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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

daily delight, lymm UK, garden and nearby reports (1 Viewer)

i usually listen to music using good headphones to avoid annoying neighbours but had all my gear stolen last year so have not listened to much lately. i did play some jazz quietly yesterday with the french door open, a cool version of clapton's layla with some wynton marsalis trumpet. i looked up and four blackbirds flew over within minutes and sat on the fence by the door, close to one another. they didnt fuss at one another at all, just sat, cocked their heads and listened! very surreal.
 
the birdbath is only 18 inches across yet today was fun in the sun for the kids ...
young female sparrow, young dunnock, great tit and a slightly bossy blackbird all dipping and splashing together. all this year's birds.

the young female blackbird even drove off an adult male then jumped back in! i always recognise her as she has a short, almost white bib, she was number three from the blackbird's nest, her freckledy big sisters are quite lightly coloured but don't have her bib. her mother amuses me when after spending ten minutes wiping and catching three or four slugs from the dandelion patch she carries them together in her beak but still tries to pick up fallen sunflower seed.
 
i have previously mentioned a little bluetit who looks a bit strange because his feathers are a bit distorted. he seems to be made of a rough denim, not smooth feathers. he was back today, further transformed. his face area is blotched blue all over and he looks more like a little wookie. seems to survive ok though.

and i wont be too graphic for decorums sake but the dunnocks' sex behaviour is a bit weird. she is obviously aroused and flickering her tail really fast and presenting herself. but all he does is peck her there a few times and run away! been going on all arvo. maybe he doesnt fancy raising another brood after the first kids got kicked out of nest.
 
nothing happening all week, i hardly see a bird apart from locals sometimes dropping in for a sunflower seed or a drink. sometimes a woodie or a bunch of young sparrows or a blackbird. young great tit once or twice. that is it.
 
one of the male blackbirds has boldly decided three times to hop in and out a foot or so through the open french door! it is often open at least a few inches except in really bad weather as i am claustrophobic and it helps me.

i am not going to feed him but i wonder what he expects? he can see me seated nearby but doesnt react.

i had one day a few weeks back with some butterflies and bees but despite being seated with a view most of the time, i have seen very, very few since. the hawthorns seem to be developing berries though. we can only wait and trust and try not to despair thinking it is too late but surely the governments of the world are noticing this dearth of life? i hope they are.

i am hoping for rain, too. stress starting to show on trees, leaves sagging and some falling while green.
 
turns out the 'check out the house' blackbird is dad to a very rusty coloured fledgling. i have been watching him and mum feed the youngster every few minutes in the nearest tree, including unfortunately some white bread and cat food pellets from somewhere.

this 'dad' has also knocked 'scruff' out of the territory a few times but i know scruff raised his youngsters here earlier in the year and he may not have a second brood.
 
jape said:
View attachment 665217

dont sleep much so here is the hedgehog at 5.00 am today
Click to expand...

Hopefully going to bed! He would appreciate a bowl of water, and some ‘real’ hog food. I get Spike for mine. They also have a helio hog house (well two, one for food, one for nesting.). Make sure his access into and from your garden doesnt get overgrown or blocked and hopefully you will of more of these lovely visitors!


PS peak flying times vary for your garden butterflies, it’s not over yet!

http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/flighttimes_by_species.php
 
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Deb Burhinus said:
Hopefully going to bed! He would appreciate a bowl of water, and some ‘real’ hog food. I get Spike for mine. They also have a helio hog house (well two, one for food, one for nesting.). Make sure his access into and from your garden doesnt get overgrown or blocked and hopefully you will of more of these lovely visitors!


