bugs!

It has all gone rather quiet on the mealworm front, definitively not the frenzy it had been at times recently, with mostly just the woodpecker and some great tits picking them for their second brood(s). Seeds, peanuts and fat are going quite fast though.
One of the reasons might be that a lot of tree leaves are covered in small green flies (if anyone can tell me what they are... Every year when we first moved in they infested our living room in the evenings for a while)




The slightest disturbance and they fly off, I learned very quickly to be very careful when taking the photos above... I have seen some of the young blue and great tits flutter among the leaves and then all they have to do is open their beak, gobble and start again. Juicy! Easy meal! :)

Last Saturday morning, I went for a walk in Margravine Cemetery and I ended up admiring for a while one lime tree which had started flowering, pondering, as I do every year at this time, on cultural differences. You see, in France, lime herbal tea (tilleul) is probably the most common herbal tea you'll find, and it surprised me when I arrived in the UK 16 years ago that I couldn't find any anywhere. For me, the smell of lime flowers means 2 things: illness and school holidays. Illness, because it would be the beverage of choice when in bed with the flu for example. School holidays, because towards the end of June (which is when summer holidays start in France) my Dad would cut a few branches from our lime trees and we would pick the flowers and leave them to dry up in the attic or the hay loft for another year supply of tea. But I digress. I noticed then what I was pretty sure were Harlequin ladybird larvae, which proved to be indeed the case. 'Good' numbers of them in fact, and a few pupae as well. I have now reported them to the Harlequin Ladybird Survey. I don't think I have seen a 'classic' ladybird around home for about 2 years now. But, at least, we seem to have good numbers of another native ladybird, the orange ladybird.





On that same tree, I also found 2 of these, which I hope I have correctly identified as Forest Bug nymph(Pentatoma rufipes):


There were also lots of bumblebees, 2 or 3 different species, but I didn't manage to get any decent photo.

Finally, last week, I found this moth on our bedroom curtain, which (once again) I hope to have correctly id'd as a Brown Plume Moth . My knowledge of moths is rather limited and I'd never heard of plume moths before (and my other half admitted when he saw this photo on my screen to have thought it was some kind of dady-long-legs) but I thought it was rather intriguing.

Bento is back!

Last year, we had a real character among the great tits coming for mealworms. We'd nicknamed it Bento, for a fairly obvious reason, clearly visible on the photo below, taken as he was visiting one of the feeders (before customisation): the feather at the edge of its left wing was bent.



But it was also recognisable by its character, very confident, forward, demanding... He was always very quick to let me know I was late in refilling the feeders. I'll never forget (well I might, but it'll take some time), one day I was at the sink when I saw it appear and then hover in front of me looking me straight in the eyes while calling loudly. I obeyed pronto! He managed to have 2 broods, so I guess his approach worked.

This year, we were wondering if we would see him again. Early on, there was this one, nicknamed Thumper by my other half, as it would often arrive on the feeder rather heavily, with a big thump, and being generally a bit of a bully to the other birds. But nothing decisive.



Them, last Wednesday, I was on the balcony taking photos of the passionflower which had started flowering, and chatting with a neighbour, when I heard a light metallic sound and my neighbour said "Don't move, a bird has landed right above you". I move very slowly, and this great tit was on the flue, less than a metre from me...



You may notice the small feather sticking out? on its left wing? I actually got to get an even better look on Friday afternoon and the feather at the edge is missing... My other half was working at home and to give him some peace and quiet I had removed the feeder in the front room and put mealworms on the window sill by my desk, giving me very clear and closer views. That evening, I texted the neighbour I share the mealworm feeding with about it, and she replied immediately "Funny you should mention Bento, I saw one today reminded me very much of him". She feeds the robins by throwing mealworms on the ground [when they don't come and help themselved in her kitchen], and it would come and pick them up in front of them, and more than one at a time (which most tits don't). I saw him take 5, almost 6, albeit rather small ones, at once, quite a feat! He now takes 2 of the big ones almost every time. To finish, this morning, I had not even finished putting the feeder back on its hooks after refilling that it had already landed on it...

I think, odds are it is the same bird. And I am very pleased it's back :) On its second brood already more than likely, all the fledged young great tits have been fairly independent for a while now.

