Wildlife in the garden - Indian summer?

[Osgood]

Yesterday we had a real surprise - a strange looking visitor trying to get in the back door.


It looked for all the world like a scrawny roadrunner / flamingo crossbreed (somewhat taken aback, we didn't think to take a photo pre-capture or post-release).
Seemed to be looking for water as it made a beeline for the dog's outside water bowl.
It didn't appear to be in a rush to go anywhere, so first of all we shut the HuntPointRetrieve dog inside ( ) and then I managed to catch it with a white sheet.
We determined it had to be an escapee from a pheasant-rearing institution, so out came the pliers to cut the plastic retaining pin of the strange addition.
It had a drink but shirked the sunflower seeds, was still hanging around in the evening in the adjacent stubble field, but I would be surprised if Mr. Fox has not caught up with it overnight - oh well, we'll keep an eye out for it today.

Subsequent research reveals the device is a pecking guard, put on the young birds at 2 weeks to prevent them attacking each other, and removed at 6 weeks pre-release.
Apparently the device increases their chance of survival - somewhat ironic given that if they do survive, their fate is to be made to fly in front of a line of shotgun-wielding (Edit: people), shot, and then most likely dumped in a hole due to lack of demand.

In case you hadn't already worked it out, I am not very taken with the concept of rearing birds just so they can be shot for sport.
That said, whilst I have no interest in guns / shooting, I can at least understand the enjoyment and purpose of a Rough Shoot, where wild birds are stalked in open countryside, shot, and taken away for eating.
To say any more would be distinctly un-WT.

 

[Eastsidepilot]

I'd say that device was pure cruelty purely for the enjoyment of a human being ! I can think of many human beings that could do with a device to shut their gobs !
Whole heartedly agree with your sentiments Tony.

 

[michael mott]

Had a juvenile American robin visit us yesterday sat on the planter for the longest time, before flying up into our oak tree.



Michael

 

[Dog Star]

Earlier this year I asked the WT-mind for advice on how to prevent Pigeons from taking the bird seed that I put out for ground feeders (aka Dunnock, Chaffnch, Blackboard), recommendations for suitable deterrents are noted at that time - see Ground Feeder.

I dutifully bought something from the RSPB (sale time offer) and the ground feeding station has done a reasonable Ronseal job (although some squirrels seem to be able to get through the mesh).

A couple of months back I wrote about feeding Hedgehogs in our garden, I think that we have been successful in that we see one or two hogs each night. Yesterday the dogs were going mad and telling us that there was something in the garden and yet I could not find any hedgehog. About fifteen minutes later Peter and I went to put water and hog food out... and found a hog eating the bird food on the top of the feeder table.




The mesh size is about 2" x 2"... the hog seems able to squeeze through the wires.

regards, Graham

 

[Dog Star]

Over the duration of this topic I have featured bird visitors to our garden, mostly birds that come frequently and occasionally birds that we see only once or twice. The photo below shows three Long Tail Tits - probably the first visit of this summer. Strange to see just three on the feeder when last year there were 8 or 9 or 10 visiting at a time.




Hog sightings continue and their visits are not only regular in respect of days of the week, also regular as to time of day and location in the garden. A recent visit was announced by our Cavalier King Charles on time and I went to find the animal, no such luck so I let the dog into the garden. Instantly the dog showed me where the Hog was... in amongst some cereal crops that had germinated from seed dropped by visiting birds, as here:-




Comparison of "size" suggests that there are three different hogs coming to feed. Local advice tells me that we have, probably, a female with cream-tipped spines and two males with brown/black tips to the spines. How they get into the garden is a mystery as is how long do they stay - suffice to say that the food bowls are empty every morning.

 

[simond]

In view of the reported dearth of sparrows in the UK, I’m delighted to report no lack of them in Ticino or Lombardy.

 

[SimonT]

Graham,
the Great Tit is famous for the variation in numbers. They travel in family groups and are hit hard by cold and lack of food. I went from 17 to three over one winter. They do lighten a dark day.
Simon

 

[Lancastrian]

This was a visitor to my garden the other week. A young bird I believe and most likely stressed and shocked from seeing another ripped apart. All that remained was a wing !

Ian

 

[Dog Star]

Last week Peter and I visited Birdworld at Farnham where there are two colonies of penguins - Humbolt and Africa - we went specifically to see the Africa Penguins. The zoo publishes the times that the animals are fed and so we made our way to the penguin pool in good time to ensure a reasonable view. What was most interesting was that in the 15 minutes or so between getting to the pool side and a keeper arriving with the food several birds from outside of the zoo joined the penguins.... Herons. Here are photos of some of the five Herons that came for tea with the Humbolts.

 

[Dog Star]

We grow Hibiscus shrubs in our garden as that variety of plant provides plenty of aphids for the Blue Tits and Great Tits as well as good cover for many of the small birds that visit our garden. The adult plants have been growing for at least twenty years and recently we have found young plants growing under the canopy of the adult plants - a few years back I lifted a few seedlings and planted them in large pots.

The adult plants start flowering in early July and the blooms last until the end of August.... nothing unusual there then.

The seedlings have grown to about 12" in height over five years and this year those plants have bloomed for the first time - at least two weeks after the adult plants have dropped their blooms. How we have got mauve flowers when our adults produce white flowers is something to be determined.




The plant on the right of the previous photo is the interloper and is a wonderful mauve colour... a very apt shade because this plant bloomed on September 8th.

edit on 4th October... whilst the white flowers (above) have wilted and fallen the mauve bloom (below) is still going strong.

