A Few Nature Notes

Monday

A Squirrel popped by to visit the feeder today. I’ve noticed some of my spring bulbs lying on top of the soil lately and admit to feeling a bit of mild irritation. If he is eating from the feeder then it means that my bulbs are safe for a little longer! His visit was brief and he scampered off after a few hurried bites. I later saw him running along the fence.

Some of my spring bulbs are popping their green heads through the soil. I am looking forward to the day when golden daffodils brighten up the garden. We also have our first snowdrops about to bloom. I just love these little flowers, they always bring the hopeful message that spring is on the horizon.

Tuesday

We have a fox that passes through our garden most nights. He is a welcome visitor for us. We have been lucky to spot him on occasion, once even watching him howl at the moon just off our drive. With winter being a tough time for most animals, I have no qualms setting out scraps as I would for a pet dog on occasion. I’m sure this would be frowned on by staunch naturalists – but it’s my garden and I’ll feed who I like! Two slices of bread were thrown out onto the lawn on Monday evening. This morning we found that they were gone. I love the thought of this pretty little creature silently moving through our yard on these cold dark evenings.

Wednesday

The weather has taken a turn as promised by the weather people. The skies have cleared giving us lots of sunshine and blue sky but a dramatic drop in temperature. Light frost over night. Perfect day to venture down to the lake and do our nature study. We took along some bread crusts to feed the ducks. Winter must be taking it’s toll because they flocked to us and devoured the bread ravenously. There was much competition for the small amount of bread we had with us. I have made a mental note to be vigilant in saving all bread crusts for these hungry birds.

Our kitten is proving to be a great hunter much to my dismay. She caught her second robin in a week. The first she made short work of while we were out on Saturday. Today, fortunately for the robin, we were around and able to rescue the small bird from her jaws. After checking the frightened little bird over, I was relieved to see that no injuries had been sustained. The poor little thing was literally scared stiff and would not move an inch, even after we set it on the feeding table to fly away. It took a full 10 minutes for the robin to get over it’s shock. It then flew off with no apparent problems. We later spotted our little friend at the feeder, happily going about his business as if nothing all that dramatic had happened today.

Thursday

We had a hard frost over night. This means that the bird feeder has been busier than usual. Starlings, robins, coal tits, great tits, blue tits, sparrows, doves, blackbirds and a lone dunnock had breakfast with us. Watching the blackbirds was most entertaining. They are ground feeders so I make sure to always sprinkle seed on the grass around the feeder. There was one particularly possessive male who spent much time chasing off fellow blackbirds. He defended ‘his’ food patch with much enthusiasm  but didn’t appear to get much eating done.