised with my seeds I have an old small drawer that they live in with dividers for each month, anything that needs repeat sowing like beetroot or rocket can be moved up the drawer for it's next sowing.
Today I've sown courgette seeds I've chosen a yellow and a green one, a small tricolor ball shaped one, and a climber called black forest. I've also sown some pumpkin (jack be little), Marrow (not quite sure why I've sown that) and some gherkins. On the flower front I've sown some nasturtiums and moulin rouge sunflowers.
Because of lack of space and the fact that the courtyard looks like a seedlings waiting room I tend not to worry about later sowings, they all seem to catch up.
Next week I'll start on beans.

Talking of beans (and peas) so far I seem to having bad luck with them, first all the broad beans I did last autumn all rotted off at the base in February, then my spring sowing got eaten my mice so I've succumbed to buying baby beans from the garden centre, something I don't like to do but they were only 20p each I also had to buy some peas for my raised bed only a few though as only 6 have germinated and I need to plug the gaps.

I'm also getting excited for two of my favourite events coming up in a few weeks, firstly It's the chelsea flower show , and for something closer to home, the wonderful Devon county show, I love the county show can't wait.

Ohh some breaking news, so the swallows arrived about a month ago (summers here almost?!)and yesterday not only did I see a swift but I also heard a cuckoo.
And an update on the sparrows, well as I type I can hear the chicks squeaking in the wall behind me.

love jess xx

I want to live in this house

How much do I love this advert.

more birds

following on from my last post I thought I' write a list of the birds I get in the garden or I can see from the garden

in the garden

blackbirds

song thrushs

robins

blue tits

great tits

coal tits

long tailed tits (cute little fluffy lollipops)

marsh tits

goldfinchs

greenfinchs

bullfinchs

chaffinchs

dunnocks

wrens

nut hatch

pied wagtails

a single male pheasant ( i think he fancies my chickens)

jays

spotted woodpeckers

wood pigeons

tawny owls (only at night though)

sparrows (very exciting)

from the garden

buzzards

barn owls (sometimes, ok heard rather than seen but still)

canada geese

coots

moorhens

ducks

dippers

kingfishers (only if you point the binoculars at a certain point on the river)

goosander

phew I think that's it, bill oddie would be proud.

happiness is a noisy little brown bird

I got woken up really early today by my puppy, (somebody didn't shut the door properly last night) after sorting him out and then getting back into bed I was then kept awake by bird tweeting outside the bedroom window, really noisy birds who wouldn't stop tweeting so I got up.
whilst making a cup of tea the flipping scratching in the wall started up
(ok so I live in an old cottage with eaves and beams and old brickwork and over the winter we've had cheeky little wood mice coming in and living in the walls)
So fast forward half and hour or so and I'm siting in the kitchen watching the birds feeding in the garden and i see this unusual brown and grey bird hanging of the peanuts, then another and another .
Sparrows in my garden
ok so to most people that wouldn't be that exciting but in the two years I've lived here I've never seen a sparrow, ducks yes, barn owls sometimes, a family of buzzards that sit on the fence posts all the time (and many other birds that you don't often see in most gardens), but never sparrows. Anyway they were the culprits tweeting outside the window and hopefully making the noise in the wall under the eaves.

If your wondering why I' so excited it's because in the last few years the once common sparrow has been on the decline, I only ever see them in towns and villages never this far out in the sticks. Also it makes me happy to think that this little troop of birds likes the look of my garden and wants to make their home in my brickwork