What did I do in May? (Part 2)

I did spend some time trying to find the great spotted woodpeckers'nest. I had been looking for their new nest for a while, but without result. As it happens, I was looking in the wrong place...
On 13th May, I was awaken shortly before 6 by a call I had not heard in the back gardens for a long time. I quickly got up and checked: yes, a woodpecker was on the suet cake feeder on the balcony. Considering last year they had only visited when feeding their chicks, I think it is fair to assume that their chick(s) had hatched, which means that they should fledge about now.
After that first visit, at least the male became a daily visitor, initially only to the fat feeder, but then it discovered there were mealworms on offer... It initially couldn't figure out the feeder, but would take some from the dishes I also leave for them, one under the feeder and one on our bathroom window sill. The following 2 photos were taken on 27th May (through the window) and as you can see the hard work has been taking its toll, it was looking rather bedraggled (though still quite handsome imo):



(I have seen it take up to 10 at once)

Then a few days ago, it finally figured out how to get mealworms out of the feeder. Initially, only from the left hand side, but then also from the right hand side like on the photo below:


It is quite comical at times watching it as it often drops a few on a window sill below, to the delights of the tits who pick them up while their access to the feeder is blocked! [though I have seen one at least lose patience and get in on the other side]


Now, the nest. Since we could hear the chicks from a fair distance away last year I thought that I'd find it by listening carefully. I looked in the most remote parts, where I had seen them calling, getting insects (at one point I spotted the male pecking at the ground, which looked odd until I looked more closely once it had gone: it was an old tree stump), drumming... Nothing. Then, on 24th, a neighbour mentioned that she'd heard a strange call, repetitive, sounding like the woodpecker chicks last year while passing in the cemetery. In a spot I had not really checked as it is in a rather busy area. But almost as soon as I got there, the male arrived with food and 'directed' me the nest. No wonder I had not found it by sound, I had to be right in line with it to hear anything, and the hole being quite high, and probably the chicks quite low down, the sound was, albeit unmistakable, quite faint.

As of this lunchtime, the chick(s) was/were still in the nest; I managed to catch one just as Dad arrived with food:

What did I do in May?

I can't believe May is already over... It feels like a lot of my time has been spent feeding the birds, and watching their antics. Probably with reason, as at the beginning of the month is when I started ordering 1 kg mealworm every week, as chicks started hatching in the blue and great tits' nests. I share them, and seeds, with a neighbour (it saves shipping cost and stuff is fresher that way) who also feeds robins and blackbirds. When I started feeding mealworms 2 years ago, my first order was for a tub of 120g and little did I know what I was letting myself in for... I was mostly then feeding 1 family of blue tits (the 'flue tits') on the balcony [I blogged about then (here]. Unfortunately, this is South exposed with no shade and, on sunny days, the mealworms would just fry there (and wasps were also helping themselves) so I started putting another dish at the front of the house and we put a webcam onto it which caught the tits, but also starlings and magpies who would just hoover the whole lot in seconds.
Last year, I started putting the mealworms in a window feeder. I had got this Droll Yankees window feeder in the photo below, though you may notice that it has been customised... It had been fine while it was only the tits coming, but, as soon as the starlings fledged, they would just gobble the whole lot in seconds. Now I am all for helping them as well but, since I couldn't trust them to leave any for others, I had to restrict them. I initially closed the gap but then the blue tits could not get in, which surprised me since the great tits had no problem, and some starlings still could as well. So I started putting a chicken wire screen so as to block the front access, leaving just 2 smallish gaps at the sides. The tits took to it immediately which was great, and most starlings were defeated. Success!

This year, we have been feeding at least 3 families of Great Tits and 2 of Blue Tits (determined from the directions in which they were going back). In the photos above and below you can see one of our blue tits, nicknamed Punky, as it is getting to the gap and about to leave with the prize! I don't know what it is about blue tits, but every year we have at least one Punky/Scruffy (we have at least 2 this year) whereas the Great Tits seem to manage to 'keep their hair on'... I am not sure when the Great Tits fledged as the parents kept them in the Cemetery at first, but it was before the Blue Tits, the 'flue tits' fledgeing on the 20th May. I was unfortunately too busy that day to take photos :(


The starlings haven't tried yet this year, but their chicks have only started coming out in the past few days, and they have concentrated so far on the fat feeders on the balcony. They have also taken some of the occasional few I leave in a dish on the bathroom window sill which is where I photographed this youngster on Wednesday 27th (through the window):


To be continued...

