The Garden Diary 2013

1 April - A quite bright day to start the month although the continuing north-easterlies (most of the time over 20mph) ensured that the maximum temperature of 6C felt quite a bit colder.

It was a family day so the only observations to record are from the monitored nest site. The male Blackbird visited just three times today, with the first being the longest. He arrived at 7.53am and stayed for three minutes, during which he rearranged a clump of straw three times.

He didn't return until 5.39pm (a very short visits of less than fifteen seconds) and then made his final inspection at 5.54pm, this time removing something when he left.

The female continues to head into the same spot in the conifers, although I haven't seen her collecting nesting materials over the last couple of days. I must assume that her nest must be complete now.

2 April - Despite the continuing cold winds, a day of mainly clear skies and bright sunshine helped the temperature to reach 8C this afternoon - Spring-like as long as you were out of the wind! The forecast for the weekend suggests that temperatures into double figures should finally be knocking at the door by the start of next week - fingers crossed.....

With the day again taken up with the family, just one note from the day -

There was just one visit to the nest site by the male blackbird today - at 7.58am, when he stayed for less than half a minute.

3 April - After yesterday's brightness, for much of today we were under a blanket of grey cloud. Even when the sun appeared occasionally in the afternoon the temperature failed to get above 4C, and the bitter north-easterlies continue (>20mph during the morning, and a bit less in the afternoon).

The only movement seen in the monitored site today was caused by the wind - no bird activity there, although both Blackbirds were seen frequently in the garden.

4 April - Nationally, the coldest April day for at least 20 years!

The temperature struggled up to 3C in the afternoon while the continuing north-easterlies made it feel more like -2C.

And for most of the day we had light snow falling. While most of it disappeared immediately on contact with the ground, there were periods when the caravan shelter roof  and areas of grass turned white!

There must be some concern for how local birds are coping -he feeders are quiet for much of the day. While there are still at least three Siskins making daily visits, I only see occasional visits by two or three Goldfinches, and I've not seen a Wren or a Coal tit for a few days now.

As for the Blackbirds, 'our' pair comes to feed often during the day. In fact I'm wondering if the female is here too often for a bird that should be sitting on eggs now, based on when I saw her taking away nesting materials. There were no visits to the monitored site again today.

5 April - Another cold, grey morning, with the temperature at 2C at 9.30am, the windchill making it feel more like -4C.

10 April - The last few days passed like a whirlwind as we devoted all our waking hours to our grandson - as usual, it was time well spent, so enjoyable, rewarding and shattering!

The weather is (very) gradually changing. We have had no frosts over the last couple of nights, although it is still cold. This morning the temperature started off at around 3C before hitting a high of 9C in the mid-afternoon, corresponding to a couple of brighter spells in what was otherwise a cloudy day. The cold winds have moderated, and today there has been a mainly south-easterly breeze of up to 10mph. Yesterday we had rain in the morning and evening, and this evening it is wet once more.

Over the last week I have been having a problem with the feed from the camera that is monitoring the (hopeful) Blackbird nest site, and there has been no picture at all over the last three days. Today was my first chance to track down the problem. Having tested various links both in the house and down at the birdbox I finally tracked the problem down to a corroded connection on our veranda.

That is now sorted, and while I haven't seen any activity there since the picture was restored this afternoon it is clear that there has been at least one visit over the last four days - the movement of straw couldn't have been produced by the breeze.

This morning there was a brief visit by this male Blackcap, the first seen here since last November, although we did have a female visit us in February.

A bit of good news about the female Great Tit that I was concerned about last month.

In this picture, taken on the 6th, it looks as though new feathers are growing around her eye, and otherwise she looks quite healthy.

And another encouraging sight has been the frequent appearance of a Dunnock around the feeding area after a long absence during the Winter.

I suspect that there are two of them but I need to confirm that.

I've been a bit surprised how slowly the sunflower feeder has emptied this last week. There are just s few Goldfinch regulars at the moment  (one was calling beautifully from the Hawthorn while I was on my knees fixing the bad connecting) and the Siskins still turn up. There were four here two days ago but just one female was seen today.

