Sparrowhawk

 About a week ago, a sparrowhawk killed a starling and ate it in my garden. This happened right outside my living room window, and my son witnessed the whole thing. Obviously, he was a bit upset by it. I missed this brutal incident, and came in to find that my son had closed the blinds and turned up the volume on the TV so he couldn't hear the starling screeching. 

After I'd calmed him down a little, I opened the blind slightly to see if the bird was still there. It was quite happily sitting on the lawn, eating the remains of the starling. I managed to get a photo (don't worry, you can't see anything gross in it). Sparrowhawks are stunning birds, and as I expalined to my son, they need to eat to survive, so they need to hunt. It was just unfortunate for us (and the starling) that it chose to hunt in our garden, near the window. I suppose, in a way, it's good that the sparrowhawk felt safe enough in the garden to sit and eat. Eventually, it flew off when my husband home, taking the remains of the starling with it.

Sparrowhawk on the lawn

 

Signs of spring

 In spite of all the frost and below freezing temperatures we've had recently, there are a few signs of spring appearing in the garden. New buds are visible on most of the trees (apart from the spindle tree and the oak tree, which never recovered from the heatwave last summer). Also, daffodils have started to spring up in the lawn.

Lots of birds have been visiting the garden, and it seems like a pair of collared doves have started nesting in the giant hedge, we keep seeing them taking lots of twigs in there. Today, my son spotted a sparrow going into the nestbox. It flew straight back out again, but maybe was just having a look for potential nest sites? The blue tits and long tailed tits have also been visiting the garden a lot....mainly the bird feeder.

It's still really cold, but I think we're supposed to get some milder temperatures soon....hopefully.

Ice & frost

 We've had a few very frosty mornings this week. In fact, the frost and ice has lasted all day because the temperature hasn't got much above freezing. I love frost! I also love snow, but we haven't had much snow for the last few winters. I try to make myself go outside when it's frosty, even if it's just for a little wander around the garden. Frost and ice makes everything look so beautiful, and peaceful, all the plants and the trees look almost fairytale-like.

I feel like I have to make the most of this - the frosty, icy crystals everywhere. It doesn't usually last long. To be honest, I worry that because our winters are generally getting milder and wetter due to the warming climate, there may come a time when we don't see it anymore. It's a really upsetting thought. I worry that by the time my son is an adult, frosty mornings will be a thing of the past. I hope he has some memories of them. 

My point is, everyone should try to go out and see all the beauty when it is this cold. Maybe even take some photos, if you get a chance. Make the most of the icy crunch under your feet. Enjoy it, while it lasts.

Lazy Gardening

 Happy New Year! 

I have been making plans for our garden. I'm not really a natural gardener....in fact I prefer to leave our garden as wild as possible. However, I like to try to grow some fruit and vegetables each year (not always successfully). The heatwave last summer killed off a lot of the plants and vegetables, sadly.

I planted another tree over the weekend - an apple tree. I doubt we will get any fruit from it this year, it's still quite a small tree, but over the next few years I hope we can use some of the fruit from it. Even if we can't, it will provide a bit more shade in our garden, which is a good thing (especially if we have more very hot summers)! We also have a plum tree, a pear tree and a cherry tree, so will possibly be able to get some fruit from those too, at some point.

While I'm talking about trees...I think the little oak tree we planted last year (the one I thought had died), might still be alive! I think it has tiny buds starting to form. I may be wrong. We shall see.

Also, we decided that the patio section of our garden was too big. So I've pulled up several paving slabs and will use the space as another grassy area, and let the daisies and dandelions grow.

I'm not going to attempt to grow too many vegetables this year, maybe just garlic, onions and possibly kholrabi. My idea of growing vegetables is to essentially plant them and water them. I don't do anything else....no covers or nets or things added to the soil (apart from peat-free compost). If it all grows, then great. If it all gets eaten by animals/insects, then fine. I'm a very lazy gardener.

 

 

Busy night in the garden

 Despite the ice and heavy frost we've had for the last few days (no snow yet though), the wildlife has been very busy in our garden. Last night, I shone a torch out of our window, as I wanted to see if there was any sign of snow (there was not). However, I did see the little mouse running out from under the hedge and on to the lawn. It stopped for a couple of seconds and stood very still, the ran back under the hedge. Obviously, the icy ground was a bit too cold to stand around on for too long. 

About five minutes later, I looked out of the window again to see a fox, with a very bushy tail, go under our fence and run across the field. It was carrying a reasonably large, dead creature in it's mouth. It was too dark to see what the dead thing was, which I'm sort of glad about. I'm not sure I want to know what the fox had just killed. It's good to know that the fox is still around though, and that it still comes into our garden.

Shortly after that, two badgers arrived and snuffled around on the lawn for a while, just outside the window. I think it's the same two that come back to the garden quite often.

(Slightly blurry badger picture, as it was taken on the phone!)

The mouse made a few more brief appearances in various places around the garden, but I failed to get a photo of it. It's far to quick!

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.