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What have you noticed in your garden during the lockdown?

Arequipa

Hi!

I hope you are all well.
I am at home a lot more the last few weeks and have enjoyed Spring springing in front of my eyes.
Daffodils, tulips and shrubs blooming, blossom on trees, bees buzzing in the air and the evenings getting brighter...
And also the birds have just been great to watch... it is like they are all on some Spring drug...it is all go..
First I notice a significan increase in birdsong: robins, blackbirds, bluetits, and the fabulous wren.
I have a camera nestbox and unfortunately the bluetits have not chosen it this year.. but I think they are nesting nearby... as they are feeding on the peanuts and chasing great tits away from my garden.
To the left of my garden is a large tree. 2/3 up the tree, there is a woodpigeon sitting on her nest... and about 10-15 feet above this is a magpie next. A few days ago x2 magpies were having a proper tiff with the pigeon. But the pigeon stood her ground.
I just hope when the eggs hatch that the magpies dont predate the chicks.

Then 3/4 nights ago I watched 30 - 40 brent geese flying in a v formation north on their big trip to Arctic Canada.
It is amazing to see all these changes happening...I think I have noticed a lot of things I didnt have time to before, which is nice..

Oh yes... the last thing I noticed was a magpie coming into my garden with food....digging a little hole and sticking the food in and covering with bark mulch...I went out to check the other day.. and found a big chunk of meat/steak where the magpie hid it... Never realised that they do this.. As I rule I am not fond of magpies, but I admire their intelligence and determination..

What have you noticed in your garden since the lockdown?

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ExMachina1000

There is a nightly visit from a fox. I was feeding him on the sly for a while. He has no fear now and will just sit and wait for food. Lovely animal

appledrop

catrat12 wrote: »

Another thing I have noticed the last few days is at least 2 or 3 birds flying into the windows surely must be to do with strong sunshine hitting the window and reflecting

It's common at this time of year as often its the feedings that haven't worked out yet that they are windows.

Mickeroo

Noticed loads of moths around the flowers the last few nights. It's like about an hour before dark there's a change of shift between them and the bees at the mo. Place was thronging with them yesterday evening. Not sure what type they are.

watlantic

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

Are you in Ireland? Have to say I haven't seen a lizard here, but that's not to say they don't habitate here either, I don't know.

...yep, you rarely see them. I'm in Ireland alright, close to Westport, Co.Mayo and have reported the sighting to the IWT.

Mickeroo

Just saw a hummingbird hawk-moth in the back garden :eek:

whelzer

Tons of frogs at night in the garden here in Dublin. The last few years planting pollinator friendly flowers also starting to pay off. Lots of bees, very few butterflies so far.

Had 3 goldfinches a few days ago, picking at dandelion heads that I left, first time I seen them in the garden - spotted them in next doors tree last night.

Usual smattering of garden birds, great & blue tits, robins, wren, blackbird, wood pigeons, ring neck doves and cheeky corivds.

John_Rambo

Lots of mosquitoes this year, much more than last year. Local park and river borders not being strimmed, dense growth including widlfowers in areas that are normally manicured. I'm not complaining though, the massive increase increase in wildlife is welcome.

whelzer

Kinda related to my initial post, (and others might find it useful) I have taken it upon myself to learn how to identify all our bees (starting with the ones in my garden) during lock down.

Am using resources from here: https://pollinators.ie/record-pollinators/id-guides/

They are great.

fryup

New Home wrote: »

Third visit from the hedgehog a few minutes ago.

take a photo

New Home

fryup wrote: »

take a photo

Visit n. 4.

I interrupted his/her dinner and the flash wasn't appreciated either, hence the grumpy, scrunched-up face. The state of his/her mouth, though!

fryup

^^^^^^^^

are you living in an urban or rural area?

New Home

Semi-rural.

fryup

and this is your first time seeing them in your garden?

New Home

This year is, yes. In this specific garden. They might have been there all along, I'm not sure, but this looks nice and healthy and in good shape, so I'd say it's been around a while. The place I was before this was more rural and I would regularly see them and rescue the young underweight ones at the start of winter.

fryup

never had one in my garden and i'm in a rural area

wonder is there a way of attracting them?

