digi-birder
Well-known member
My original post was lost in the crash a few weeks ago, so I thought I would resurrect it, in case anyone wants to see how our wildlife garden (hopefully) develops over the coming months.
As some of you know, we recently moved into a brand new house (November 2004) and, even though the garden was still just an expanse of bare soil, we were hoping to get some birds visiting.
We put some feeders up, but no birds came to them, despite a few species being seen in the hedge of an established garden over the bottom fence. We had a Wren visit the shrubs in pots near the patio once or twice and a Blackbird came and cleared up some old bread we put out, but that was about it.
One day in January, when we'd seen the garden in daylight for the first time in a week (as it was dark when we left for work and dark when we arrived home), I looked down to the feeders and was about to turn away when I noticed a bird's tail sticking out from the other side of the niger feeder. Then a bird flew down from the bottom boundary fence, and then another till soon there were five Goldfinches feeding. Then I noticed something moving on the ground and there were a couple of Greenfinches! Excitement followed and I ran for the binoculars.
As we were having breakfast and watching the feeders I noticed a Great Tit come for the sunflower seeds and a little while later a Blue Tit flew in and grabbed some and flew back into the other garden to eat in the safety of the bushes.
Then, as a Blackbird and several more Greenfinches were mopping up the spills under the feeders, a Robin popped down to pick up some bits.
So, five new species in a day, bringing the garden list to 7. I have seen House Sparrows and Starlings around and a Mistle Thrush defends a holly bush in the adjoining garden. I think I saw a Dunnock on a nearby roof and there are Collared Doves and Wood Pigeons around. Crows and Jackdaws fly over. That would be pretty much the same as we used to get in the garden where we used to live, except for the Mistle Thrush - we never had those.
On 30th January 2005 we spotted a Dunnock in the garden, bringing the garden list total to 8
We went out and measured the garden and started to make some preliminary plans. The photos illustrate what the garden looked like at that time, and I will insert more as time goes on to show how the garden develops over the next few months. One is taken from an upstairs window (it's a three storey house) and the other from the kitchen door.
The length of the garden to the far right point is about 20 meters from the back wall of the house and the left side is 15m. In the original plan, before the house was even started, our garden ran all the way down to the brick wall, but the builders decided to give a bit of what would have been our garden to the house backing onto ours, making ours and the garden next door this shape. A bit annoying really.
We brought quite a few plants and shrubs with us in pots from the old house, so we already have some greenery in the garden. Some of these will soon be taken out of the pots and planted directly in the ground.
As some of you know, we recently moved into a brand new house (November 2004) and, even though the garden was still just an expanse of bare soil, we were hoping to get some birds visiting.
We put some feeders up, but no birds came to them, despite a few species being seen in the hedge of an established garden over the bottom fence. We had a Wren visit the shrubs in pots near the patio once or twice and a Blackbird came and cleared up some old bread we put out, but that was about it.
One day in January, when we'd seen the garden in daylight for the first time in a week (as it was dark when we left for work and dark when we arrived home), I looked down to the feeders and was about to turn away when I noticed a bird's tail sticking out from the other side of the niger feeder. Then a bird flew down from the bottom boundary fence, and then another till soon there were five Goldfinches feeding. Then I noticed something moving on the ground and there were a couple of Greenfinches! Excitement followed and I ran for the binoculars.
As we were having breakfast and watching the feeders I noticed a Great Tit come for the sunflower seeds and a little while later a Blue Tit flew in and grabbed some and flew back into the other garden to eat in the safety of the bushes.
Then, as a Blackbird and several more Greenfinches were mopping up the spills under the feeders, a Robin popped down to pick up some bits.
So, five new species in a day, bringing the garden list to 7. I have seen House Sparrows and Starlings around and a Mistle Thrush defends a holly bush in the adjoining garden. I think I saw a Dunnock on a nearby roof and there are Collared Doves and Wood Pigeons around. Crows and Jackdaws fly over. That would be pretty much the same as we used to get in the garden where we used to live, except for the Mistle Thrush - we never had those.
On 30th January 2005 we spotted a Dunnock in the garden, bringing the garden list total to 8
We went out and measured the garden and started to make some preliminary plans. The photos illustrate what the garden looked like at that time, and I will insert more as time goes on to show how the garden develops over the next few months. One is taken from an upstairs window (it's a three storey house) and the other from the kitchen door.
The length of the garden to the far right point is about 20 meters from the back wall of the house and the left side is 15m. In the original plan, before the house was even started, our garden ran all the way down to the brick wall, but the builders decided to give a bit of what would have been our garden to the house backing onto ours, making ours and the garden next door this shape. A bit annoying really.
We brought quite a few plants and shrubs with us in pots from the old house, so we already have some greenery in the garden. Some of these will soon be taken out of the pots and planted directly in the ground.