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We
set about disinfecting the bird boxes and moving one of them.
The box that the birds used faced East and had a layer of
moss at the bottom on which there was a nest built of dried
grass, animal hair and feathers, to our untrained eye it looked
very cosy and much the sort of thing a chick would like to
be hatched in. It was very successful last year, at least
six Blue tit chicks were fledged.
The other box faced North so we have moved it to the East
facing wall a few yards from its companion. Looking inside
to see if it had been used we found a single layer of moss,
a wasp nest and some spiders webs and spiders. The birds had
tried it out and started with the moss bed but decided against
it and moved, possibly as there were no nearby shrubs to perch
on before entering the nest box. The wasp nest was about
three inches across which is not large; we think the queen
wasp would have started building it in the comparatively warm
weather of last April but succumbed to the vicious frost in
early May, along with most of the fruit buds on the apple
and pear trees in the village.
We have been given a bat box and an insect box for Christmas
so I now have to find somewhere to put up two more boxes.
The bat box has an entrance at the bottom and rough wood for
clinging to; once it is installed and bats show an interest,
it will not be removed as bats are a protected creature. Hopefully
it will be used continuously unlike the bird boxes that are
only used for nesting.
The insect "box" is about the same size as a bird
box but is a solid cube of wood. The face of the solid cube
has 1/2 inch diameter holes drilled from the front nearly
to the back. Hopefully each hole will become a des. res. for
an insect (bumble bee, spider, queen wasps winter quarters,
bumble bee etc. ). It is also worth encouraging solitary bees
as they do much good in the garden by pollinating fruit, bushes
and shrubs, vegetables and flowers).
The sparrow hawks are still around. We sometimes look out
of the window and wonder where the small birds have gone,
they are hiding because they have seen the hawks. There was
a commotion in the fir trees near us recently when seven or
eight pigeons suddenly shot out of the woodland and made their
escape in all directions followed by one of the sparrow hawks.
The flower border underneath the bird feeders and bird table
looks like the ground in a chicken run as the pheasants regularly
scratch the ground beneath looking for anything worth eating
that the little birds have thrown away, but come the end of
March when the weather gets warmer all birds will be preoccupied
with nest building or producing young . Once the feeding stops
the border will be dug over. We quite often have poppies,
sunflowers and other wild flowers appearing that have seeded
from the throw outs of the seed feeders.
The snowdrops are now out, and a few primroses in a sheltered
position by the corner of the house. The daffodils are starting
to peep their buds above the ground and the crocuses are in
flower; Spring is on its way.
Diana & Richard Terry
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