tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-99291682012-02-16T08:51:00.677ZThis blog is a diary of the happenings and changes in our garden in the Fens of East Anglia. We are slowly working on making the entire garden more wildlife friendly, as we find time around work. I welcome comments and feedback on my blog posts, so please let me know what you think. (Click on any image to see a larger copy)Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.comBlogger681100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-82680876237558539212010-07-26T22:03:00.016+01:002011-01-23T22:09:18.402Z

Today was the last day that this was our garden. We moved house today, and so have a new garden to work on. The new one is a lot more lawn and no real scope for overgrown areas to attract the wildlife. So apart from the birds, there is not going to be a lot to attract wildlife to the new garden. Just lots of space for the kids to run around in. That means no pond either. So my wildlife photos

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-65348149160070452472008-05-12T19:42:00.001+01:002008-05-25T16:58:12.026+01:00

I have now got the video camera reconnected in the nest box which the great tits have nested in. Here is a bit of video recorded from the box today.

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-89122904122117553852008-05-11T19:35:00.001+01:002008-05-25T16:56:32.540+01:00

We were in the garden today when we saw a great tit leaving one of the nest boxes. The box was the one I have fitted a video camera in on previous years. The first year with the camera the eggs laid in the nest never hatched. The second year the nest box was not used. This year the camera was not wired up! When I had a look this was the state of the nest.Great Tits in the nestboxAt the same time

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-57198053169802058652008-05-05T21:14:00.007+01:002008-05-16T21:24:34.253+01:00

The garden is positively alive with native wildlife today. The pond is doing especially well, with clouds of water fleas, all sorts of beetles buzzing about, and hundreds of big healthy tadpoles!The native wild cowslips which have been growing on the path are doing really well this year.The borders are full of forget-me-nots, which attracted this lovely butterfly.The frogs are all hanging out in

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-46742706556170152552008-04-06T20:53:00.006+01:002008-05-14T16:56:41.153+01:00

It is almost a year since I reported any news from the garden, but now Spring is with us we finally got out into the garden after Easter to take some pictures. The frogs have spawned already, choosing the new pond again this year. They have also chosen the opposite end to last year to spawn in. There is a lot of frog spawn too. Lets hope this is the start of a successful year with the pond. The

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-89904222218220291462007-06-04T19:28:00.000+01:002007-06-10T19:35:17.028+01:00

We returned from a weekend away to find the robin nest was empty! This surprised us as the chicks looked nowhere near ready to fly yet. However I discovered they were still in the garage this morning, flitting around all over the place barely able to fly at all with their stumpy little wings. It made getting the car out safely a bit of a challenge. So the car is going to be kept in the street in

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-2262815563827521742007-06-01T19:21:00.000+01:002007-06-10T19:24:14.988+01:00

The Robins are certainly more aware of their surroundings now. For a couple of days they have been alert and looking at the camera when it appears above them. Before that they did not seem aware it was anything different to their parents.

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-79637029765295815172007-05-29T18:50:00.000+01:002007-06-10T18:53:56.749+01:00

The Robin parents are constantly flying in and out of the garage bringing food to their brood now. Here is one of the adults bringing a load of tasty insects to the nest.You can see the babies wing feathers developing nicely now.

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-69922535829154706452007-05-28T18:40:00.000+01:002007-06-10T18:42:45.830+01:00

What a difference a few days makes! The Robins now have feathers growing over all those pink fleshy bits.

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-33224805473945616092007-05-27T18:29:00.000+01:002007-06-10T18:33:02.240+01:00

As I suspected, the Blue Tits were ready to leave the nest. I saw the last two leaving just as I was setting off for work on Friday, but I didn't have a chance to take any pictures. However on Sunday morning we were lucky to see an entire nest box of blue tits fledge at my In-laws, so I can post a picture of one of theirs just seconds before it left the nest.

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-10600057536461398352007-05-24T18:02:00.000+01:002007-06-10T18:18:45.032+01:00

I checked on the Great Tits box today, and they were no longer there. They fledged sometime between last Friday and today, but we did not see them go.The Blue Tits are still in their nest box, but it can't be long before they are ready to fledge too.The Robins are having a snooze. Check out that funky hair style!

