For bird lovers (the feathered kind!) (1 Viewer)

[MHVirgins]

Did anyone see Springwatch and Gardener's World Live recently?
They showed some really good shots/photos taken by webcams in a lady's garden in Lichfield, Staffordshire. Great videos of blue tits from building the nest, right through until the chicks hatched.......great, well worth a look.

Plus lots of other interesting things for the nature lovers:thumb:
Link for her website below:-

http://www.wildlifekate.co.uk/#/patio-nest-box-2012-story/4562832323

Margaret

 

[pudseykeith]

Spring watch

Yes indeed. It was also amazing how everything survived after the flooding. The best ever spring watch.
Pudseykeith and Rosalie. :thumb:

 

[Wizbangs]

Hubby got the cctv camera bug from watching this. Bought some kit. Kid with new toy for a while BUT now we have no BT infinity wifi when it is on. We are now worried we may be affecting other people's wifi. I noticed Kate had what looked like a wired system. We have had cctv in other homes with no problems. Googling it, infinity is an issue.:Sad:

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[brynric]

We have a camera box bought a couple of years ago from Aldi, it's very effective. This year has been very dramatic, far better than any soap. Various birds visited and looked around but didn't stay until a pair of bluetits took up residence.
They began late in the season with 6 eggs, they appeared over a week or so. It was a little dull until they began to hatch, we were lucky enough to see one actually break out of the egg and the mother then eat the shell. 5 hatched, one egg remains in the nest.
Then the interesting bit of the feeding and developing. One bird died and it was fascinating, though gruesome, to see the mother drag it from the nest and through the entrance.
We are now in the final stages, one flew this morning though we didn't see it go. Another has died and remains in the nest. The other two appear about to move on. The larger keeps moving to the entrance to see what the big wide world has to offer. Mum keeps appearing with a steady supply of catapillers.
East Enders will never be the same.

 

[MHVirgins]

We have a camera box bought a couple of years ago from Aldi, it's very effective. This year has been very dramatic, far better than any soap. Various birds visited and looked around but didn't stay until a pair of bluetits took up residence.
They began late in the season with 6 eggs, they appeared over a week or so. It was a little dull until they began to hatch, we were lucky enough to see one actually break out of the egg and the mother then eat the shell. 5 hatched, one egg remains in the nest.
Then the interesting bit of the feeding and developing. One bird died and it was fascinating, though gruesome, to see the mother drag it from the nest and through the entrance.
We are now in the final stages, one flew this morning though we didn't see it go. Another has died and remains in the nest. The other two appear about to move on. The larger keeps moving to the entrance to see what the big wide world has to offer. Mum keeps appearing with a steady supply of catapillers.
East Enders will never be the same.

Thanks for this! I will definitely buy a camera box if I see them in Aldi in the future, I've been fascinated by all the action in Kate's garden. I priced some on the internet, but they were quite expensive. We've got several nests in the garden as usual, but we only get to see some of the young ones sitting near the bird table with gaping mouths. We've got a few sparrowhawks in the area and have seen what they can do to a large collared dove, one sparrowhawk managed to pin a blue tit to the grass and then fly off with it:Sad: Hate to see this
The field mice are the funniest at the moment, feeding off what falls from the bird table. As you said, better than anything on the tv!
Margaret

 

[MHVirgins]

Hubby got the cctv camera bug from watching this. Bought some kit. Kid with new toy for a while BUT now we have no BT infinity wifi when it is on. We are now worried we may be affecting other people's wifi. I noticed Kate had what looked like a wired system. We have had cctv in other homes with no problems. Googling it, infinity is an issue.:Sad:

I think I'll have a go myself and try to set something up in time for next Spring. The camera boxes on the internet are quite expensive, so will look out for them in Aldi (like Bryric) for next time round.

Hope you can get your BT infinity sorted out though:thumb:
Margaret

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[brynric]

A quick update on the bluetit soap. All have finally flown he nest, though we didn't actually see any leave. The final bird was gone when I checked this morning. All that was left was an an hatched nest and the corpse of one which didn't survive, and probably died yesterday morning.
All was quiet and still, for a short while.
Now within 12 hours the nest is teeming with crawling things. Most appear to be ants though there are two large flies, no doubt providing maggots to deal with the body. I thought I had finished nest watching till the spring but this could be compulsive, if horrible viewing. How will the ants get into the egg?

 

[brynric]

The bird box soap, a surprising development.
Just before turning in I thought I'd glance into the box to see if the ants were still working away. Imagine my surprise to see a large furry creature gnawing on the remains. We appear to have been visited by a rat.
We live close to woodland and the dogs have sometimes been excited by the base of the shed so I'm not altogether surprised. Still it's an unusual extra for garden watch. I suppose we're lucky it didn't go for the bluetit chicks.
If I can work out how to include a photo from the iPhone I'll add it to the tale.

 

[brynric]

On checking some rodent statistics I think it may have been a mouse rather than a rat. It still looked pretty big close up on a big screen tv.

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[MHVirgins]

On checking some rodent statistics I think it may have been a mouse rather than a rat. It still looked pretty big close up on a big screen tv.

We've also had another unwelcome visitor who pops his/her head up every now and again. Will try to figure out how to upload a photo first before saying what it is
Margaret

 

[Katie]

Awww.. how cute are the chicks