Diary 2006

Diary 2006

I thought that, this year, I would not keep this diary specifically for the bird boxes but also report on the other wildlife events. Naturally, the badgers will feature highly as will the foxes that visit. So... here goes:-

8th January, 2006

Today was the day that I was intending to restart the nightly badgercam but there was a problem. It has been unplugged over the Christmas period as our decorative lights on the house were causing our 'flaky' broadband connection to drop out even more than usual.
When I plugged it in, there was no red light to indicate any power. Everything else was fine and nothing had been altered since I pulled the plug out just before Christmas. I tried a different power adapter and tested the one to the transmitter but it appeared dead.
I managed to buy another on eBay so, while waiting for it to arrive, I decided to check the nestbox with a camera. I was pleasantly surprised to find that a bluetit had decided to spend the night in there. It was a lucky coincidence, as I had checked the night before and the box had been empty.

Before the new wireless sender arrived, I opened the transmitter to see if there was a fuse. It was then that I found that it has an on/off switch that I have never noticed and can't have used since I switched it on over a year ago! The switch must have been knocked to the off position without my knowing. So, I have a new wireless transmitter/receiver and no use for it... yet!

I am pleased to say that the badgercam is now working every evening but the badgers are not being very cooperative. They tend to come quite late at present; generally around 10.00 pm as the ground is wet enough for them to find natural food in the fields. They tend to be earlier on frosty nights when worms are not so plentiful.

We used to get up to six badgers every night but, for the last many months, we have never seen more than three. These are Pinky and her two cubs from last year. We have no idea what has happened to the others and we don't know where their sett is, either.

However, we have noticed that Pinky does not arrive with the cubs and we believe that she is now living on her own. I have been reliably informed that, when badgers get older, they are frequently forced to leave the sett and live on their own. As they are 'geriatric', by now, they are unable to find a new site for a sett so tend to live under sheds or in hollow trees etc.

Pinky is certainly showing signs that she is not digging, as her claws are incredibly long. You can see this from the picture below. There's a large versions if you click on it.

Her cubs appear not to mind her being on the patio with her but she is obviously not as relaxed as she used to be. She seems thinner, too, but I suspect that she is pregnant from her shape. If this is the case, she should be having cub(s) next month.

Meanwhile, they are appearing and I have had emails and signatories in the Guest Book which show that there are people from many parts of the world who are regular watchers.

Our rooster, that first appeared on 8th January, continued to use the box for about a week and then went AWOL! I suspected that it was trying out one of the other nest boxes in the garden. Neither of these have cameras, yet, so I have bunged up the entrances for the time being to get the rooster to settle. I shall un-bung them shortly as I don't want to remove them. This action has brought it back to the camera box and it seems quite happy with the arrangement. I have a camera coming any day now, so I will install it in one of the boxes and keep watch in that one, too.

The brambling which I reported on another page (LINK) has been joined by at least one more but we haven't seen the jay nor the nuthatch since those freezing days in December.

23rd January, 2006

We had visits from three foxes and three badgers on Saturday and last night, we saw two foxes and three badgers. At one time, Pinky was there with one of her cubs and another time with a fox and badger together. Pictures of some, below. I have tried to show the pink patch on Pinky's nose and another to show how a normal claw appears on her cub. Unfortunately, there is a peanut right at the tip of the cub's nose that makes it, too, look pink!
The foxes always give the badgers a wide berth and, last nigh, once the badger got close to the food bowl, the fox left. The pictures were grabbed from some video that I took so the quality is not brilliant.

A cub and the pale fox	A cub showing a normal claw
A view of Pinky's nose	Pinky again

The rooster has been arriving before 5.00pm each day and leaving around 7.30am. It's actually much darker when it leaves than when it arrives!

6th March, 2006

The new camera is installed and works quite well. It has 6 LEDs which work in darkness to give a B/W picture and in colour if there is enough light. The colours aren't great but I may be able to tweak them.
Here are some pictures of the Mark I version of the Perspex lid and one showing the little camera.

Here are two pictures taken with the new camera. The one on the left was taken with the lid down and the one on the right with it in the up position. The focus is better in the 'up' position since that is where I am hoping it will be for most of the time.

The rooster is still coming to the box each evening and now has a mate who is interested. She has been making several visits to clean out after the dirty little devil has made such a mess inside! Today, I have watched coming and going several times. Each time, she removes one dropping.
Yesterday, I had my camera trained on the outside of the box to watch her coming and going. On one occasion, the male arrived, entered and called to her. He appeared to be told, "I am not coming in till you come out!" So he left and she came in. She looked around and did a few short wiggles. When she left, she took a dropping with her.

The dirty box

The female wiggling

Removing a dropping

Click the icon to see a video of the male and female using the box.
It's 1.9megs and lasts for just over a minute.