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-86510787878714241832007-05-23T22:15:00.000+01:002007-06-06T22:20:01.046+01:00

A quick update on the Robins, who are looking really cute. We have had to stop keeping the car in the garage now for fear that the cat will discover the nest and get to it via the car roof.They certainly look hungry!

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-59094433822723007812007-05-21T21:56:00.000+01:002007-06-06T22:14:21.325+01:00

The robins hatched today. It looks like we have four chicks and one egg which has not hatched properly. They have a lot of 'hair' compared to the tits which were born almost bald.Meanwhile the blue tits continue to grow fast. I'm a bit concerned about one of them who does not seem to be growing his feathers as fast as the others. You can see him clearly in today's picture here.The great tits look

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-53759858228765643492007-05-18T19:35:00.000+01:002007-05-28T22:40:51.680+01:00

What a difference two days makes! Compare this picture with the one taken a couple of days back and the great tit family appears to take up twice as much room! This nest box is going to get awfully crowded at this rate of growth. Their feathers are looking very near fully grown now. I wonder how much longer before they will fledge?

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-53626462298786172092007-05-16T18:27:00.000+01:002007-05-28T22:32:41.884+01:00

The great tits are looking a bit more developed another 4 days on, showing feathers over most of their bodies rather than just the wings.The blue tits are growing their feathers now too, but not all at the same speed. One chap seems to be a fair bit pinker than his brothers.

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-43111046210978689722007-05-13T22:10:00.000+01:002007-05-28T22:21:08.945+01:00

As I was getting into my car in the garage this morning, a bird flew off from right by my ear. I had seen a bird in the garage the other day too, so I looked around to see where it had come from. The only obvious place was this basket, which has been hanging on a nail in the garage since before we bought the house.On closer inspection I spotted five eggs inside. The mother was a Robin who I saw

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-71320430501708668942007-05-12T12:02:00.000+01:002007-05-28T22:10:08.919+01:00

The Great Tit chicks are developing their feathers now. It is difficult to tell, but I think there are eight chicks visible in this picture.The blue tits are developing fast too. Now six days old they are not quite showing the same level of feather growth as the Great Tits. We don't know exactly which day the Great Tits hatched, but they appear to be a few days ahead of the Blue Tits.

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-48967880472411995092007-05-07T18:50:00.000+01:002007-05-09T22:41:36.550+01:00

Two days on and now we have eight baby Blue Tits in the box. It looks like there are three more eggs too, which have not hatched yet.

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-20269131548099455952007-05-06T19:32:00.000+01:002007-05-09T22:45:00.026+01:00

While I was watching the birdbox to see whether we had blue tits or great tits nesting in our nestbox, a great tit turned up and was looking around to check it was safe to enter the box with some food. To my surprise this bird then flew into one of the other boxes near to the one I saw the chicks in yesterday. After both parents had flown off I took a quick picture to see what was in this box (it

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-76857186251803671202007-05-05T17:45:00.000+01:002007-05-08T17:52:40.399+01:00

After the disappointment of realising that our nestbox fitted with a camera was not going to be used by the birds this year, I got a surprise this weekend. I was checking whether one of the older nextboxes had anything in it as it had been used by a Peacock butterfly over the Winter to hibernate. To my amazement I found three baby chicks looking up at me (I say looking, but they are still blind

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-16681186715093114212007-03-24T15:34:00.000Z2007-03-27T13:13:30.463+01:00

While working on the new garden fence at the weekend, Caroline suddenly exclaimed "We've got ducks!". I looked over to the pond, and there were a couple of Mallard ducks swimming around as happy as anything, sticking their bums in the air as they fed off the bottom! We were amazed. They stayed long enough for me to take some quick photos before flying off.

