Squirmy Wormies

It's spring time, and for your garden birdies that means one thing – chicks, and lots of them! Your garden birds will be super busy at the moment, and with the wonderful warm spring we've had most will be starting to think about their second brood. In the garden this weekend we've already had Greenfich, Goldfinch and Sparrow fledglings hopping around.

Live food at this time of year is a very welcome addition for those busy parents, Robins, Blackbirds and Sparrows are particularly partial to a mealworm or two. They're high in protein so make a great food source for those growing chicks. We get ours from CJ Wildlife – who not only stock live foods but a large range of seed mixes and nuts.

It can work out pretty expensive so we only really put them out at this time of year to give our feathered friends a helping hand. We'll then revert back to our normal feed which is a combination of kibbled sunflower hearts, peanuts and nyjer seed.

Snow Joke

Well, what an eventful few days we've had. We missed the first batch of snow down here in the South East but we well and truly got hit last night! I'd been quite disappointed with our measly flakes of snow this week but I couldn't complain this morning - we probably had about 3/4 inches - doesn't sound like much but for London that is pretty good :-)

Of course + snow = - trains! So both the gardeners were at home today. Had a lovely walk in a snow covered Greenwich Park at lunchtime but spent most of the day snug and warm at home.

So whilst you're toasting your toes by the fire give a little thought to the birdies and wildlife out there. They need your help - make sure you top up your feeders and put out fresh water. I've been clearing away the snow in the morning and laying down seed for the ground feeders – blackbirds, robins etc (although the pigeons are having more than their share...)

Peanuts are great and sunflowers seeds too – but if you don't want to shell out left-overs are just as good – high fat is best so cake, biscuits, cheese is a great one - our birds have had Parmesan this week (albeit an out of date one but nevertheless, only the best for the SE10 birds!)

Pete-ettes

Pete (& Pat) look what they've gone and done. They've bred. They've created another two of the damn things. And oh guess where they were tonight... yup – our garden!

Now our garden is small. It can handle one Wood Pigeon (Pete) quite comfortably. Two Wood Pigeons (Pete & Pat) is a bit of a squeeze, they kinda get in the way - their wings are too big, it's awkward.

Four. No, four is just not going to work. Pete (& Pat) this is not a creche - you've got to sort out nursery, or get your parents to look after them during the day or something. This just isn't right and it's definitely not OK.

A Little Adventure

Check him out! This is one of our little Great Tit babies that are hanging out in our garden at the moment! They're pretty timid so stay in the tree most of the time crying to mum and dad for more food. I have to say, mum and dad, hats off, you have been working like crazy.

But this little fella decided to brave it and go for a little adventure. Hopping around the garden, getting stuck in, looking for insects no doubt. We got a little worried at one point as we thought he was going to hop into the house. But instead he flew up onto the neighbours roof – hence the shot above.

Here (s)he is in the tree at the bottom of the garden.
What a cutie!

What a Great Pair!

What a lovely start to the Bank Holiday weekend. I came home from work to such a racket in the garden! And what do I find – two Great Tits razzing around like nobodies business.

They had three little fledglings in the big tree at the back of the garden – no wonder they were busy! Well they were doing a great job – I put out some dried mealworms for them which they lapped up instantly.

Also saw a Wren running backwards and forwards, hopefully he's got a brood on the go – with the hard winter we had they need to boost their numbers. Historically Wrens have been pretty good at bouncing back so fingers crossed he's doing his little bit. Imagine how small a baby Wren would be! Incy teeny weeny – bet they're so cute!

Dead chuffed about the Great Tits, we've also had a baby Starling, Blackbird and a little Dunnock. Waiting on the Goldfinches now... come on Gary, don't let us down!

Feather Someone Else's Nest

I bought one of these the other day. It's a ceramic holder for sheeps wool. Now why would I want one of those I hear you ask? It's for the little birdies. Right about now they'll be looking for twigs and feathers and all sorts of suitable material to line their nests with. A large number of birds would originally have used wool – but because our farmland is being replaced with houses, fried chicken shops and betting shops the little fellas can't really get hold of it anymore.

It's been up about a week now and I can honestly say I've not seen one bird even remotely interested in it! So today I took a little of the wool out of the holder and stuck it on a few random branches around the garden. Maybe that will encourage them to be a bit more nosey.

I'll report back with my findings.