8th March, 2006

There has been some other news recently. There are 3 badgers that now arrive pretty regularly and have been eating everything that is put out for them in double quick time! Pinky's claws are still looking far too long which still lead us to believe that she is not a member of the sett. She is still feeding at the same time as others, though which is encouraging.

I have been meaning to mention news of our bird visitors. There are still a great many starlings. We only see any during these few winter months. In our last home, they were about all we ever saw!

I put a new feeder out almost 6 weeks ago and it was over three weeks before anything was seen to use it. It is a special niger (nyjer) seed feeder. We have had siskins and goldfinches appear but they have never stayed. We are hoping that this feeder my tempt them. So far, we have only seen an occasional visit by a great tit and several by greenfinches. I also saw a goldcrest on the Christmas tree which we planted in the front garden. This is only the second one that I have ever seen. The first was reported on another page. I was very excited to see it and whilst I was watching, it flew off to make a circular flight to another part of the hedge. As it did so, a cat leapt from its hiding place and took it in mid-air. I was stunned and in shock for some time. I am thrilled that there is still one around. I have added a fat ball to the tree and it has had to be replaced every day as it has been found by all the other birds. I am still hoping to see the goldcrest again, though.

The rooster is still a nightly visitor in the box and a mate has been cleaning the box. Here is how it looks this morning.

It's a very wet, miserable day so far and I haven't seen any visits, yet.

23rd March, 2006

There been no sign of any nest building, yet and the weather has been very cold; apart from last Tuesday which was glorious! The male is still roosting over-night and the female has been coming in each day to 'clean-up' after him.

I set up a niger feeder about six weeks ago and today was the first time that we have seen two goldfinches feeding on it. I missed managing to get a picture of them but, while I was waiting, I saw four magpies on the bush behind the house. There were five earlier. I managed to get a couple of pictures of the four, though.

Four magpies on the bush

We had a visit from a new 'cyber-buddy' last week. His is a local photographer and wanted to take some pictures of our badgers. Here are a couple that he took.

There are large versions of the pictures if you click on them.

28th March, 2006

There has been little action in the birdbox lately. The weather has been very wet and very windy and not conducive to courtship! The rooster continues to sleep in the box each night. It is noticeable that he is often arriving earlier than normal and sleeping in later, too. This is all because of the inclement weather!

When it has been nicer, I have seen the female enter and do her cleaning up chores. I saw her just once this morning before the rain set in.

Meanwhile, the box looks like this right now. I can't decide if the detritus in the corners is moss or not. I haven't seen any being brought in but it looks as if it could be. Also, the fact that it hasn't been removed by the 'house-keeper' would lead to it being moss.

If it is, it has clearly been pushed to the edges by the shuffle wiggles that the female does.

I have finally got some pictures of the two goldfinches that I saw on our newish niger seed feeder. As I mentioned earlier, it has taken around two months to be used.

There are some pictures of them below. Larger versions if you click on them.

A pair of goldfinches

A goldfinch

The pair of goldfinches again

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the garden , the fox has been absent for several days. Last time he was visiting, he allowed me to open the patio doors and throw some sausages to him. They were cut into chunks and each chunk was thrown a little nearer each time. I managed to get him to come onto the deck to collect them.

The badgers still arrive and are demolishing all the food in short time! I may have to provide a second sitting as they generally return just to make sure that they have eaten everything!

13th April, 2006

At last here has been some progress in the bird box. A nest started to be made yesterday and more bedding was added today. Most of the activity occurs in the mornings. It would appear that the eventual nest cup will be towards the back of the box which is usual. It may also be slightly to the left.

Here is a shot of how it looks at present

We also saw a large moth by the patio window a few days ago. Here is a picture of it. If you click it, there is a larger version. I have been informed that it is a female Emperor moth.

16th April, 2006

Nest building has been making great progress over the last few days. Most of the activity is in the morning and starts around 8.00. I watched the female collecting the grassy material for the bottom of the nest box. She was getting some from the inside of a neighbour's greenhouse. The house is empty and the door to the greenhouse has been left open so there is dry material in there. She had also been stripping moss from the branches and trunk of the hawthorn tree.
I once saw the male enter the box with a grub as an offering. He called but, as she didn't turn up, he ate it himself. Generally, he is obliged to leave as soon as she arrives. He is frequently jumped on as she enters the box.
On Friday, I set up a camcorder to record her arriving with bedding so that I could edit both the internal and external shots for a DVD that I am hoping to produce. I was very lucky to grab the sequence that is linked below.
This shows her arriving with a beak that was so full with bedding that she couldn't get through the hole. She crashed! She managed to collect herself and tried again but, this time, she fluttered ground-wards! She appeared again and managed to get a foothold on the hole but, as she forced her way in, the bedding was stripped from her mouth and she arrived inside with nothing! She appeared a little non-plussed but decided that, now she was in, she'd do a couple of shuffles before trying again. Here are a couple of stills from the sequence.

Click on the pictures for large versions and the
video icon for the video

It is about 2 megs and lasts for 19 seconds

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