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-16059777402909598852007-03-21T08:14:00.000Z2007-03-27T13:09:18.710+01:00

The first day of Spring, and one of the more Wintery looking mornings of the past 6 months! We got a light dusting of snow overnight, and woke to this view of the garden. We have been working hard in the garden over a couple of weekends to replace the fence along the entire length of the garden as seen on the left side of this picture. So far we have put up 6 new panels, with 7 and a bit to go.

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-81440646757265760222007-03-09T08:55:00.000Z2007-03-27T12:57:13.538+01:00

I was pleased to discover this morning that the frogs have spawned this year, and chosen the new pond to do so. I grabbed a quick picture as it was a nice morning. There looks to be a lot more spawn than we ever got in the old pond, so I guess they like the new facilities! The new pond has a choice of habitats, and as I expected, they chose the shallower area to leave their spawn. The patch of

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-85690447295557763002007-01-08T13:22:00.000Z2007-01-08T13:30:55.522Z

We have just reached the end of the second year doing the Garden Bird Watch bird survey run by the BTO. Here is the summary data for our garden during this time. The percentages indicate how likely we are to see that particular bird species in any one week:Species Reporting Rate95% Collared Dove95% Blackbird92% House Sparrow91% Great Tit87% Robin87% Chaffinch82% Blue Tit81% Greenfinch65%

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-1153915462585520262006-07-23T18:04:00.000+01:002006-07-26T13:30:44.250+01:00

During the past few weeks we have made some progress on the landscaping around the pond during exceptionally hot weather. My parents came up for a weekend and helped get on top of the problem weeds around the top end of the pond, which was much appreciated. We found the weather to be too hot for much hard manual labour, so progress on the landscaping has been slower than we expected. But we are

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-1153915434128748472006-06-25T15:40:00.000+01:002006-07-26T13:12:25.993+01:00

The bog garden and marginal plants garden beds are now finished, and mostly planted up. We have also moved the marsh marigold from the small water feature pond to the new large pond, as it was getting a bit big for the old location. We decided to put the marsh marigold directly into the main pond, and just pack some aquatic compost around the roots. Now we have started work on the landscaping

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-1153840540811274962006-06-12T16:15:00.000+01:002006-07-25T16:59:37.676+01:00

We were alarmed to see that several of our new bog plants were looked decidedly unwell in the new bog garden. Consulting our various books we discovered that what the garden centres call 'bog plants' generally mean plants which like damp conditions, but not water logged. It never occurred to us that our bog garden should not be boggy! What we have created is a marginals garden, for plants which

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-1153840512212854272006-06-11T22:15:00.000+01:002006-07-25T17:00:58.746+01:00

Today we bought a few aquatic plants for the pond, including some submerged oxgenators to help keep the water clear. Before we had time to put them in their final positions a pair of mating damsel flies turned up and started laying eggs on them! We have also seen a short fat bodied dragonfly, which we think is a type of chaser. It has been a pleasant surprise just how quickly the pond life is

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-1153826773158882072006-06-04T14:54:00.000+01:002006-07-25T17:01:44.316+01:00

We have finished filling the pond now. Most of the water came from our rain water butts in the garden. We have several of these collecting water from the gutters. I managed to syphon the water from them using the garden hose. After I emptied 4 of them, we had a very wet day, and they all completely filled again. So I emptied them all again, and only had to top up the pond with a small amount of

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-1153826647634253262006-06-01T12:19:00.000+01:002006-07-25T12:24:07.660+01:00

Sadly we have to conclude that the eggs in our bird box were not going to hatch. It is over a month since they were laid, and there is no sign of hatching. By this stage we should have a box full of chicks. We have seen almost no sign of a second parent in the video we have recorded from the bird box camera, and this may have been part of the reason that the nest has failed. The single parent has

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-1146835807170546942006-05-05T14:30:00.000+01:002006-05-05T14:34:11.286+01:00

Caroline spotted the cat cautiously playing with something in the garden yesterday, and when she went to investigate she found a grass snake. It looks like our wildlife friendly gardening policy is really paying off! She grabbed the camera and took some pictures. It looks like the snake is about 50cm long at most, so probably a young one. You can see the size compared to the walnut shell in the

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-1146747669859725422006-05-04T12:01:00.000+01:002006-05-04T14:04:02.946+01:00

We have seen the arrival of one egg per day recently, up to the total of 9 on 1st May. That looks like to final total as no more have appeared since then.Nine Eggs in Total

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-1146233161445239572006-04-28T15:06:00.000+01:002006-04-28T15:09:22.233+01:00

Our Great Tit has laid some eggs today. I've been recording 30 minute videos periodically to hopefully catch all the action, but it looks like these eggs were laid after my last clip today, but before I got home. Shortly after I saw this image on the camera the proud mother came back to settle down for the night, so I caught that on video at least.

