We’re just a couple of days to go until the clocks go back as I write and the mornings are noticeably darker just now, but just as it’s getting light if I happen to be looking out the window at the right time, I’ll see some of the larger birds in the garden.
These visitors include a couple of crows and also at least one magpie. They come hopefully looking for any scraps of food that may have been left over from the previous evening, although the majority of the food, unless it’s in a feeder, will have been consumed the day before. These are about to disappear when the first of the feral pigeons arrive, who I assume are the ones who roost locally to my house, rather than ones that seem to appear and fly in from the town centre a little later in the morning.
The starlings have certainly been busy during the past week and eagerly eating their mealworms, the last for them being at about 5 pm at the current time. They sit in the tray under the seed feeder and are comical to watch as they all fly in from various directions and quickly consume everything that’s there and head off for the night. There were over two dozen of them sitting on neighbours’ roofs and television aerials the other afternoon.
Occasionally I see one of the blackbirds hopping across the grass and also the sparrows and dunnocks either in the cobnut tree or my holly bushes. I’ve not caught sight of any of the greater spotted woodpeckers but I imagine they are still there and perhaps once more of the leaves have fallen off the trees, they will be more visible. The robin has been taking some mealworms and I saw an adolescent robin this morning on my patio.
Other large bird visitors including a pair of wood pigeons and two or three coloured doves. The wood pigeons are finishing off the berries on one particular bush and as usual the collared doves are arriving late in the day and picking over the remaining seed at the bird table. The squirrel is still eating nuts from the feeder in the morning and late afternoon.
Insect activity has certainly decreased but to mention something new, I have purchased a small insect and bee hotel which I am putting out in the garden in the next day or two. I don’t know if it’s too late in the year to be doing it but hopefully some of the insects in the garden will find it a suitable desirable residence as a cosy home for the winter or will arrive in the spring. My picture this week is of the insect and bee hotel. Something else new has been scaffolding at the front of the house but it doesn’t seem to deter the birds, except when the workmen have been on the top of it repairing things on the roof. They’re not to be deterred though and any gaps in work are soon grabbed upon as an opportunity to feed.
Written by Margaret Emerson
