We are getting rabbits and pheasants still visiting!  A blackbird was resting in the dry soil.  It looked as though it had made a nest in the soft soil and had settled down for a snooze

The smaller birds still enjoy the meshed ground feeder.  They are safe inside.

Blackbirds and thrushes don’t have safety and hop about in the hedgerow, then along the grass.

Today I saw the feathers of a dead bird on the grass.  It will either be a sparrowhawk or a cat.

I hope it is a sparrowhawk that attacked and killed the bird.  At least that my move on.  A cat on the other hand will prowl all night long and kill so many birds.

As you can see I haven’t been writing much lately.  This is due to computer problems, internet problems and health problems.

I always seem to have something wrong with my computer.

I often can’t seem to access Bird Table News to write about anything birdy!   That’s due to computer problems.

I have back and knee problems – Oh dear me!  I am supposed to do healthy things now like swimming and yoga to help my back and knees.   It doesn’t do me any good to sit at a computer for a long length of time.

I will still be writing about birdy things sometimes and I will still check in to see if anyone has asked a question that I can help with.

But what I won’t be doing is writing every day or even every week.  I will be too busy feeding birds, doing yoga and swimming.  Sounds too energetic for me!

Trisha

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I’ve just heard of an account of blackbirds feeding robin nestlings

Two blackbirds built a nest near to a robins nest.  The robins nest was a nest box and it had a front opening.

There were 4 eggs in the robins nest and all hatched.  The robins were fed by their parents and all was well.

One morning the cock blackbird was seen carrying insects in its beak – the blackbird flew to the robins nest.  Clinging to the robins’ nest box  the blackbird fed the insects to the young robins.

Amazing.  This happened more than once. In fact it was seen that the robins had left the nest. The robin chicks were fed by the blackbird.

At night time the blackbird flew and clung to the nest box opening.  This would have been to shelter the young robins.

The young robins did fledge and the blackbird was seen feeding them for a day or two.  I don’t know if the young robins did survive.

The blackbird eggs then hatched and the blackbirds went on to rear their own brood

The person who witnessed this is so lucky to have seen this happening in front of them in their  garden.

So as well as bird eating bird - birds do care for other birds as well.

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The nest boxes  on the trees  are a hive of activity and the branches have grown that they now nearly hide the nest box entrance – the branches and leaves blowing in the breeze.  I can still see what is going on through the window though.

It’s rewarding to see blackbirds and thrushes find their way into my  home made wire mesh and cane bird feeder.  I think I have now stopped the pigeons getting in as well now.

The pond is still used a lot – and I’m so glad we have it as we have so many birds visit every day.  Two tips  if you are making a pond – make at least one side sloping and also have a ledge a few inches deep on the other parts of the pond.  The ‘ledge’ will be underwater when the pond is full but many birds will be able to stand on this ledge to have a bird bath.

Take Care.  Trisha

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Bird Table News is 3  Year Old Today.  Where’s the candles?  Where’s the bottle of wine?

I’ve made it.  I’ve battled with technology and won

Here is my first note on Bird Table News

Some things change. Some things stay the same.

The thing that has changed is technology.  Now we can get smaller camcorders, digital recording devices to record birdsong,  I’ve joined Twitter and some times ‘tweet’ there,  My blog is run on Wordpress – they always keep updating that – so I have to learn that.  I now know about widgets, plug ins, pixels, You Tube and a little bit about videos, making a calender with my birdy photos – and lots more. 

One of the things that has stayed the same is that the rooks are still maurauding the bird tables. It’s a strange coincidence that I started writing this online diary at the same time that the rooks started to come to the bird tables.  Another thing that has stayed the same is the garden birds that seem to take my feeders for granted and seem to feel at home here.

There have been so many things happen over this 3 years.  You would think that bird feeding would just be bird feeding, but no.  Things happen.  Here are a few things that I remember.

• I’ve seen a crow eating a blackbird. 
• I’ve been so close to a robin. 
• I’ve wanted to throw a brick at this computer. 
• I’ve really enjoyed hearing from people who have taken the time to contact me.  Thank you. 
• ‘ve turned out in snow, sun and rain to feed the birds. 
• I’ve spent a fortune on bird food. 
• I’ve had to think of ways to keep crows off the bird food. 
•  once  my camcorder broke and II couldn’t afford another one.  Then we found out it was covered with insurance
• I’ve enjoyed feeding kitchen scraps / left overs to the birds
• We’ve had a tawny owl in our garden.  The RSPCA came and took tawny to an Owl Sanctuary, but sadly Tawny  died at the Owl Sanctuary.  
• We’ve put up a barn owl box only to find a Jackdaw nesting in it. 
• I’ve seen a sparrow bring her fledglings to the fence above the ground feeder.  I could have sworn I heard the sparrow say ‘This woman is our servant and puts food on our plates everyday’.  