New Home

If they're in your area and you leave out cat food, they'll soon find it. The only issue is to stop rats from finding it first...

[Deleted User]

fryup wrote: »

never had one in my garden and i'm in a rural area :(wonder is there a way of attracting them?

I built a log pile years ago when we first moved in to our house, I forgot about it and it became covered over with grass. After a few years I noticed a track worn into it and wondered what was using it. I got such a shock when I discovered them. Since then we built a few hog houses. Tutorials are easily found on YouTube.

What I don’t have and am planning for the future is a pond with a shallow entrance. Once the children are old enough it’ll get done!

New Home

Make sure you leave a way out of it for any animal that might fall into it! (the pond, I mean)

blackplum123

Lucky to have these two together at the feeders. Eurasian Jay and woodpecker.
Can't post photo right way up .

Arequipa

I know we have Jays in Ireland...

But do we have woodpeckers here too?
I thought they were only in the Uk..

A

Alun

Arequipa wrote: »

I know we have Jays in Ireland...

But do we have woodpeckers here too?
I thought they were only in the Uk..

A

They're recent colonizers, mainly in the east of the country. Apparently they flew over from Wales where numbers had increased to a level where they were becoming a bit overcrowded. I haven't seen one myself, but someone I know in Greystones has one visiting her feeders in her garden. They even bred apparently.

From what I've read they were present here in the past, but disappeared due to forest clearances in the 17th century.

OpenYourEyes

Just to add to what Alun said, Great SPotted Woodpeckers have been here for around 12 years now and are breeding in 12+ counties and have been recorded in a few more, with a population probably in excess of 150 pairs at the moment.

Arequipa

Ah that is interesting.
It would be nice to see them.

I like the Irish countryside, but I feel we lack native deciduous forest... I travelled through the Uk last summer and noticed they have a lot more native woodland...

A

magicbastarder

that's one of the issues, they generally prefer dead standing wood and we don't have much of that here.

fryup

Mickeroo wrote: »

Noticed loads of moths around the flowers the last few nights. It's like about an hour before dark there's a change of shift between them and the bees at the mo. Place was thronging with them yesterday evening. Not sure what type they are.

Mickeroo wrote: »

Just saw a hummingbird hawk-moth in the back garden :eek:

i was watching Springwatch last week and they used a white blanket and a torch to attract moths....is that all you have to do? will they still be there in the morning if i left it out over night

kildare lad

Arequipa wrote: »

Ah that is interesting.
It would be nice to see them.

I like the Irish countryside, but I feel we lack native deciduous forest... I travelled through the Uk last summer and noticed they have a lot more native woodland...

A

We have the lowest percentage of native woodland in all of Europe , 1% I think it is . The government ****e on about climate change and carbon tax and yet you'd think they should be actively planting more permanent forestry to offset carbon emissions . Ive family that live over the west , as you drive across the country all it is greenfield's everywhere , the only forestry you see is the non native trees. As a friend of mine said it's like a green desert

Dr Turk Turkelton

Just came across this lad in the boot, anyone have any idea what it is? My first thought was that it was a June bug like we used see in the States but doesn't seem like it on closer inspection.

Alun

Looks like a great diving beetle.

http://www.gardenofireland.com/great_diving_beetle.php

Not sure how he managed to get into your boot though!

Dr Turk Turkelton

Alun wrote: »

Looks like a great diving beetle.

http://www.gardenofireland.com/great_diving_beetle.php

Not sure how he managed to get into your boot though!

Thanks for that Alun.
In fairness he might be a great diver but obviously not a great navigator- the Boyne is about 300 yards the other way from me!

Alun

Dr Turk Turkelton wrote: »

Thanks for that Alun.
In fairness he might be a great diver but obviously not a great navigator- the Boyne is about 300 yards the other way from me!

Probably on the lookout for a new home and took a wrong turn

Here's a nice article about them ..

https://www.irishnews.com/lifestyle/2016/11/05/news/take-on-nature-close-encounter-with-a-lost-great-diving-beetle-766982/