Frogs galore……

One of the great things about making a wildlife pond is that you know it is a habitat that will be used.  Sometimes a bird box can remain unoccupied for years or it may not be obvious that a log pile has regular inhabitants.  But ponds are different.  This year, the ‘new’ pond we made three years ago is absolutely heaving with frogs, mating and laying spawn.  This is not a big pond either.  The very large pond we made when we first arrived here is used by toads and newts which are happy with the deeper water, but the new pond is obviously perfect for frogs.   It’s brilliant to put in a little hard work and create something that is used so much and does the job it was designed for.  It’s also a magnet for finches looking for a drink, dragonflies and damselflies breed here, but it is now definitely our ‘frog’ pond.  Over the last few days it has been a boiling cauldron of activity and is full to the brim with spawn.

Waiting for a special song…..

With a feeling in the air now that spring really is just around the corner, the daffodils in the garden are shooting upwards and the snowdrops are fully open at last.  With plenty of bird song bursting from the hedges, only one thing has been missing.  Usually by February we have song thrushes singing, and sometime a local mistle thrush too.  So far this year there has been nothing from either of these two species.  Their beautiful songs are the real herald of spring as far as I am concerned and they often nest in the hedge just across the lane from my house.  But today a song thrush appeared in the garden.  Not singing (maybe a female) but at least poking around in the borders which are all left uncut until later in the year, to harbour the maximum mount of natural food for anything that needs it.  Looking back through my notes, I haven’t seen a song thrush in the garden since October!  Hope she’s here to stay for a while.

Fieldfare fury…….

We have had snow here for a few days now and although the temperatures are not that far below freezing, the conditions are wintry enough to bring the fieldfares back in huge numbers.  Well over 100 have been feeding under our two large apple trees every day, together with thirty or so blackbirds, making the garden at the back of the house look a little bit like a Hitchcock film.  Fieldfares are very argumentative birds too, so there are continual scuffles, scraps and outright fights as one bird tries to take possession of a pile of apples, while frightening off his rival.  Amongst all this aggravation  the chaffinches weave their inoffensive way, keeping out of the line of fire and picking at the exposed apple pips as well as the left over apple skins.  In all its a fascinating scene to observe, from the warmth of the house, preferably with a cup of coffee in hand!

Bird versus Mammal 1:0……..

As the weather changes yet again back to colder conditions – and we have snow on the hill tops round about us in Shropshire – the wildlife using the garden also changes.  The fieldfares are back, feasting on the fallen apples beneath our trees which makes me think they must have excellent memories for a good food source! 

Larger birds seem to dominate here at the moment, especially pheasants, of which we have a regular crowd of about six or seven.  One in particular, a female, is now a permanent feature as she is unable to fly (a possible window strike we fear) but easily finds enough food and shelter around the garden.  So she seems well enough and is also very feisty!  She regularly fights off the local grey squirrels who compete for the spilt seed on the ground under the feeders.  In spite of the reputation these mammals have for ingenuity, she wins every time!

Some birds just won’t share……

Yet more weather changes in the last week, with heavy frosts making way for more spring-like conditions.  With great tits now singing – a very spring-like sound – it’s easy to forget that it’s only the end of January!  With no thrushes evident here yet, a bird that recently made my day by singing from the top of the hedge outside my office window, was a wren.  It’s astonishing that a bird this small can make such a sound!  We always have problems in the spring when wrens choose our front porch for nest construction, in direct competition with the swallows.  Male wrens will create several nests to entice a female and fortunately, so far, the porch nest has never been used.  There is no doubt that the swallows, on their return, would not be very happy as they don’t like to share!

A change in the weather…..

With a spell of very cold weather at the moment, the dominant wildlife around the garden has changed.  Most noticeably, a large flock of fieldfares has been flying around and eventually they were brave enough to come into the garden to feast on the windfall Bramley apples that litter the garden at the back of the house.  We use and store as many as we can, and give plenty away, but I always make sure lots  are left behind for the birds.  Blackbirds (predominantly males) have been feeding on them for some time, but eighty or so flighty fieldfares have joined the blackbirds to create a throng of birds in the back garden.  No redwings with them sadly but these beautiful thrushes are a joy to see.

Looking forward…..

Mild weather at this time of year always seems to freak everyone out, yet it is the two last very cold winters that have been unusual.  Looking back at my wildlife and weather notes in my diary, I can see that the temperatures this week in January 2008 were mild, we still had Hebe in flower, we saw wood pigeons mating and our snowdrops were in flower on the 21st.  Still a week to go before the latter happens perhaps, but something to really look forward too.  With regard to wood pigeons though, I think we have enough here at the moment, with a flock of around 200 in the field next door from time to time, but somehow I don’t think that will stop them making a few more!