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I started Bird Table News in May 2007.  Unfortunately at Christmas 2008 there was a catastrophic hosting error (not our fault).  We lost our Blogs!  I started from scratch in January 2009.  I still wonder if I should have just done a pen and paper diary.

I still have notes and memories from May 2007 onwards and I sometimes put them on Bird Table News.  That is why I say the Bird Table News started in May 2007.

Best.  Trisha

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My neck, back and knees are painful.  Sometimes every step I take hurts.  My neck aches and the ache seems to travel down my back.  This is all day long.  It wears me down.

I haven’t felt like sitting at a computer, as it has taken me all my time to feed the birds, feed myself and hubby, clean the house and have a rest and try to get over this problem.

I am getting myselff sorted  though. 

 Wednesday – swimming.  

Thursday – Pilates.  

Friday- Acupuncture

I feel better than I did.

Saturday – a pint of guiness or a glass or two of red wine

I’ve still been feeding all the chirpy birds every day and seeing to their every need.   A  minute ago I was marvelling that they can sing so sweetly  and full of joy yet they don’t know what tomorrow brings.

If anyone would like to write about their bird -

• knowledge,
• stories,
• feelings 
• advice
• photographs
• videos  - 

now would be a good time.  It would help me. Please contact me and let me know.

This could be a communal blog.

I got an email newsletter ready a few weeks ago and then had a disaster with the computer,so am going to try again later this week.

There is such a flurry of activity in the garden.  I’ve had to put some wire netting round a circle of canes .  I put a small circle of canes in the soil and threw bird food inside, but the rooks could get their beaks in so I have put some wire netting round the canes.  I’m getting loads of garden birds in this weird looking bird feeder.  I go to this trouble as i want to let the blackbirds and thrushes in and a lot of caged bird feeders are not big enough for blackbirds and thrushes

Trisha

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Have just been outside to put the first batch of bird food onto the tables and feeders.

It’s a hive of activity out there.  Yesterday I saw large crows with large twigs in their beaks to use for making a nest, then a moment later I saw two sparrows pop in and out of one of  a nest  box.

New life is springing up all around!  The hedges are budding, the grass is growing the sun is shining.

Have a good day

Trisha

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Rooks seem to feed in flocks.  I’ve been watching them on the ground in the grass field in front of the house, .They are searching for invertebrates such as earthworms and leatherjackets.  Once one or two rooks find a good spot in the field they are joined by the rest of the flock.  Which is why, at the moment,  I get so many at my bird feeders and at the ground feeders.  They have spotted a good place to feed and are being joined by the others. 

Have got to get the covers and canes sorted so they cannot reach the food.

Crows on the other hand feed alone.

It’s not just the rooks that are building nests.  When you think about it every other bird in the country is preparing to or is already getting ready to build nests and bring new bird life into the countryside.

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There was more mud in the pond than water!

But in among it all we’ve seen frogs, newts and toads + the fish.

Note:  I’ve been told that if you break the ice on  a  pond in winter it is bad for the fish.  When a pond is frozen the water is warmer at the bottom of the pond where life survives.  If the ice is broken then the freezing weather seeps down and destroys the warmer water – thereby destroying the life that has been surviving there.   Is this so?

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This is a story – it is a factual story of different types of birds migrating

“On nights when strong moonlight framed deep shadows over fields and woods, small warblers were seen to migrate towards the moon – as if intent on proving Charles Morton had at least something of a case!  Ideal conditions for migration proved to be clear calm nights when the stars were shining, though without such brilliance that the eyes were dazzled.

The fact that far more small song birds migrate by night than by day has generally been thought to be due to the need to escape maurauding predators.   Recently it has been suggested that the birds may find navigation by night more reliable than day time flying by the sun, though we cannot exclude the possibility that even in daylight they may seek guidance from the stars and moon.”

And so the book goes on with stories which always include bird migration,  Dunkirk is mentioned as are shepherds and stockmen striding across the marshes.  It’s such an interesting book and was published in 1961

I recommend you read it

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If I put the cheese out later in a morning we get  quite a few pigeons, starlings and crows getting the cheese. 

I find the cheese goes nearly as soon as I put it out.  The blackbirds appear from all over the place.  They usually hop swftly towards the food as soon as I put it in the garden., with the thrushes joining in.

The blackbirds often come quite close to me as they perch on the fence – I think the prospect of a bit of cheese makes them brave.  I can see the brightness of the feathers as we look at each other for a second.

A robin has just hopped onto the empty birdtable.

There isn’t any activity as the nest boxes yet.  There is still a quietness in the garden.

There  is frost about this morning.  The grass is covered with f rost and the water bowl is frozen but I think the sun will soon be out and the frost will disappear. 

Time for breakfast before I fill up the birdtable

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