The willow warblers have fledged

Three healthy chicks.

They were nesting in the hedge on the top tier and fledged on to the willows by the compost bin.

Cute little brown birds.

Under the clouds

It has rained A LOT….and that is all I am going to say about that.

There were a couple of sunny days in April and May. I have the photos to prove it.

The wild flowers bloomed,

particularly the cuckoo flower which I left last year to self seed all over midge farm because……

…..it brings in these beauties.

My collared dove with the partial albinism has found a partner this year.

A pair of willow warblers are visiting for the first time. They are nesting either in the garden or very close by as I see them collecting insects all day long.

Midge farm has got jungle fever in the rain.

The birds have got a new bird table which they use mainly as an umbrella,

and I have got a new rhodie which produced these lovely, girly, pink bells.

Two years after they were planted the verbascums are finally establishing and putting on a show.

My lovely song thrushes have also established and produced at least one healthy fledgling.

The gold finches have produced two, although they do look more like drowned rats than fluffy baby birds.

Speaking of rodents, the mouse is back but very much a fair weather visitor, I don’t think she likes getting her fur wet.

She would never have dared to sit on the step like this when old fatso was around.

And finally, my new toy, a butterfly feeder, with its first visitor, a hungry red admiral who sat and fed for at least five minutes. I have my fingers crossed that there will be many more over the summer.

Small Pleasures

A beautiful sunrise on a frosty morning this week.

Long tailed tits in the garden. I’ve seen them in the woods behind the house but this is the first time they have visited the garden. They’re tiny birds but full of character. They travel in family groups and constantly chirp and tweet to each other. A pleasure and privilege to see and hear in the garden.

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The RSPB site describes long tailed tits as little balls on sticks, but I have never seen a bird look more like a feathered ball than this goldcrest. He was scurrying up and down some conifers behind the house. Goldcrests compete with firecrests for the title of Britain’s smallest bird, neither of them weighs more than the equivalent of five paper clips.

This little fellow had fluffed his feathers out until he looked like a puffer fish but he wasn’t sick, just cold. It’s difficult to keep warm when you’re so small. It had been a freezing night and there were still patches of ice in the woods were the sun couldn’t penetrate. I know he wasn’t sick because he was so active, he bounced about the tree like a hyperactive ping-pong ball. I took 23 shots and he was only vaguely in focus in three of them, in the others he was either a blur or a handful of tail feathers disappearing into the greenery.

I have lots of photos of birds bottoms, they are the most uncooperative subjects. Another tiny bird I regularly see, who refuses to stay still is the wren. He is constantly on the move, searching for insects, and ignores all my pleas to pose for the camera.

But bird bottoms are better than no bottoms. What a pleasure to know these three tiny species, who are so vulnerable to prolonged cold weather, all survived the harsh December. Temperatures are still regularly sinking below zero at night, but there’s a lift in the air during the day heralding Spring. The birds have started to sing their hearts out, competing for territory, the evenings are lighter and the catkins are out. Spring is coming.

And I have used the last of 2010’s vegetables. This pumpkin has been sitting in the dining room since October while I wondered what to do with it, never having grown pumpkins before. I ran out of veg this week and decided to try pumpkin soup. YUM. So simple, so low in calories and so good. I softened some onions in fry lite (I’m on a diet so olive oil is not allowed but would be better) bunged in some chicken stock (from a bottle), hot water and the pumpkin in large chunks, a hefty pinch of nutmeg and masses of fresh ground pepper. Cooked until the pumpkin was soft (~30 mins) and then whizzed the whole thing with a hand zapper. It had a luxurious, smooth, creamy texture without the calories of added cream. A perfectly pleasurable Winter soup. If I had another pumpkin I think it would use a mix of cumin and chilli powder rather than nutmeg. I will definitely be growing more pumpkins this year to experiment with the other spices.

January

A Happy New Year to all, including my poor birds who had to put up with another fall of snow yesterday. Then their breakfast was late and I practically had Mrs Blackbird tapping on the kitchen window in her impatience.

The thrush wasn’t far behind her, he’s cold and hungry and has lost his habitual shyness.

In fact there are now regularly two thrushes in the garden but I can’t tell them apart.

Hundreds of chaffinches.

I tried to count them but couldn’t so did a block count and scaled up across the garden.

The bramblings are still about. Mrs is shy and hangs back in the shrubs,

but Mr gets stuck right in.

I went for a walk up the hill this afternoon, the footprints showed many people had the same idea,

but they tailed off as I went further up, until eventually there was just me and what looked like the prints of a pogo-ing sheep.

It was beautiful still day. A lot of the pine trees have been felled recently, leaving stands of tall larch lone against the skyline.

High in these I could hear excited bird calls. Long tailed tits! At the absolute limit of my camera zoom but recognisable.

Then amongst the cheeping tits a flash of bright red and yellow… bigger, bulkier, acrobatic birds… parrots in snowy Scotland? No, cross bills! The first I have ever seen, feeding on the larch cones.

The boys are red and the girls are yellow/green. Both a welcome splash of colour in our monochrome landscape.

Snowbirds

We got our share of snow this week. Last Sunday Midge Farm looked like this:

It felt odd taking these shots with no tortie shadow hopping along in my footprints, mithering endlessly about how Cold She Is and Why Are We Outside Anyway? and Isn’t It Time to Put More Cat Food Out?

The garden wasn’t empty though. The birds monitored my every move with pretty much the same attitude as Smudge i.e. what are you doing out here and where’s the food?

It didn’t take them long to empty all the seed feeders once I went back inside. Then they sat around tapping their claws and “tsking” until I came out and filled them again.

They’re going through seed at a phenomenal rate. I’m filling the feeders three times a day plus putting out peanut cake and fat balls. Expensive but rewarding because the harsh weather has again brought unusual visitors to the garden. Last year Thor the viking field fare arrived. This year I have had bramblings for the first time. These are much shyer, quieter visitors than Thor and a pleasure to watch in amongst the chaffinches and sparrows. I have two males and a female.

This is one of the Mister Brambles, he has much bolder colouring than the Mrs who is a more subtle creature.

And here is Mrs Bramble, who seemed a sweet, shy little bird, hungry but easily bullied by the others.

I could get used to snow if it brings such pretty things to Midge Farm.