Whitby, 23-25 April 2009

On 23rd April, we went to Whitby for the Whitby Gothic Weekend as we do twice a year. While my other half is busy making the live music side of the festival run smoothly, I spend some of that time wandering round, having a look at rocks and birds. I have had the photos ready for this post for a very long time, but I just haven't got round to writing the words around them. A mixture of catching the 'Whitby lurgy' initially and catching up afterwards and being otherwise busy (partially by the birds around here as their chicks hatch then fledge). It won't be as developed as it may have been, but I'd better bite the bullet and get it over and done with, so I can get on with more recent stuff!
Until last October, I had never been to the other side of that jetty at the back of this photo, having only been on the beach on the North side. Very different, as one side is a sandy beach, the other a shale beach with lots of fossils and mussel beds.


One of the things I like about Whitby is how close, compared to home, you can get to the gulls in town (pretty much exclusively Herring Gulls as far as I could tell). I love how this photo of a gull looking up at me turned up:


I can indulge in taking close up portraits like this one (I used this not quie as close one as my screen backdrop for a long time):


The other thing I like about Whitby are the turnstones, not that I was expecting any this time. This one was picking up crumbs and chips by the bandstand:


I went to the other side of the jetty on the Saturday morning. It was packed with Herring Gulls, a few of which I noticed fishing starfish like this one:


There were also a fair few Oystercatchers, a group of Kittiwakes, either nicely packed on the beach or noisily circling in front of the cliff, 3 Bar-tailed Godwits. I also spotted a Hermit Crab, an ammonite and a group of kids on a fossil hunt (they sort of put a stop to mine, that and the fact that the cliff seemed to be crumbling where I'd been shortly after I'd been there).


Plenty more photos to be seen here.
And if you are that way inclined, photos of the bands playing at the festival are there.

20 April 2009

I went to the Thames this morning. On my way there I heard a familiar sound I had not heard for a little while, lifted my head and saw a peregrine, probably a female, being harassed by a mob of crows. I unfortunately lost them behind buildings but I guess they chased it away.
Tide was going up and the shore was empty at Hammersmith Bridge apart from a few pigeons, and something I had never seen before: a magpie, collecting algae and mud, I guess as nesting material. I also saw a few more birds, fortunately, between there and Crabtree Wharf:

• mallard: 16
  
• Canada goose: 3 + 2 flying over
  
• lesser black-backed gull: a pair
  
• black headed gull:2
  
• herring gull: about 7 of various ages
  
• house martin: just the one
  
• coot; 2
  
• moorhen: 2
  
• tufted duck: 8 males and 8 females
  
• great crested grebe: 1 fishing, quite close to the path
  
• house sparrow: at least 2 in the usual bush
  
• parakeet: a pair being intimate on the pontoon
  
• starling: one had twigs in its beak
  

19 April 2009

I went to the Thames this morning. On my way there I heard a familiar sound, lifted my head and saw a peregrine, probably a female, being harassed by a mob of crows. I unfortunately lost them behind buildings but I guess they chased it away.
Tide was going up and the shore was empty at Hammersmith Bridge apart from a few pigeons, and something I had never seen before: a magpie, collecting algae and mud, I guess as nesting material. I also saw a few more birds, fortunately, between there and Crabtree Wharf:

• mallard: 16
  
• Canada goose: 3 + 2 flying over
  
• lesser black-backed gull: a pair
  
• black headed gull:2
  
• herring gull: about 7 of various ages
  
• house martin: just the one
  
• coot; 2
  
• moorhen: 2
  
• tufted duck: 8 males and 8 females
  
• great crested grebe: 1 fishing, quite close to the path
  
• house sparrow: at least 2 in the usual bush
  
• parakeet: a pair being intimate on the pontoon
  
• starling: one had twigs in its beak