What have you noticed in your garden during the lockdown?

Arequipa · 16-04-2020 7:52pm #1

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?

New Home · 16-04-2020 10:35pm

Arequipa wrote: »

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.

Just a note on that - please please please make sure the peanuts are crushed in much smaller pieces before filling the feeder: the parents' mouths are big enough to carry them whole, but they may choke the chicks.

Arequipa · 16-04-2020 11:14pm

Will do ....

SnowyMuckish · 17-04-2020 3:00am

I would have loved to have seen the geese in flight in the v formation! But like many things in life, it’s about the experience in the moment rather than the ‘insta’ photo. I love being present in those short, fleeting magical moments. I think that’s what enjoying wildlife is all about. I hope one day I get to share this passion with my sons.

At the moment my ‘thing’ during lockdown is learning about bees. I’m really enjoying this....https://www.biodiversityireland.ie/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/Crash-course-in-bumblebee-identification_2015.pdf

As for feeding birds. I have learned over the years, always feed peanuts through mesh peanut feeders because the baby birds can choke on whole peanuts , but the parents can only nibble on nuts through a feeder therefore small enough to feed their babies.

www.birdfood.ie is a great website to get started on bird watching.

magicbastarder · 17-04-2020 9:24am

lots of holly blue butterflies in the last few days. plus a goldcrest, a rare visitor to our back garden. the pond is a good draw for the birds at the moment, clearly the dry weather brings them in.

Ulmus · 17-04-2020 5:32pm

2 pairs of linnets visit my bird feeder. They're beautiful, graceful birds but unfortunately they're on the Amber list in Ireland and Red list in the UK. Because of lockdown there's no herbicide spraying of paths, roads and even walls by Dublin City Council and Waterways Ireland. I wish they would give up destroying wildflowers and grasses altogether.

Del.Monte · 17-04-2020 5:41pm

New Home wrote: »

Just a note on that - please please please make sure the peanuts are crushed in much smaller pieces before filling the feeder: the parents' mouths are big enough to carry them whole, but they may choke the chicks.

Which is why feeding during the breeding season used to be frowned upon - why/when did it change? I was out of birdwatching for the best part of 40 years and find many of the changes baffling.

New Home · 17-04-2020 5:42pm

Decrease in bird numbers/natural food sources, perhaps? I couldn't tell you.

Del.Monte · 17-04-2020 5:45pm

New Home wrote: »

Decrease in bird numbers/natural food sources, perhaps? I couldn't tell you.

No, my point is when did it become the mantra that all-year round feeding was good.

magicbastarder · 17-04-2020 5:46pm

it's on both the BTO's and the RSPB's site that they recommend supplemental feed during the summer.

http://ww2.rspb.org.uk/our-work/rspb-news/news/284908-feeding-birds-in-summer-mythbusting

New Home · 17-04-2020 5:49pm

Sorry, I wasn't clear - it probably became the mantra when it was realised that due to a decrease in food sources the birds were decreasing in numbers and needed extra help to feed their broods. But again, it's just a guess.

Spanish Eyes · 17-04-2020 5:52pm

Well I have never seen so many butterflies as over the last weekend. Just sitting in the garden (I know I'm lucky to have one), and they came and went for hours. Lovely.

Robins abound too, they are courageous feckers aren't they, but so amusing too.

Some pigeons too, that's ok since the magpies have gone now. But the blackbirds will sing very soon too. Magical.

Some like me, have never appreciated the things you can see in your back garden whether on lockdown or not.

Birdnuts · 18-04-2020 12:35am

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

Well I have never seen so many butterflies as over the last weekend. Just sitting in the garden (I know I'm lucky to have one), and they came and went for hours. Lovely.

.

Yeah - serious number of Tortoishells about atm

Arequipa · 18-04-2020 4:05pm

It is amazing how quik spring builds in momentum... a few weeks ago, it was cold, wet, dark & now we have flowers, bumblebees, birds nesting and butterflies!

Arequipa · 18-04-2020 4:08pm

Glad you are enjoying your garden....
One benefit of the lockdown is we are seeing Spring nearly day by day... in slow motion.. normally, many of us are too busy to really notice! ðŸ˜‰ðŸ˜Š

dogmatix · 22-04-2020 12:18pm

I have noticed that I have a good sized eucalyptus tree at the very back of my garden – never knew it was in my garden and I’ve been living here nearly 5 years. I knew the tree was there but had always assumed it was in the field next door (that part of the garden is fairly overgrown and inaccessible).

Just goes to show what a 2km lockdown and an excuse to go exploring can reveal.

Other things I have noticed: an increase in pheasants (and even larger numbers of pheasant hens). And I have noticed that Red Kites are starting to appear around Glenealy, which is pretty cool (perhaps the two are related).

Arequipa · 22-04-2020 4:20pm

Hi! Pheasants and red kites..
I would love to see some red kites one day...
I saw a lovely male pheasant the other day.. tbey seem quite brave in tbe breeding season..

