It has been a very cold and snowy weekend and, with lots of desk-based work to do, I am always glad of all my live cameras! Being able to watch all my cameras from my desk makes work much easier!
The RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch is always something I look forward to! I love the fact that this Citizen Science Project can attract so many to spend time watching the birds in their garden. For me, it is something I do on a daily basis…. in fact I cannot imagine not being able to watch birds feeding here; it is a bit of an obsession with me!
Next weekend, I will be attempting to screen capture a shot of every species that visits the garden in a day. I am hoping some of my more ‘special’ visitors will pop in. With several feeding stations set up and cameras on most of them, I usually get to note just about everything that visits. If you don’t have a garden or feeders, why not visit my cameras and have a go!
This weekend, the snack bar was busy. I have about blackbirds visiting now and they line up in the hedge behind, waiting for their turn…
The blue tits are the next most common visitor, followed by the great tits and the robin. The dunnock does make an appearance, along with the nuthatch and a female sparrow visited earlier in the week.
On Friday night, it was very cold and, for about half an hour after dark, a robin took shelter in the seed tray! I have a temporary camera set up on the outside of the snack bar and I did think he was settled in for the night! May be just a temporary stop, as he left after a last snack. I would not fancy spending the night out in these temperatures and I am surprised no birds have actually entered the snack bar internal space to roost (although the lights are on all night!)
I moved the new CJ Wildlife Matterhorn feeder to the feeding table after the rats decided they would leap onto it every night. My bullfinches have taken advantage of the sunflower seeds on offer and visited regularly. There are now 2 males and 2 females visiting.. what beauties they are!
The collared doves and stock doves are also visiting regularly. With the wood pigeons, they can motor through the seed at an alarming rate!
This video, before the snow, shows how the greenfinch and goldfinch numbers have increased. The blackbirds are managing to get a look in too…
I have set up two new feeders on the Hub feeders live cameras. These are two Squirrel Buster feeders. #gallery-17230-15 { margin: auto; } #gallery-17230-15 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 50%; } #gallery-17230-15 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-17230-15 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */
Both of these feeders deter squirrels, rats and large birds as the weight of them moves the outer cage down, blocking off the port. So far, they have worked a treat! The birds love them!
…. and here is the squirrel, giving them both a go… unsuccessfully!
It’s not only birds I watch. My Mammal Box has been really busy and you can see wood mice and bank voles during the day and night….
My fox feeding station is also busy early evening and then sporadically through the night. There are often 2 foxes feeding and this gesturing and bickering is not real aggression… just arguing over who is going to get the food!
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Let’s hope we have a good show next weekend!