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-1146233130988202712006-04-28T15:05:00.000+01:002006-04-28T15:05:32.066+01:00

Proud Mother

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-1145898644475039992006-04-24T18:10:00.000+01:002006-04-24T18:21:33.716+01:00

We got back from our holiday to find that a Great Tit has started to build a nest in our nestbox with the camera fitted. I weas very excited to see her sleeping in there last night. I checked again this morning and she had gone out, revealing that there are no eggs in the nest yet. I've set up the computer to record some video at various times during the day in the hope of catching the action on

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-1145897866639370292006-04-14T13:37:00.000+01:002006-04-24T18:09:11.060+01:00

We spotted a new species for our garden this week, when a pair of Siskins came to eat at our Nyjer feeder. The pair of Goldfinches attracted to this feeder are turning up every day too.

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-1145898237943586672006-04-07T13:03:00.000+01:002006-04-24T18:18:33.126+01:00

Laid the pond liner in a hurry before going away, so that it can start filling up with rain water. I'll have to finish off the landscaping after our holiday, but at least the pond water can start developing into a habitat.I had a little help from the cat!

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-1145898166939733422006-04-02T18:02:00.000+01:002006-04-24T18:14:19.360+01:00

Our resident Blackbirds are nesting in the hedge again this year. This is a relief because I cut the hedge back during the Winter, and thought I may have openned it up a bit much for them. (This prevented them from nesting a couple of years back). In fact the nest is more visible this year, which allowed me to get a clear view of the mother sat on it.Blackbird on her nest

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-1143641966685553852006-03-29T15:19:00.000+01:002006-03-29T15:26:31.770+01:00

After the recent operation to drain the pond to prevent more frogs dying in the foul water, I deliberately put some rain water from a water butt into the pond just in case any more frogs turned up to spawn in the usual place. This turned out to have been a good move, because yesterday the pond contained several balls of frogspawn. Meanwhile none of the pairs of frogs I rescued and relocated to

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-1143641941486171692006-03-29T15:18:00.000+01:002006-03-29T15:27:52.796+01:00

Frog and Frogspawn

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-1143122352612627672006-03-23T13:59:00.000Z2006-03-23T14:22:45.106Z

To my horror I discovered last night that our the old pond had turned into a deathtrap for frogs. It appears that a lot of leaves sunk into the pond over the Autumn and Winter, making the water foul. I went to check for frogspawn and noticed a dead frog. Disturbing the water revealed that the whole pond was foul, and many more dead frogs were found while trying to clean out the dead leaves hiding

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-1143122583339585072006-03-23T13:58:00.000Z2006-03-23T14:22:13.006Z

The frogs seem happy enough in their new temporary home. I hope they will relocate back to the new pond once it is completed and fit to inhabit. I will probably move some frog spawn to the new pond when it is ready as the pond that these frogs are in at the moment is too small for them, and I want the offsping to return to the new pond to spawn in future years.

