New Birds Brighten Winter Gloom

After a brief covering of snow over Christmas, the garden returned to it's usual damp and gloomy Winter appearance. I managed to get out on a couple of days over the holiday period and do some much needed hedge trimming. The pyracantha was getting out of control but I had left it until now because the new 5 ft long spikes which had grown out of the top of the hedge were covered in berries, which the birds eat. Now all the berries have gone, so it got a haircut.

New Years day brought a very pleasant surprise. Not one, but two species of birds which we have not previously recorded in our weekly bird survey were spotted in the garden. A female blackcap was seen feeding on a fat ball, and then a crow came and perched in the walnut tree. We also spotted every other species we have previously recorded in the garden apart from the gold finch, jay, song thrush and wren! A bumper bird day and a great start to the year.

I cleaned and repaired the main seed feeder over the holiday, cleaned up the window feeder and refilled it with black sunflower seeds. I also made some more fat cakes (consisting of ground up peanuts in vegtable fat) to put in the small bird feeding cage. This cage prevents the larger birds (gangs of starlings mainly) from eating the lot in a day, ensuring there is a reliable supply of high energy food for the smaller birds though the Winter. I was given a nyger seed feeder for Chrismas too, but I have to sort out a suitable site for that as it is not squirrel proof, and they chew their way through anything they can despite the best efforts of our cat to eat them!