It is nice that u are able to explore and notice new things.. one of the benefits of lockdown!

a148pro · 23-04-2020 10:03am

Arequipa wrote: »

Hi! Pheasants and red kites..
I would love to see some red kites one day...
I saw a lovely male pheasant the other day.. tbey seem quite brave in tbe breeding season..

It is nice that u are able to explore and notice new things.. one of the benefits of lockdown!

Not sure where you are based but there is a red kite walk in avoca in wicklow which apparently gives you a great chance to see them. I've not been yet but if lockdown relaxes it's on the list.

I've definitely learned more about the nature around me, in terms of identifying stuff, in the last 6 weeks or so than the previous decades. Another one of those "lifestyle" benefits of covid.

blackbox · 23-04-2020 10:07am

Lots of big bumblebees, especially on the Rosemary, and armies of ants.

A few ladybirds.

tom1ie · 23-04-2020 10:15am

ive seen butterflies, plenty of bees, wood pigeon (love the call of a wood pigeon!), blue tits, blackbirds, magpies, foxes, cats, ladybirds.
love the garden.

New Home · 23-04-2020 10:28am

A brown hedgehog!

And some digging near a gate and some scat, which I think might belong to a fox, but I'm not sure.

willabur · 23-04-2020 10:29am

mice

loveisdivine · 23-04-2020 2:20pm

Anyone else's garden become over run with some sort of flying black things? For about the last week there are just swarms of them in our area. They seem to have long-is black legs.

New Home · 23-04-2020 2:30pm

YES!! Smallish, the size of a normal fly, not as big as daddy-longlegs or as fat as bluebottles.

loveisdivine · 23-04-2020 2:45pm

New Home wrote: »

YES!! Smallish, the size of a normal fly, not as big as daddy-longlegs or as fat as bluebottles.

Yep just with slightly longer legs that dangle down as they are flying around!

It's actually put me off sitting outside a few times because there's just been so many of them.

New Home · 23-04-2020 2:46pm

I was out at lunchtime, they don't go anywhere near you.

punisher5112 · 23-04-2020 2:48pm

No birds at all is what I see..... We have food out in feeders and not touched.... Birds were in plenty before all this....

Manach · 23-04-2020 3:01pm

Corvids - lots of rooks, magpies and jackdaws.

Tiercel Dave · 23-04-2020 5:08pm

loveisdivine wrote: »

Anyone else's garden become over run with some sort of flying black things? For about the last week there are just swarms of them in our area. They seem to have long-is black legs.

St Marks Flies?.....

https://www.irishnews.com/lifestyle/2017/04/22/news/take-on-nature-the-mark-of-a-saint-999336/

New Home · 23-04-2020 5:11pm

Very probably.

Accidentally · 23-04-2020 5:21pm

New Home wrote: »

Very probably.

Yes they've been around for the last week. They emerge every year when the ground warms up, a first feast for the birds

loveisdivine · 24-04-2020 11:10am

Yep that looks like them. I must never have really noticed them before because I'd usually be at work.

That article says a life cycle of a week, so maybe there will be a few less next week. Flying things always make me feel itchy!

Fleetwoodmac · 24-04-2020 11:14am

punisher5112 wrote: »

No birds at all is what I see..... We have food out in feeders and not touched.... Birds were in plenty before all this....

That's odd isn't it... what type of birds used to use the feeder...
Any chance that there could be a sparrowhawk or a cat around..
Saw a sparrowhawk or kestrel ( get them confused) swoop down and take a pigeon mid flight the other day

Birds in our garden taking all the old dog hair/ beard clippings/ wool we've left out for nest building.

Goldfinch8 · 24-04-2020 11:46am

A good hatch of those St.Marks flies in Mayo this week also. I have always known them as Hawthorn flies which I think is another maybe locally known name for them. The birds have certainly cottoned on to them around the hedgerows here.

Alun · 24-04-2020 11:55am

Fleetwoodmac wrote: »

Birds in our garden taking all the old dog hair/ beard clippings/ wool we've left out for nest building.

Must be somebody near us doing the same. I've a nestbox with a camera in it, and have noticed the blue tit bringing in a lot more hair than usual into the nest.

Incidentally, they don't seem at all bothered by the newly created magpie nest in our next door neighbours garden, or the magpies perching in the tree the nestbox is attached to.

OpenYourEyes · 24-04-2020 11:56am

Fleetwoodmac wrote: »

Saw a sparrowhawk or kestrel ( get them confused) swoop down and take a pigeon mid flight the other day

Kestrel wouldn't/couldn't take a Pigeon. Sparrowhawk could, as could a Peregrine!

OpenYourEyes · 24-04-2020 11:57am

punisher5112 wrote: »

No birds at all is what I see..... We have food out in feeders and not touched.... Birds were in plenty before all this....

