Two badgers and a mouse

 Despite the fact that it's freezing at the moment, and yesterday was quite foggy all day (still is this morning), the garden is still quite popular with the local wildlife. So many birds come to the bird feeder during the day now, mainly sparrows, starlings and robins. But we've also seen a wren hopping around, a thrush appears occasionally and the blue tit and great tit briefly stop for something to eat.

Last night, had a quick look out of the window (at about 9.30) to see a very fluffy badger snuffling around. It looked much bigger that it used to be, which is probably a good thing as it will help it survive through the winter (which seems likely to be very cold this year). As it was searching for a quick snack, another badger appeared, also looking quite large and fluffy. I'm glad they are still coming to our garden, I'm hoping it means they see it as a reliable source of food (and safety?). It worries me that people stll see them as distructive & a nuisance....seems they have a bad reputation. I mean, they dig up our lawn slightly, but it's not too bad, and grass always grows back. Poor creatures are just trying to survive, like everything else!

Not only were there two fluffy badgers wandering around, but also a tiny mouse came out from under the hedge and jumped around a bit in the grass. I think it was a field mouse, but I wasn't close enough to see properly (and I wasn't wearing my glasses). It's really nice to see that the garden is just as busy at night.

Feeling wintery

 I haven't written anything on here for a while, mainly because I thought there wasn't much wildlife around to talk about, However, I may have been wrong.  It's starting to feel quite wintery now (ignoring the last couple of days, which have been unseasonably mild), there is a chill in the air and most of the trees in my garden have lost their leaves or only have a few left, it's still dark when I get up in the mornings.

There is still wildlife around though. A couple of weeks ago, I took lots of photos of fungus....which I find fascinating, it's all so weird and different. I'm still rubbish at identifying all the different types (I need to work on that). A friend informed me that the first photo is Parasol mushrooms (they were quite big). No idea what type is in the second photo! Please feel free to tell me, if you know.

 

 

The garden birds (mostly starlings and sparrows) are still very much enjoying the food we put out for them. They are getting through it all very quickly, I'm having to re-fill the bird feeders at least twice a day. 

For the last few eveinings, we have been able to hear a fox barking. I think it's probably in the field behind our house, so not close enough for us to see (plus, it's dark when we hear it), but it's nice to know it's there.

Woodpecker & fox poo

 First of all, a sad (but not unexpected) update: We cleaned out the nest box that the bluetits were using last spring...well, my husband did. I couldn't face doing it. There were dead chicks in there, as we suspected. I had a bit of a cry. But, at least now it's all cleaned out and ready for them to use next spring, if they wish.

In better news, while we were doing some tidying up in the garden over the weekend, we definitely heard a woodpecker! It sounded fairly close by, maybe in the very tall trees at the end of the field behind our house. Anyway, it cheered me up a bit after the sadness of cleaning out the nest box.

Also, while we were outside we found a fox poo on the front lawn. Admittedly, finding animal poo is not everyone's idea of excitement, but it means the fox is still around and still visiting our garden, which I'm very pleased about. (Be grateful I did not include a photo!) I was a little concerned, as we haven't seen the fox for ages. It's good to know it's ok.

Owl (probably) and robins

 I haven't been out much recently. We've been having some work done on the house (solar panels being fitted), so have been at home a lot. It's cold now, so been using the wood burner quite a lot to try to warm the house up a bit. But, now the solar panels have been done, might try to have the heating on occasionally.

I had to get up at about 3.00 this morning, our cats have decided that now it is colder, they need an extra meal in the early hours. It was very chilly, but I think that I heard an owl hooting ouside, which was quite exciting! I can't be sure, as I was half asleep and may have imagined it. But if it was an owl, then at least it was a tiny benefit of being awake at such a ridiculous time. I was tempted to wake the rest of my family up so they could hear it too, but decided that they probably wouldn't appreciate that.

The robins in the garden are tolerating me being outside now. While I was hanging out the washing this morning, the two of them were taking it in turns to fly over to the bird feeder and watch me for a few seconds, before going to sit under the hedge. I'm not sure if they were curious about what I was doing, or just trying to protect their breakfast. The larger (fluffier?) one of the two seems to be the bravest or most curious, was quite happy to watch me and flutter around nearby. The smaller one seems quite timid and a bit more wary, would not venture out from under the hedge for too long and flew off to hide whenever I moved.

Grey Wagtails and a Friendly Jackdaw

Last weekend, we had a day out to Corfe Castle. I'd forgotten how much I love going to castles.  On the walk up to the castle, there is a really pretty stream with lots of rocks which is surrounded by trees and brambles etc. There were a couple of small birds hopping about on the rocks, I tried several times to get a photo of them, but they were moving around too much and all the pictures were very blurry. Anyway, it turns out that they were grey wagtails. Their name suggests a boring, grey bird, but they have a patch of bright yellow on them. I think that's what caught me eye.

There was also a friendly jackdaw wandering around the little picnic area, where we had some lunch.  It seemed bit wary, as there were children running around, but it kept looking over to the table we were sitting around. I did share a bit of my sandwich with it, as it looked hungry. I think it was grateful for the snack. I get the impression that a lot of people aren't keen on corvids, but I believe you should always try to be kind to them. They are notoriously intelligent birds, and allegedly they can recognise and remember people's faces. (I'm pretty sure I've read that somewhere!) So, I like to think I made a little friend.

It's getting chilly!

 We've had a lot of rain over the last couple of weeks, and a few storms. The lawn is green again, the berries on the pyracanthas are starting to slowly turn orange, and more snowberries are appearing on the bushes. It's been a bit chilly today. In fact, the last few mornings have been a bit cooler. According to the weather forecast, it will actually feel cold this weekend (well...what I consider to be cold). I might actually wear a jumper! I love wearing jumpers.

I'm determined to go out more over the autumn, and enjoy the chilly weather, the colour changes, the wildlife....all of it! Autumn never seems to last very long, so I'm going to make the most of it.

The pheasants seem to be visiting the field next to us again. I've seen them a couple of times recently. They are really beautiful birds. When we first moved here, I got so excited about seeing pheasants and partridges (I hadn't really seen them much before). To be honest, I still get excited about seeing them. I'm not sure why I feel like pheasants are an autumnal sight...but in my mind, they are.

Meteorological Autumn

 Today is the first day of autumn (in meteorological terms). I tend to go by this date, because it starts to feel like autumn now. When I was at school (a very long time ago), the term after the summer holiday was always known as the 'Autumn Term' (I don't think that is the case these days). The leaves are slowly starting to change colour, it's getting darker earlier and the garden is full of berries! Also, according to the forecast, the temperature is supposed to drop a bit this weekend. 

 

I cannot tell you how happy this all makes me! I love autumn. I'm so pleased that the garden has plenty of berries, I was concerned that the heatwave killed a lot of the plants. It looks like a lot of the vegetables we were growning have died off, but at least the birds and other wildlife will still get to enjoy the berries, which also make the garden look lovely and colourful.

We have managed to pick a lot of blackberries and freeze them, which means we get to have lots of crumbles and pies through the winter, so I am grateful that the brambles have manged to survive. 

In fact, picking blackberries is currently one of my son's favourite activities. There are so many in our garden and down the lane. I'm sure the birds and the horses will also be enjoying them.

The honeysuckle also seems to have some bright red berries on it. I didn't even realise honeysuckle produced berries, so what are they called....honeysuckle berries? They look really pretty.