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-1143121285891615072006-03-22T13:30:00.000Z2006-03-23T16:28:27.463Z

Two productive days work in the garden with much help from my father-in-law has seen the basic shape of the long planned pond dug out. We have an old pond which was there when we moved into the house, but it fails in all the important criteria for a wildlife pond. A well designed pond for wildlife should feature the following: - Shallow sides to allow easy access to wildlife - Shallow water zones

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-1140530170264097742006-02-21T13:58:00.000Z2006-02-21T14:35:34.466Z

This weekend I was cleaning the nestbox containing the camera which I built last year, but which did not get used by any birds. The camera compartment built into the lid of the nestbox had become home to a nesting colony of spiders, whose nest webs were blocking the light from the LEDs. After cleaning it up enough to get the camera working, I was trying to determine why I could only get a black

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-1140530263764479922006-02-21T13:57:00.000Z2006-02-21T13:59:52.516Z

Great Tit curled up for the night

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-1136379189338173202006-01-04T12:33:00.000Z2006-01-04T12:53:09.390Z

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

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-1131026218345810252005-11-03T13:53:00.000Z2005-11-03T13:56:58.360Z

Finally got out into the garden to clean up some of the Autumn mess. Mainly walnuts, which we have had a bumper crop of this year. It has been very wet, so most of them split open and are starting to germinate. Even so, I think we easily collected as many as previous years.Swept up all the mess (those walnut fruits turn into a very slipery, slimey black mess) and raked them out of the lawn. Took

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-1127908651019803142005-09-28T20:58:00.000+01:002005-09-28T12:58:52.546+01:00

I have to confess the garden is in a bit of a state at the moment. It was all under control until we went away for a couple of weeks in August, but due to the wet weather while we were away, we returned to a bit of a jungle. We haven't had time to get out and sort it either. Now the evenings are getting dark, it looks like we will be digging out all the weeds once they die back over the

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-1121691981700019132005-06-26T19:47:00.000+01:002005-07-18T14:20:24.776+01:00

I took this picture because I loved the shape and rich colour of these buds on the crocosmia we planted last year. These plants have grown about 5 feet high from the 2 ft high plant we bought, and there are three seperate flower stalks forming. The flowers will be bright red when they open.Crocosmia Flower Buds

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-1121692223144632002005-06-26T19:34:00.000+01:002005-07-18T14:16:41.220+01:00

The pair of blackbirds who nested in our hedge have been busy feeding their young. They nag at us to bring out mealworms when we come into the garden, and will come and take them from the bird table while I am still stood there having just put them out. This picture is a frame taken from a video clip I took. The male blackbird has filled his beak to overflowing with mealworms, and is about to fly

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-1121691084256418252005-06-04T19:23:00.000+01:002005-07-18T13:56:29.750+01:00

After 3 years, our clematis 'Nelly Moser' has flowered well for the first time. Previous years it has only managed to put out a couple of flowers. This year it is covered in them.Clematis 'Nelly Moser'

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-1116347916409114232005-05-18T01:34:00.000+01:002005-05-17T17:40:34.726+01:00

This morning as I was nipping up the garden to open the greenhouse vent, I could hear a bird song that I did not recognise as one we regularly hear in the garden. Closer inspection of the large walnut tree with the binoculars identified the source as a Song Thrush. This is the first one I have seen in the garden for over a year. A welcome sight, and a new species to record in our garden bird

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-1115383199779783392005-05-06T21:40:00.000+01:002005-05-06T13:39:59.796+01:00

We saw our baby blackbird out of the nest for the first time this weekend. The parents were flitting to and fro bringing food to it. The local cat took an unhealthy interest, but hopefully the baby bird will quickly learn to recognise this danger without coming to any harm.The robin has discovered the meal worms bin in the workshop too. we caught it flying in the door to pick one out. The door in

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-1112612396674331072005-04-04T21:41:00.000+01:002005-04-04T14:03:32.250+01:00

We saw a lot of nesting activity around the garden over the weekend. A pair of blue tits are busy building a nest in one of the nestboxes I put up last year, and a great tit was seen taking dried grass or something similar into another of the nest boxes. We haven't seen any activity around that second nestbox since though. A pair of blackbirds have built a nest in the hedge near the house too,

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-1112189936577503012005-03-31T03:20:00.000+01:002005-03-30T18:19:13.820+01:00

I finally got to spend a day in the garden this year! WE have been so busy working inside the house, that the garden has been sorely neglected this year. Finally with the front room renovation finished, and a long Easter weekend at home, the garden saw some work.The weather was great on Monday, and the birds were very active around the nestboxes. We saw a blue tit hammering away inside one box,