Nesting season, so there's always a big fall-off in bird numbers in the garden! Best to just have a small amount of food in feeders if it's not being touched - otherwise it'll go off/get mouldy etc!

punisher5112 · 24-04-2020 12:07pm

Fleetwoodmac wrote: »

That's odd isn't it... what type of birds used to use the feeder...
Any chance that there could be a sparrowhawk or a cat around..
Saw a sparrowhawk or kestrel ( get them confused) swoop down and take a pigeon mid flight the other day

Birds in our garden taking all the old dog hair/ beard clippings/ wool we've left out for nest building.

Mainly brown and black colour, no idea what breed and a few smaller ones too....

One would come in and fight the others so he was the only one on.the feeder and they would pick at the bits falling on the ground from him....

Few cats in neighbouring houses but weren't ever bothered with the birds from what I seen...

cd07 · 24-04-2020 12:50pm

I've seen I the past week a sparrow hawk, 12 buzzards soaring together, a red kite and a peregrine! Not bad for north co.dublin!

whyulittle · 24-04-2020 9:14pm

Watched a pair of Ravens do their best to see off a pair of Buzaards over the garden this afternoon, while I was eh, busy working at my desk. While I was watching them with my bins, almost certain a Peregrine buzzed past higher up as well. Have had a Sparrowhawk circling about a couple of times over the past week too.

SnowyMuckish · 24-04-2020 9:47pm

whyulittle wrote: »

Watched a pair of Ravens do their best to see off a pair of Buzaards over the garden this afternoon, while I was eh, busy working at my desk. While I was watching them with my bins, almost certain a Peregrine buzzed past higher up as well. Have had a Sparrowhawk circling about a couple of times over the past week too.

That sounds amazing. I’m in awe of birds of prey but always feel for the underdog. We never have them around here but maybe I’m not watching close enough!

SnowyMuckish · 24-04-2020 11:56pm

:pac: The dogs were barking last night. When I went out to investigate (can’t have them keeping the neighborhood awake lol) I heard a sound like a woman screaming, never knew that this was a fox’s bark. We usually have a lot of pheasants about but they must have discovered this as the pheasants are quieter this year, poor things, hope some nests survive.

When my husband and I first moved in together we used to argue about the sound of the pheasants. There used to be so many around our house and I used to think that the male had such a mechanical call that I was convinced that it was the neighbour’s oil burner coming on. It’s the most unusual noise, it took a few years and some knowledgeable neighbours to tell me that I was wrong about the oil burner. For anyone who’s never heard it, it starts as a normal bird squawk, followed by what I can only describe as some sort of machine starting up, it’s soo unusual!! :pac:

De Danann · 25-04-2020 12:03am

I have seen the fattest bumblebees ever roaming around my garden the last week. They look like they've had a full Sunday dinner, their wings look too small to carry them!

And plenty of birds visiting also. Has anyone noticed birds seem to be much louder lately? I'm not sure if it's because of less noise pollution, because there's more birds present with less people about, or if I'm just noticing it more because I'm not busy!

Birdnuts · 25-04-2020 12:54am

De Danann wrote: »

I have seen the fattest bumblebees ever roaming around my garden the last week. They look like they've had a full Sunday dinner, their wings look too small to carry them!

And plenty of birds visiting also. Has anyone noticed birds seem to be much louder lately? I'm not sure if it's because of less noise pollution, because there's more birds present with less people about, or if I'm just noticing it more because I'm not busy!

The only Bumblebees out during the month of April are the big Queens - none of the workers etc. survive the winter

magicbastarder · 25-04-2020 9:36am

I'm pretty certain we've seen worker bees in the last week or two.

dogmatix · 27-04-2020 8:18am

Today at 6am I went for a walk in the woods behind my house - and heard a woodpecker for the first time, plus a cuckoo. Now i'm looking at my window at a dirty rat nosing around the bird feeders.

Keplar240B · 27-04-2020 1:54pm

In the garden
More bird song
Gold finches (seen them before once or twice a year see them all the time now)
Saw a fox out front (although i have seen them before)

Around the neighbourhood noticed large flocks of pigeons starlings, saw a huge flock of jackdaws 20+ normally only see them in much smaller groups.

SnowyMuckish · 27-04-2020 7:18pm

Pheasants calling none stop for the last few days.

blackplum123 · 28-04-2020 10:21pm

Got photos of this woodpecker outside the kitchen window .this evening. They are very cautious ....gone in a heartbeat..

blackplum123 · 28-04-2020 10:22pm

Got photo of this woodpecker outside the kitchen window .this evening. They are very cautious ....gone in a heartbeat.. In Wicklow

Penfailed · 28-04-2020 10:29pm

Bumble bees, loads of ants, half a dozen rabbits and an Emperor Moth with eggs!

What have you noticed in your garden during the lockdown?

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