PS peak flying times vary for your garden butterflies, it’s not over yet!

http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/flighttimes_by_species.php
Click to expand...

thank you as always; he was just feet away from the ground level bird bath when i saw him. i hadn't heard of hog houses, will investigate, also the food if i can keep the birds from it
 
Here’s some reading for you too regarding your Dunnocks, I’m afraid they are not always quite the monogamous little lovebirds you might imagine!

https://scienceisnteverything.wordpress.com/2012/12/18/the-sex-life-of-dunnocks/

If you put out the hog food just before dark the birds won’t eat it. As you have cats, dried food is the best option and a makeshift feeding station that the cats cant get into - theres plenty of suggestions online if you google. x
 
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thank you. i should have swallowed my orange juice before i read that! exactly what i saw (and decided i may get censored for if i wrote it up in detail).

spike on its way soon. varies a lot in price but eBay has some decent offers
 
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scruffnmissusbathe.jpg

i like 'scruff'. he has lost most of his tail feathers and his missus has lost all of hers. he did fight the magpie too. today he stood guard while missus had a ten minute bathe. then two of the babes called by for a visit before all flying off. good family stuff and i don't want to know if behind the scenes they act like the dunnocks!
 
im not going to ask in the forum because i felt no-one believed in ny arctic redpoll!
just a few minutes ago a small robin sized bird landed on the branch above the feeder. 8 metres distance. it was facing away, brown unpatterned back. pale belly, dark legs. couldnt see head but thought it was lighter overall than the robin. grabbed binos and got a glimpse just as it flew off!

heres the thing, it turned its head just enough i saw it had a bright red beak .... goodness knows what it was, no sign of it since. 90% sure it wasnt something in the beak which was smaller than a finch seemed a slimmer beak. definitely not a mistaken goldfinch, it was beak not head. the feathers were plain and light. oh well.
 
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still cant find anything in ID books or online like that bird. another anomaly. it was just like a very pale robin with darkish tail, no red breast, but with a red bill.

first ladybird today, 12 spot. they must be around, i have seen two larvae, but like so much else, becoming rarer than ever before.
 
jape said:
first ladybird today, 12 spot. they must be around, i have seen two larvae, but like so much else, becoming rarer than ever before.
Click to expand...

Yes, it seems to be a particularly bad season for ladybirds. We had that very warm spell in February which woke them all up then a spell of heavy rain and snow which washed them all away. I’ve seen one ladybird since then and today just one larva. Meanwhile I have a major blight problem on most of my roses, fruit trees, shrubs and other plants, with Blackfly and Whitefly. Makes you realise the important role ladybirds play in controlling pests when you’re trying to garden organically (although I did resort to spraying the Camelelia with soapy water this evening!)

And I’ve just seen two hedgehogs around the feeding station, so someone's getting fed. Probably my regular nesting pair but no hoglets with them yet.
 
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a blackbird dropped a cherry earring on the lawn under the tree, you know, the double stalk that kids hang over their ears, or we did anyway. i didnt think cherries were out yet so someone is feeding them perhaps. it could explain the red beak on the pale bird, cherry skin. not what the bird was though. not a sparrow, dunnock, chaffinch - unpatterned back. reminiscent of the pale birds i couldnt identify months back? i will get there in the end, putting clues together lol.

some if the moderators here are real pricks. two faced, they remove innocuous remarks for no reason but ignorance and bias

i walked through the park to the canal, sun up above horizon a bit. plenty of trees, shrubs and weeds. saw one jackdaw, couple of blackbirds here and there, three or four flitting sparrows in sycamores. heard one wood pigeon. this is a mown park with a couple of copses, surrounded by mature trees and mature gardens with a canal, where are all the creatures?
 
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jape said:
i have previously mentioned a little bluetit who looks a bit strange because his feathers are a bit distorted. he seems to be made of a rough denim, not smooth feathers. he was back today, further transformed. his face area is blotched blue all over and he looks more like a little wookie. seems to survive ok though.

and i wont be too graphic for decorums sake but the dunnocks' sex behaviour is a bit weird. she is obviously aroused and flickering her tail really fast and presenting herself. but all he does is peck her there a few times and run away! been going on all arvo. maybe he doesnt fancy raising another brood after the first kids got kicked out of nest.
Click to expand...



Our adult Blue Tits are currently feeding their second brood so we have a garden full of yellow-ish goofy youngsters but the plumage of the adults is getting very worn and untidy. They work so hard bringing up two broods of about 6-8 youngsters each and they are working at first light to dusk. Must be a relief to get to moulting time for them.

Lee
 
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