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-1112189896557714332005-03-30T14:38:00.000+01:002005-03-30T14:38:16.556+01:00

The blackthorn blossom is out

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-1112189838477969422005-03-30T14:37:00.000+01:002005-03-30T14:37:18.476+01:00

The frogspawn is coming along nicely this year

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-1111686631982032722005-03-25T01:45:00.000Z2005-03-24T17:52:57.756Z

The pond with emergency shallow area for frogspawn! I basically used the old plastic waterfall thing which we inherited with the pond, and put it on top of a rock that I sunk in the pond to support it close to the water surface.

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-1111687027233877692005-03-24T17:57:00.000Z2005-03-24T17:57:07.233Z

Some of this year's frogspawn, and (inset) one of the frogs.

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-1111587921091555182005-03-23T22:25:00.000Z2005-03-23T14:25:21.093Z

Ah, the joys of Spring. Monday morning saw me frantically trying to create a shallow area in our far from ideal garden pond to stop all the frg spawn which appeared over the weekend from sinking into the depths. I learned recently that this kills frog spawn, and our pond has a constant depth over the entire area of about 0.4 metres.An idea wildlife pond should have variable depth, with shallows

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-1110287925130119662005-03-08T21:14:00.000Z2005-03-08T13:21:19.956Z

I managed to put up the new bird box with a miniature colour video camera fitted, just in time for the cold snap that brought some rare snow to the garden. The cold weather has certainly brought the birds flocking to the feeding station. I've not been able to check the camera since I put it up about 2 weeks ago because I do not have enough cable to reach the TV in the house yet! The distance is

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-1107508875663214052005-02-04T17:21:00.000Z2005-02-04T09:21:15.663Z

The past few evenings have been occupied building some new nest boxes for the garden. Last year we had a pair of Great Tits successfully rear seven babies in one of our nest boxes. That nest box is looking a bit worse for wear now, so I am planning to replace it with a brand new one made from 12mm plywood and fitted with a miniature colour video camera, so we can monitor progress on the TV in the

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-1106660225291031012005-01-25T21:36:00.000Z2005-01-25T13:37:05.293Z

We are now 3 weeks into recording the birds we see in our garden as part of the BTO Garden Birdwatch project, and we have already observed 14 different species. There are a few of the common species we have seen in the past that we have not yet seen this year, but I'm sure they will turn up before the Winter is over. Our bird species list so far: Blackbird Blue Tit Chaffinch Coal Tit

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-1105619573462176012005-01-13T20:46:00.000Z2005-01-13T12:46:48.700Z

The snowdrops are starting to come up too. Not many yet, but they are very early like the aconites. See here for planting tips.

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-1105619538192717632005-01-13T20:39:00.000Z2005-01-13T12:43:44.416Z

These Winter Aconites are normally the first flowers of the year to come up, but this year they really are early. More information on this plant can be found here.

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-1105548942822385102005-01-13T00:55:00.000Z2005-01-12T17:01:15.580Z

This year we have joined the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) Garden Birdwatch project. The information pack arrived this week, so we are starting to record the birds visiting our feeders each day over breakfast. Excellent relaxation before heading off to work. On the first day I counted 10 different species. We have been providing regular food for the birds over the past couple of years, so

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-1104838104904189102005-01-04T20:05:00.000Z2005-01-04T12:06:26.136Z

It looks a bit ragged, but I was surprised to see a Spring flower at all in the garden so early. Growing in what is supposed to be a bog garden next to the pond, except it dries out too easily in the Summer as it is higher than the pond. Something that I will need to sort out when this whole pond area get's a make-over.

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9929168.post-1104790386525968152005-01-04T06:09:00.000Z2005-01-03T22:13:06.526Z

I'm starting a new blog for the New Year, to record the changes in our garden here in the fens. I went out on New Year's eve, and found the first primrose in flower. Rather early for the Spring flowers, but that just shows you how mild the Winter has been around here! I took a photo, which I'll post to the diary shortly.

Paul Fretwellnoreply@blogger.com0