Diary 2007 Page One

Diary 2007 Page One

21st December, 2006
It may seem strange to be starting a new diary for 2007 when this year isn't over! The reason is that, as far as my bluetits are concerned, it is time to start afresh.

The box that was used last year to successfully raise eight chicks has been removed, cleaned, sterilized and replaced. Before I took it down, I fired up the camera that is inside just in case!!

I have been having problems with my computers and had to make many alterations to the one that is connected to the box. I was surprised and pleased to find that there was already a little bird roosting in there over night.

After cleaning the box, it was absent for just one night but is now back in residence. I hope it is staking its claim for a new home and family next Spring.

Here are a couple of photos grabbed from the camera.

The 'rooster' before the box was cleaned out

The 'rooster' taken today (21st December)

An unusual thing happened today. I keep all my bird food in a galvanized coal-bunker in the garden. There are four containers with sunflower hearts, wild bird mix, fat balls and peanuts. I lifted the lid and found a very healthy-looking woodmouse had crept into the seed bin and was tucking in. I don't think he would have been able to get out and I know that he wasn't there yesterday, when I refilled the feeders.

I decided to tip him out onto the ground so that he could return home. Before doing so, I took these mug-shots of the villain!!

30th January, 2007
I have been checking on the little bird that has been roosting in my every few days. On Sunday, last, I was showing some guests that he was asleep in the box.
This evening, I was watching the hawthorn to see if I could catch him come into the box. I didn't see him in the tree so I decided to look at the webcam to see whether he had settled for the night.
What I saw came as a complete shock. As you can see from the picture, he appears to be dead!
I may have time to get to the box tomorrow. I doubt that I will be able to ascertain why it died.
Whatever happens, I need to clean the box out so that there is a chance of getting a new visitor.

The dead rooster :-(

23rd February, 2007
I checked the box and examined the dead bluetit. There were no obvious signs of injury so I can only assume that he died of old age!
I have been checking the box with the camera periodically over the last few weeks but it has remained empty until earlier this week.
On Wednesday evening, I switched the camera on and was very pleased to see a new occupant had taken up residence. I am guessing that this one is a female as she returns each morning to remove any droppings that she left overnight.

My new little rooster
The new rooster

8th March, 2007
My rooster has begun to bring nesting material into the box. The picture shows the first signs and then again a few minutes ago If this fine weather continues, I hope to see more. I wish I'd seen her bring that very long strand of grass in!

13th March, 2007
There has been very little progress on nest building. It has been very wet and windy for a while but has really brightened up this week.
Here is a photo grabbed from this morning. It is quite clear that she is doing her little shuffling wiggles to compress any bedding into the corners, as you can see that most of the bedding has been pushed to the front of the box. (That's the top of the photo.) I suspect that one of the very long pieces of straw has also been removed. I wish I'd seen her bringing it in!

28th March, 2007
The last few days have been really warm and sunny. This has meant that the rooster, who has been coming to the box regularly every night, has begun to make serious efforts to add nesting material.
When I checked the box last night, I found this scene, on the left. It appears to be grassy-type bedding.
With more sunshine forecast for today, I expect to see moss being added by tonight.

BADGERS Last night, for the first time in months, we saw three badgers on the patio. They have been arriving shortly after 9.00pm (BST) and have scoffed everything by 9.45.
I shall get the badgercam up and running again within the next couple of days and set it to run from 9.00 till 10.00 each evening for the time being.

6th April, 2007
The weather has been really brilliant for about a week now. It's still chilly in the mornings, about 4°C but warms up to 16+ My little bluetit has taken advantage of the nicer weather and has been really busy on her nest. Here are a few pictures taken over the last few days which show her progress.

Yesterday, I saw her entering the box with a feather. This afternoon, my granddaughter will be cutting my hair on the deck near the box and we will leave the hair (what these is of it!) for her to use. She has certainly used it in past years.

BADGER and FOX News

I am making a collection of video of our badgers and foxes for possible inclusion in a BBC Wales nature programme. Now that the badgercam is back on every evening, you can also see them.

Over the past week, we have seen some really exciting visits. We had a brand-new fox who appeared very relaxed and provided some great shots. He was quite a large, handsome male who was in very good condition. Our little vixen is almost a nightly visitor and is clearly lactating so must have some cubs somewhere.

Last night, we had five badgers all at the same time. Unfortunately, Pinky, our oldest badger, had scoffed all the available food so these five were cleaning up on the remains of the seed that I scatter for the ground-feeding birds. It's amazing that they bother with such tiny seeds! This meant that they were out of range of the lights so I couldn't get any pictures of all five.

Here is our latest foxy visitor. The first time that we saw him was on Sunday, 1st April. In spite of having the security light on and the camcorder at the ready, we haven't seen him again.

I have edited a short video of him at the feeding bowl. It's actually a roasting tin in which I had cooked a Peking Duck for a special supper for my brother and his wife. There are cubes of bread to soak up all the grease as well as the carcass which had been cut up. You will see him run off with a piece of it. Click the icon for the video.

I also had some news from my most distant, regular badgercam watcher. His name is David Jones and he lives in Hawaii. He is an ambulance paramedic and loves my badgers. As Hawaii is 11 hours behind us, he watches whilst having breakfast.

Last Autumn, he decided to make a badger costume for Halloween and he has recently dug it out again and sent me these pictures of the only Eurasian badger in Hawaii. This was what he wrote:-

"I was able to give people here a "badger sighting" at the local shopping center... The pics are attached. Actually, a friend of mine had an art project due and needed some weird pictures, so out came the badger suit!"

Here is David Jones.

Not to be confused with this David Jones:-

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