The woodpecker family are settling in nicely in their electricity pole. I have watched the two parents (Great Spotted) shuttling to and fro fom the woods, clearly busy feeding their brood.
A characteristic of a woodpecker seems to be that whilst it takes no notice at all of a human standing near a tree watching it peck at grubs, it can't stand any other bird in the same tree, so it keeps darting about chasing off flocks of sparrows, which immediately return as soon as it starts tapping again.
The swallows have returned with a great noise of chattering. They always return each year to the barn to their old nests, but this year they have been inspecting the house as well.
We have had the doors and windows open in the warm weather, and they have been flying in an out casing the joint. They are like hippies looking for a new squat.
But reason has prevailed, as one of them must have pointed out that they would be stuck if we closed the doors, so I think they have gone back to the barn.
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I had similar with my resident swallows when I renewed the doors on my wood store.
I miss them in a way; but not their mess!
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Been on a couple of camp-sites where Swallows have nested in the communal wash up or wash room areas. Don't bother me at all but reactions of some fellow campers on a site at Balla to them swooping round while dishes were being washed was reminiscent of the The Birds. Following year the area where nests were had been obstructed with chicken wire.
The French by contrast just put up posters pointing out that (a) Les Hirondelles are a protected species and (b) they eat mosquitoes.
At home we've had Martins stop by on passage including roosting in last years nests but not yet common. The resident population usually arrive around now.
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"The French by contrast just put up posters pointing out that (a) Les Hirondelles are a protected species"
This is to deter the French from eating them.
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I've seen quite a few swallows or swifts. I never can tell the difference, nice in a simple way to watch them.
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We have an ornamental lake at work. Sort of peering into it I could see it was teeming with life all the way up the food-chain. There is a Kingfisher there according to the corporate rumour mill, didn't get to see it today. May spend more time there during breaks as the weather warms.
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>> I've seen quite a few swallows or swifts.
>> I never can tell the difference, nice in a simple way to watch them.
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Easy to identify swifts. The are much bigger than swallows, house martins etc. with scimitar shaped curved wings.
They fly so fast and scream. Not sure why they are called devil birds.
I loved watching them when I was a child. They nested under eaves of our house..
I had a rare opportunity to examine a swift when it got trapped between the sash panes of a bedroom window. I remember how tiny its claws were and the speed at which it flew off when I released it.
At our present house, until a few years ago, the sky would be full of swifts and house martins.
The scream of the swifts was always a joy.
Then the local water filter beds were sold off for housing and the massive food source went as did the birds . I do miss them.
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Yesterday when I got fed up with yet another good discussion on here getting dirty I went and sat on the patio watching the garden.
All I could hear was bird song, no human voices or vehicles and a soft breeze blowing the bright yellow Laburnum tree casting petals all over the lawn.
Three cats were recumbent I the greenhouse with one sharing a tomato plants huge potato bag. The other two were spaced out on the patio beside the cat wacky baccy (cat nip)
Mrs Blackbird decided to bring her babies down to the pond and show them around. It must have been the first time they had seen an expanse of water and one or two tried to land on it while others made it to the patch of plants growing on the surface in the middle.
Then one discovered the slow waterfall and hopped in for a bath which meant all of them followed suit while Mum watched carefully for predators.
The cat's, as usual, couldn't be bothered and she knows this. Meanwhile the squirrel (yes, it's grey, but so what?) decided it may be a good time to pinch their food from the bird feeders in the laburnum tree and showed just how innovative and athletic he could be.
What a perfect way to spend an hour, happy in my own company and with nature all around me. I will never need money to be rich!
Pat
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We have swifts that nest in our house. They have got under the roof at the eaves and built a nest inside the cupboard we have inside under the eaves. I have built a box in the cupboard to contain them and put in a camera so we can watch them. I do hope the infra-red illumination won't deter them. They really are a joy to watch swooping around the back of the house in the evenings.
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5 fox cubs playing on my lawn. They live under my neighbour's shed but have more space here. I took a photo of a full breakfast bar as their mother suckled them at her ease. They all spend a lot of time trotting to and fro to enter the neighbour's garden on the other side, and have made a well defined track (foxtrot?) in the grass.
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Nature Notes - Harleyman
