Thought this morning (true to form) well this is May and overnight temperature was two plus for once, what a great start to the month, then the sun came out and it started to warm up. Thought right a morning outside and watch the Grand Prix qualifying after lunch. So out came the hose and a great chance to wash the forestry dirt of the car from my fishing trip. Washed three quarters of the car and the sun disappeared, looked towards Rannoch and could see the rain falling. That is normally a sign that we have about ten minutes before it reaches us, so rushed to finish cleaning the car, got to the wheels before it started hailstones then snow, but I did finish the car before going in to defrost. So much for a good start to the month.
As we have continued to have frequent showers since todays photo comes via me sitting in the living room shooting through the double glazing, true lazy man photography, therefore this is the resulting first of the month shot.
A rather unusual angle of looking at a Wood Pigeon, giving me the eye because it knows that when it has been on the feeders for a while I will (sorry) frighten it off, because if I do not it will eat a sack of food in a week not a month. I have seen their crops so full that it bulges as big as it’s neck. It was only when I looked at this shot on the computer that I saw the Tick below it’s left eye, I bet that is annoying for it.
This is a lovely little garden plant that seems to like our garden though very shy as it is hidden amongst the heathers. It is of course (even I knew this one) a Snake’s head Fritillary, presumably getting the name because of its snake head shape and the mottled appearance of a snakes body, see I can work this gardening lark out. Every year we think it is not going to come out as apparently the mice like the bulbs, but every year up it pops, we have 3 out at present but looks like another 4 or more have got leaf’s but no flowers yet.
A Greenfinch blending in well with it’s surroundings, I have always considered these an evil looking bird, a friend from over twenty years ago had a licence to breed these in captivity and when he went on holiday I used to look after them. They would always just stay in their aviary and stare at me while I replenished their feeders, where other wild birds he had would go into the shed part of their aviary to nervous to come out. Maybe it’s the dark patch around the eyes or the rather thick beak just never sure of them. When we first moved here they were one of the most common birds we saw in the garden, then about five years ago they started to just keel over and die by the feeders, sent some off to a animal lab and was told they had a form of canker that was highly contagious to finches. I had to increase my hygiene as the beaks were leaving a saliva on the feeders that were passing it on to others, so was washing my containers once or twice a week. It was very common throughout Scotland a devastated Greenfinch populations and even now we do not have the same number of them as we have had before.
The nest above was one of my most wonderful finds within our garden, it is a nest built to absolute perfection. Moss on the outside and smoothly lined with mud on the inside , it belongs to a bird that frequents our garden but never in the 18 years of being here nested here before. It is the nest of a Song Thrush. a bird as eloquent as its nest, sharp lines with a majestic posture. So when my wife found it and showed me a couple of days ago I peeped in and she was sitting in it, left it a while, saw her in the garden so went to check what was in the nest, three eggs. Have looked in from a distance and yesterday she just sat all day, so today I went to take a shot of her with her head sticking out from about ten yards away. But she wasn’t there, so thought right I will go in and take the eggs. Only to find that the nest had been predated and no eggs were present, I was and still am devastated.
What could have done this? We realise we have Pine Martins about, also Stoats and Weasels, my feelings it was one of the latter two as the branches are a bit to flimsy for a Martin. Last week in a spot the other end of the garden we had exactly the same thing with a Blackbirds nest with three eggs also. This makes me think it will be a lean year for the birds nesting in the garden, maybe only the House Sparrows will produce a brood as their nest box hotels are high on the gable ends of our roof. All lower Tit boxes are in danger as a Stoat ot Weasel will easily get into them, I shall just have to keep an eye on them as a couple are being occupied already. So sad, but as Mr Packham would say, “that’s nature”. Below is the only destroyed egg I was able to find below the nest, but just look at the beauty of the colour and spots, perfection from a perfect bird.
Our garden is very much a shade garden as most of it faces East, grabbing plenty of light in the morning then spending the rest of the day in at least partial shade, therefore ferns grow well on this side of the house. This little one just has to find the smallest of crevices in the rock wall s and away it goes, so delicate but able to withstand these fairly harsh conditions.
Today is election day and I am a presiding officer at this lovely building in a small Perthshire village some 15 miles from home. I need to be up and out of the house by five thirty am to enable me to get there and set everything up before seven. So imagine my surprise on waking before five to discover three inches of snow on my car. One of the fastest wash and dress times I have ever recorded to get out and sweep the car off and make my way out of the house by five twenty. As we are fairly high up the first section of our road was a bit tricky to negotiate but once down in the village the snow was thinner and the roads were clear, presumably because of the heat stored in the tarmac. It was only on negotiating the the higher section of the very bendy road to the polling station that it was dodgy, but got there okay to be welcomed by this view. The hall has been recently refurbished and the caretaker had put all the heaters on, so we were in a warm environment for the day and despite the weather we had a sixty percent turnout which was good.
