Bird Table News

I have not seen a blue tit in or near my garden for ages.

I hope it’s because there is enough food for them in the countryside.

I hope they are having a good nesting season.

Last year was a really bad breeding year for Blue Tits. 

 Blue Tit breeding in 2007 - a bad year

Lets hope that in 2008 they managed to rear their young before this bad weather came

Over the last two or three days I’ve seen a bird I don’t really recognise.

Maybe I should recognise it.

It is not a young starling.  It is not a blackbird.  It could be a type of thrush.

It has ‘whitish’ markings on its wings when it is perched on the fencce.

It’s lower breast is dark with white spots.

It seems larger than a thrush.

Has anyone any ideas.

This wet weather has been bad for holiday makers and bad for harvest and it has made for a very depressing time.

This wet weather has been really good for Thrushes.  It’s made it easy for them to ‘dig’ into the soft, wet grass with their beaks and get the ‘lovely food’ they find there.  Things like worms.

Hopefully this wet weather will mean Thrushes have had a good breeding year.

I must admit in very dry weather I often throw old wash basin water out onto a section of grass.  There are always thrushes there .  I always throw it onto the same piece of grass. 

If I’ve been cleaning the windows  I throw the old water onto the grass as well.

Don’t laugh.  It all helps. 

I know how hard soil can become.  I’ve tried digging when it’s very dry and the soil is like rock.  Imagine what it must be like for the thrushes trying to get at the food out of the hard ground.  Knowing there is food there but not being able to reach it.  

all we have to do is throw a little water onto the lawn - in dry weather that is.

No!  No!  I don’t mean I have a pet rook.  This is about a lady who took a half dead rook chick  home to feed it.  
It’s strange but twice within a period of two weeks I’ve heard of people looking after young rooks.

In this case the rook  grew strong and she was hoping to turn it back out into the wild.  Then one day she realised that she had left it too late.  The Rook spoke to her.  It spoke with such clarity it amazed her.  It has been listening and had copied her speach.  I won’t tell you what it said.

If you would like to know more about this book you can either click on the small image below or go to my  Amazon uk bookshop which is on the right hand side of the page.

The book is called Corvus: A life With Birds by Esther Woolfson

Esther has shared her home with many birds and from the excerpts I have read this is an entertaining book.  She must be mad about birds.  Would you let a bird peck into the plaster in your hallway so that it could have a place to store it’s food.  I thought not!

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 Earlier in August I got an interesting question about feeding a young rook.  Andy had found an injured young rook and was, at it turned out, feeding it a very good diet.  

I’ve just heard that the rook is doing well -

I took the bird out of the cage today and held it for an examination
of the damage to its feathers. It showed a loss of feather at the tail
and wings.

Definate bite shaped losses which are pretty extensive. I do
think a moult will sort this

BUT means the bird may be too “socialised”
to go out to the wild. I will have to be careful with me contact, until
I am fully aware of the damage and determination of the bird to go.
He/she has a much better feather shine and is very alert and shows
little signs of stress with my visits to the cage.
I do make a little whistle and clicking sound, to alert it to my
approach, which seems to prevent shock etc.
I can understand your, and many other’s, dislike to the crow family.

Their reputation for colourful play and delicate eating habits are not
well known, to say the least, yet I can say that “ronnie” has shown
impeccable manners and has not pecked the hand that feeds, YET.
Great to keep in touch and thank you for your comments about my
offering.
All the best, 

THANKS FOR KEEPING US UP TO DATE WITH RONNIE -  Just don’t talk to Ronnie too much.  You may find it talking back to you. 

How long do Rooks live?  Have you got a pet for life?
 

(Why am I pleased the rook is doing well then rooks in my garden annoy me no end)

 I would never have thought anyone would raise a rook.  It is amazing what people do.  If i didn’t have my blog I would never have found out such interesting stuff. 

I do know that rookeries are supposed to bring good luck.  If a lot of rooks nest in the same area it is called a Rookery.  We have a rookery near us.   Sometimes the sound of the rooks and crows is so loud.

They say things come in threes.  I hope I don’t find a young, injured rook.  It is the last thing I need at the moment. 

It is 14 days since the corn was ready for harvesting.

For those fourteen days there have only been 10 hours when they could combine.

We have had 14 days of wet weather. It has not been raining all the time, but when it rains it leaves the corn too wet to harvest. The sun comes out for a while, then it rains again.

Frustrating summer harvest.

The corn could have been so wonderful.

There have still been other jobs to do. Bringing a few cows in from a small paddock that hasn’t enough grass left for the cows to eat. Milking twice day, looking after the calves and bullocks. It’s never ending!

All I can say is drink British milk and eat British meat!

It seems it has been a really good harvest in other parts of the world. This means, because there is now a lot of corn (wheat), the price we get for our corn will come down. Lets wait and see if the price of bread comes down as well.

The crop in the photographs is barley. We have wheat and barley in our fields. Barley is always combined first.

Here are the photos

Here’s hoping that the sun shines today and we get a go at harvesting the corn. Everyone is hoping that we will be working late into Saturday evening to get the corn in. Then if the sun stays out we will be working all day on Sunday as well.

If it’s a fine sunny day we’ll be working. If it rains we can go out!

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16th August 2007 - Bird Table News One Year Ago - Pesky Starlings

I’m still having bird feeding problems.

I don’t know if they are really problems.  There haven’t been any birds at the two feeders that I hang from the branches of a tree. 

I have seen a squirrel there though.

I would have thought that birds would have taken advantage of this covered bird food in all this wet weather.

I still haven’t strung the bird feeders in a different way yet - I’ll make it so a squirrel can’t get to them.

Also, since my covered bird table has come apart and I have put a new bird table there I haven’t seen one bird on this new bird table.  Is it because

• I have put a new bird table there 
• it because the squirrel is near
• Is it because there is enough food in the countryside

I live 6 miles from the nearest shop and I forgot to get some string when I was there  which is why I havn’t moved the two bird feeders.  Also my back has been hurting and I don’t want to go up any garden steps to tie the string between two branches.

Straight Bird food - you may be interested