Birds in the garden
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A special moment a few days ago. We’ve got a cock robin in the garden, he has got very bold and tame with OH when she is tending her flower beds, pecking around where she has been weeding etc.
A couple of days ago we were talking to each other just inside the door to our big barn and then there was a twittering from further down the barn and robin comes flying down to where we were and perched on a cardboard box a couple of feet away, he had a grub or worm in his beak. Almost like he was telling us that had a nest in there somewhere and he was pleased to hear us and came to tell us about it
Like I said, a special moment.
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Turtle Doves are one of my favourite birds. Sadly I have not seen one since I took this picture in our UK garden in 2002 before we came to France. They are a very timid bird, sadly due to their migration route which takes them over Malta where they shoot anything that moves. For this reason as well as modern farming methods and loss of habitat, their numbers in Europe have plunged by 80%. On a brighter note, Bonjour recently introduced me to the Merlin bird ID app which confirmed that a collared dove call I had previously heard in our adjacent orchard, was in fact, a turtle dove. I was so very pleased to get this revelation confirmed online and hope one day to get another picture of this beautiful bird. It would be very interesting to hear of members interactions with this special bird.
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I have never seen a turtle dove but we have been very lucky to have had a pair of ring necked doves in every garden we had in France & have now got them here in my garden in East Sussex
I am very sad though that I have had to stop feeding the birds, after having attracted a large variety to the garden, because the food has also attracted rats!
That’s a shame Fruitcake, but well understandable. This article might be of interest, good luck.
https://birdslife.co.uk/how-to-stop-attracting-rats-to-bird-feeders/1 user thanked author for this post.
The hoopoe was here with us again !
And this evening, while I was watering my flowers, a baby sparrow tried to land on my leg, didn’t succed and finished up between my two feet ! He gave me a look from the ground, then flew off !
I have never seen a turtle dove but we have been very lucky to have had a pair of ring necked doves in every garden we had in France & have now got them here in my garden in East Sussex
I am very sad though that I have had to stop feeding the birds, after having attracted a large variety to the garden, because the food has also attracted rats!
Fruitcake, although rats are attracted to bird food, it is more likely that in dry conditions they are attracted to water.
Rats need to drink every day. If you deny them water they will disappear very quickly.
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Well, this one was not going anywhere near the water Bonjour, which he would have a job to get to anyway, he was in and out the hedge eating the bird food on the ground.
I’ve stopped feeding for now, cleared out behind the hedge where the landlord had left a load of bramble cuttings & where the rat was coming from and I will leave it for a while.
Having twice had rats in the loft, sounding as though they were moving furniture about, right above my bedroom, I really don’t want to encourage them back!
I have never seen a hoopoe in france despite keeping my eyes open for one, but have seen one example in the UK.
Between Hunsett Mill and Wayford Bridge on the river Ant, it was digging about in a field just by the riverbank, we were on a boat in the 1980’s.
Same as you Fitter, always looked out for the Hoopoe, but never seen one. Great picture Babeth.
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This little visitor used to love the fennel seeds in my last French garden
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I have never seen a hoopoe in france despite keeping my eyes open for one, but have seen one example in the UK.
Between Hunsett Mill and Wayford Bridge on the river Ant, it was digging about in a field just by the riverbank, we were on a boat in the 1980’s.
I have still never heard or seen a Hoopoe and I have been up and down the Ant a lot. I have seen Otters, Kingfishers and even a Bittern in the area years ago, Oh and Cranes overhead.
I have only once seen and heard the Hoopoe, when we lived in Maine et Loire, a memorable experience
I love the happy, communal chattering of sparrows. Mr F put up a whole host of boxes for them on the back of our cottage, I called them The sparrow apartments.
There’s a lot of chirping going on in our garden at the moment…
bloody weeds….seems to be the song…
Its warm and wet…perfect weather for weeds.
This morning is very cold, everything is frozen and white.
We have been feeding the birds for a few weeks now and have set up a feeding area close to the patio door.
As well as the hanging fat balls we also have one in an old tea strainer, this drains the rain and allows robins and other birds to indulge. We also have seeds and scraps on the ground.
We have had an enjoyable breakfast watching their antics but today they seem more focussed on defending the food than eating eat.
We have had Tits, Robins, Chaffinches, Dunnocks, Wren and a mouse.
Our birds are being fed daily…fat balls …and a great variety of goodies…I have to be diligent because I have three enthusiastic cats…so bird food has to be high…sadly mr marmite made the mistake of parking his car close by…when we went out on Wednesday we realised the car wasn’t covered in snow…or frost…it was bird poo…it was disgusting.
Our friend came out to say hello and collapsed in laughter at the state of it….it looks like multi colloured confetti.
The garden has been very busy again today however the Wrens have not visited. I am concerned they may not have survived the very low temperatures.
They are territorial birds so are unlikely to have moved away.
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