The Sparrows are once again gathering nesting materials after pausing during the cold spell, and today a pair of Starlings were busy collecting straw and twigs for their nest in one of the Swift boxes I put up for a neighbour.

Talking of Swifts, I read that the first early arrivals have been spotted in Belgium, and I have yet to make a start on the task of replacing the pair of up/down boxes at the front end our driveway - I really may have to leave that job until next year - disappointing...

11 April - An overcast, decidedly damp feeling morning - while it isn't raining, everything is wet outside after last night's rain - at least the ponds have been topped up! At noon the temperature was 8C, with virtually no breeze.

The Starlings continue to work on their nest, sometimes struggling to take into their box excessively long twigs, or delivering dried grass that I had collected last year and stored in a net bag ready for this moment.

Other than this activity, things continue to remain very quiet in the garden, with just a handful of birds feeding during the morning. There has been no sign of the Blackcap, and neither have I seen a Siskin, and even the Dunnocks have failed to show up. Just two Goldfinches visited the feeders before noon.

It wasn't until after 2pm that the Great Tits made their first visit to the feeders. The male clearly favours the Sunflower feeder while his partner prefers the chopped peanuts on the table.

This gave me the chance to get this new image that shows the progress made over the last five days as the new feathers develop around her left eye.

It will be interesting to see how much longer it takes before the crown of her head is back to 'normal'.

 This afternoon at 2.35pm the monitored nest had its first visitor since I sorted out the bad connection.

As you can see in these before/after images, quite a bit of straw was moved on the left side of the nest.

And the visitor was -

A Blue Tit that was collecting a length of straw to take away.

Clearly, it has started nest building - and it didn't even take a look into the box immediately below!

It's funny how the Blue Tits took no more interest in the box once it had been taken over by Great Tits, even when the latter species also decided not to use it.

12 April - Weatherwise it has been a really mixed day, with brief sunny periods between frequent, sometimes heavy showers, and even hail during one downpour. The rain was brought in by winds that swung round from southerly to westerly during the morning. That change also helped the temperature to rise above 10C by midday, reaching just a degree higher for much of the afternoon.

In the garden bird activity continues to remain at a low level. A measure of this is seen on the bird table. I usually need to put a small portion of chopped peanuts, chopped suet sticks and dried mealworms on it each day. However, while tonight the table is empty and I will need to put some on there tomorrow morning it will be the first time I've needed to do so for three days.

The Starlings have been busy collecting bits for their nest(s) and at the bottom of the garden a Blue Tit appeared on camera once more (10.46am) as it took away another bit of straw.

I had a few moments of optimism when I noticed that the straw in the Blue/Great Tit box was moved in the early afternoon  - the box had been visited!

However, rewinding the video recording soon showed that the visitor wasn't a bird but the first White-tailed Bumblebee that I've recorded in the garden so far this year.

No photograph I'm afraid but I can now confirm that there are at least two Dunnocks visiting the garden to feed. There were two of them under the hawthorn several times today.

13 April - A mostly dull day with a mainly southerly breeze, and with lots of showers and drizzle -  the temperature didn't get above 10C.

14 April - A much better Spring-like morning - bright and sunny, the temperature was already 13C by 8am and had reached 17C by noon. Unfortunately, the southerly breeze of the morning then swung round to the South-West, bringing clouds and a rain shower in mid afternoon as the temperature fell back to around 15C.

The warm, morning sunshine had some effect in the garden and I spotted the first buds opening on the Hawthorn.

As usual, these are on one of the lowest branches. Most buds are still nowhere near ready to open.

Down on the ground between the Hawthorn and the veranda the first Violet flowers have opened.

Below the Hawthorn the Wild Garlic plants are doing well. Perhaps the winter was just right for germination of their seeds, but it looks as though several dozen new plants are emerging in the area between the small pond and the veranda.

The male Blackcap hasn't returned since I photographed it on the 10th, but this morning this female visited the same apples, staying around for the best part of an hour before finally leaving the garden.

There has been no activity at the monitored nest site over the last two days, but I can confirm that a second pair of Starling are now nesting, in another one of the boxes put up for neighbours. In both cases the boxes were also used by Starlings last year.

Click on images to see larger versions