Normally a fairly shy bird this Jay and occasionally it’s mate visit the garden, unless I am in my hide I cannot get a shot of them as they will fly off straight away, this was taken through the double glazing in the living room. These birds are considered pest and do get shot with a gun more than with a camera, I can understand this and though i am not to keen on them they are beautifully coloured birds. The main problem for me is they are yet another predator that will rob a nest of both eggs and chicks. My theory is if I allow it to have a good feed from my feeders, it may not find the need to go looking for nests and believe me if not disturbed they will eat a lot of bird seed, taking the larger bits of seed not eaten by the Finches and Tits.
The wild Violets above are part of our garden that we both enjoy and do not like. They are such a lovely colour and even with this strange weather we are experiencing in these times, just keep popping up throughout the garden. The main problem is if you let them they will just take over the area they are growing in and out compete any plant that gets in their way. Therefore we tolerate them in small bunches but if they get to big they are swiftly removed, so enjoy them while you can as next year these will not be in this spot.
I realise that this is seven months away from the next Christmas, but when I saw this drawer open I just had to include the inspirational shot that this is. My wife spends her winter knitting and the main things she enjoys knitting are these nativity sets. , Baby Jesus in Mary’ s arms Joseph 3 kings, 3 shepherds and (as she calls them as they are so fiddley) 3 blessed sheep. Until she gives them out to charities etc at Christmas she stores them in this drawer, I think there are seven sets in here, with another eight sets elsewhere. It just seemed that as I walked past the open drawer it was to good an opportunity to miss, love them all.
Today warrants two photos as it is an important event for the village The Watermill has at last opened, all be it with restrictions but we can at last get some proper bread, a good coffee and wonderful scones. Of course we were down early to indulge ourselves and actually managed to get one of the indoor seats, so cosy as well.
The first shot is Kirsty and her sister Fiona working hard in the kitchen making the drinks and soup, todays special was Carrot, Ginger and Coconut, smelt wonderful. The second shot is Julie and Eli serving the customers with their array of freshly baked bread, a white olive loaf for me today. So good to have some life back into the village makes you think “the new normal” is around the corner.
At last things seem to be changing weather wise, we have actually gone four days without a frost and it looks like the rest of the week is going to be the same. That will be the first week since before Christmas we have gone without at least one frost in a week. This is now reflecting in the way nature is reacting, with plants shrubs and trees beginning to get a move on for the time they have lost due to our weather. No better example of this than the Rowan trees in the garden, as you can see from above they are starting to come into leaf, followed (hopefully) by some good blossom and produce plenty of berries to keep the birds going in the winter months. Legend has it up here that if you cut down the last Rowan in your garden you will have bad luck for the rest of your life. Fortunately for us the birds have distributed seeds throughout the garden and we have a wide variety of sized trees in the garden, so if one gets to big in a particular spot I can cut it down with no fear of being a misery in future. This then gives us the added bonus of if the wood is well seasoned it is a great wood for the log burner as it it burns hot and slowly, ideal.
I think I am staying within the parameters of what I set out to do “take a different subject each day”, as at this time of the year we have a fair few birds nesting within and around the garden and over the next couple of weeks I would like to include the activity at the different nests. I have already shown you the predated Thrushes nest (which incidentally has rebuilt another nest and is sitting on eggs within the garden) , but will continue to show you other species within my area. Todays example is most probably the untidiest bird when it comes to nesting we have, this (above) is the nest of a House Sparrow. Every year we have at least four or five nesting, where when we moved in we never saw a Sparrow anywhere. We encouraged them to visit us, firstly by feeding them and then building them Sparrow hotels, a long box with three separate compartments and three entry holes. But as the population grew they decided to improvise their own nesting sites, hence the taking over of two of my three artificial House Martin cups, plus two rooms in the hotels. Totally ruins my chances of ever getting House martins nesting on the house. As the House Sparrow is a declining species I do not really object.
A bird that is so quick that for ages I have been unable during this year to capture on camera, the Nuthatch. I was sitting in our lounge having a drink and I noticed one was coming regularly to the feeder with no top and as I had filled it this morning it was fairly full, thus easy pickings for a long beaked bird as it is. Went and got my camera and sat and sat and sat for well over twenty minutes and it didn’t return. Just going to give up and it came, popped its head into the top and came out with a big peanut that you can see above. I do try and keep my windows clean for just such an occasion, but the double glazing does distort the shot a bit so not the best I have taken but at least it is another garden species I can tick of my list of those i want to get during this year of different shots.
In a village such as where we live it is rare to see anything new being built, we have a charming family house being built two hundred yards down the road for us, but down in the village nothing seems to get built. Well these very modest, colourful terraced properties have just been built by the Atholl Estate have just been finished with three of the six properties already occupied. My opinion is they are delightful, well made little houses and will be very popular with most folks. Of course if they were in the main street they would look totally out of place with the old buildings, but tucked away beyond the Mill I really like them.
Previously I have shown you the male Siskin today is the turn of the female and I think you can see why I think they are my favourite bird. Such a contrast to the bold dark patched male but still beautiful colours and a gentle looking bird, but beware other birds, if either sex is on the feeders they will boss it over larger birds and get their feed in first, tough little birds. And a fitting bird to finish this mid May blog, will start the next tomorrow. Hope you enjoy.