 

[Dog Star]

Not quite as I intended when I started this topic more than two years back, however, the photo below shows what was spotted in our (front) garden this morning.


I had no idea that the present for the Good Lady would be so heavy when I placed the order. Delivery by Fedex was by 7T lorry with tail lift to the main road at the end of the close and then by pallet trolley to the front door.

To be continued on "Wife's Work Bench" as and when the first quilt post pandemic emerges.

regards, Graham

 

[Rob R]

We spotted this little fella this morning whilst out for a walk.

Nowhere near our garden though. Sorrento, Italy.
There are dozens of then sunning themselves but lightning fast, this was the only one that stood still long enough for a half decent picture.

 

[Jordan]

Here are photos of some of the five Herons that came for tea with the Humbolts.

When our lad was little we woke one sunny morning to the sight of a heron perched on our shed roof. Took several photos but we didn't go outside so as not to startle it away.

Come the evening and our less-than-thrilled neighbour asked if we'd seen the heron that morning? Yes, wasn't it nice to see nature quite close up, etc... er, no, actually. Our neighbour turned out to be less than thrilled because when we saw the heron, it was digesting it's breakfast, which was all the expensive Koi fish our neighbour had put in his new pool the evening before....

 

[Dog Star]

Time to think about what came to the garden during, the last few weeks of summer. The House Sparrows have deserted us... gone as quickly as they arrived. We have had a few visits from a small flock of Long-Tail Tits, maybe three or four birds at a time. I have seen no visit from any of Bullfinches, Goldfinches, Great Tits or Dunnocks. Surprisingly we have had up to four Robins at a time and without any territorial behaviour.

The Hedgehog visits are worth noting, there has been an increase in how often they come to feed - we put out 200gms of dry Hedgehog food and all goes each night along with most of the water bowl contents (two separate feeding bowls about 20' apart). A local wildlife specialist advised that Hogs need at least 20% of their body mass in food each day to prepare themselves for hibernation so with adult Hogs weighing between one and two pounds (Hogs have no concept of mixed measurements) then each animal needs roughly 100 gms per day... and we know that we have had two Hedgehogs visit at a time hence 200 gms per night.

Our dogs let us know when the Hogs are in the garden and mostly that is about 10pm. However, recently, the spaniel has been getting agitated in the early hours, real silly o'clock stuff, and generally the dog is correct. Yesterday I was woken by the spaniel reporting Hogs at 3am and that seemed unusual - a walk around the garden showed that there were two animals feeding from the same bowl, one large Hog (about 8 inches end to end) and one smaller Hog (about 6 inches top to tail). The wildlife specialist believes that the larger animal is female and the smaller one is male. And then the spaniel barked again at 4.30am... correct... this time there were two Hogs feeding from the second food bowl (this bowl is under an upside-down wheelbarrow to keep the food dry... so not able to say anything about their respective sizes).

Nice to have confirmation that there are at least two Hedgehogs coming for food... how am I going to establish if the number visiting is actually greater? (please, no need to suggest that I ought to get a go-pro or similar device, thinking about that idea).

regards, Graham

 

[Mike W]

What is the special hedgehog food Graham? I read that they like cat food, so that's what I put down near to our posh and expensive new hog house. The food goes every night, but no sign that any hog has actually been inside the house. The food could have been taken by cats, a fox or several other creatures but I'm reluctant to put it actually inside the house entrance where it would be out of paw's reach?

I have seen two hogs in the garden at the same time, so they are around.

Mike

 

[Max M]

The food could have been taken by cats, a fox or several other creatures but I'm reluctant to put it actually inside the house entrance where it would be out of paw's reach?

You can add Blackbird's to the list that partake of cat food.
We put ours under a paving stone on two bricks to stop the local moggies scoffing the lot.
Didn't take long for the Blackbird's to polish off what the hogs don't eat.

I did put some food into the HH house to try and entice one to take up residence. It went but no occupier.

 

[Dog Star]

Interesting comments guys, thank you. We have two dogs which patrol our garden so the local Moggy Brigade steer well clear of us. The bag for the Hedgehog food has a comment that Dogs and Cats might well try to eat the food so we do not put out the food bowls until after our Dogs have finished in the garden for the evening.

Mike, Brambles dry and crunchy hog food, available from garden centres and from Amazon.

I do not know about birds wanting to eat the Hog crunch... at least one of our visitors likes the food on the ground feeder (see here)

We have thought about a Hedgehog house for the winter period... the key feature appears to be to have an internal wall to minimise draught and deter small mammals. Since we have two sheds adjacent to an external boundary fence... with bushes and trees on the other side of the fence... and both sheds sit on paving slabs with wood bearers on breeze blocks (to provide 4" air gap).... I suspect that if the Hogs choose to hibernate in our garden then they are going to be under our shed(s). We have seen visitors go under the sheds when approached by the dogs.

regards, Graham

 

[Paul Cram]

We put out Hedghog food, which is crunchy and the hen blackbirds take it.

 

[Rob Pulham]

In our experience, hedgehog houses need to become part of the scenery before they use them. We had one originally, in use but it was made from wood that had been stacked at the side of where they had been sleeping so it probably smelled familiar.

We decided to build a second house around this time last year in the hope that we might encourage more to over winter with us. They didn't even venture into it last year before hibernation, but its been in regular use this year.

We built a third this spring after seeing signs of activity in the second and a few months later that started to be used. So don't despair if they don't use it this year, they will probably make use of it next year.

 

[Suffolk Dave]

Little do the Collared Doves know why I put out seed...