Correction

I have a correction to make as I mistakenly called the sparrow hawk in the last post a male, it is a female and the one which visited last winter was a young male. The small birds are very busy at the feeders as it has been quite a lot colder the last few days. the bright clear days are lovely after all the dull dark ones we have had.

Sparrow Hawk

This morning when I got back after walking Ben he dashed up the path at the back of the house  and bounced what I thought at first was a blackbird but realised it was bigger. It only fluttered just out of his way and i told him to leave it, which he did, when I got near I saw it was a hawk sitting on the path beside the up turned wheel barrow. I thought it might be hurt as it didn't move as I passed it. I got my camera and took a few photos through the open kitchen window. then got out the bird book and checked it out, it appears to be a male sparrow hawk. After about fifteen minutes it looked around again and flew away. It must have hit the window while chasing one of the little birds at the feeders, Dad said he heard a bang while Ben and I were out.

January 2012

It was such a sunny morning I took my camera with Ben when we went for our walk and have added a few new pictures to celebrate the start of a new year on the old bog road.

End of the year

This morning as Ben and I were having our walk  it became clear that the small birds were very agitated, on looking round I realised that I could hear wings, on looking up I saw a hawk  hovering just level with the tops of the trees at the side of the lane. It flew off as we approached, I think it was probably a sparrow hawk as they are the most common. It also occurred to me that the only green at present in the hedges are most appropriately holly and ivy both of which offer food and shelter to many birds at this time of year, as well as featuring in the carol of that name. I have identified another fern growing in the ditch it is the male fern. The chestnut tree buds are beginning to look quite sticky and growing well now. The mild winter means that in the garden the first snowdrops will soon be out and some of the daffodils are several inches high. The cyclamen I planted in a trough in the late summer still have flowers on them as do the pansies in with them. I also noticed a couple of geraniums have not died but have green leaves on them still. So much easier than this time last year when every thing was covered in snow and frozen solid. I am so grateful for this mild weather even though it is cloudy, dull and inclined to rain.

December

Now that the leaves have gone even off the hedges it is possible to see what is growing in the ditches. At present the main plants are the ferns of which there are several different types, the most common being the Harts Tongue fern. I shall have to identify the others as soon as I can. There are some berries left on the hawthorn,  holly  and spindle but most have gone. The birds are really tucking into the peanuts, birdseed and fat balls now as it has been frosty the last week or so. All our resident birds are feeding regularly now, the black birds were the last to return.  The robin is getting cheeky, he came into our back place the other day and started eating the dog food. It is milder tonight and is supposed to stay that way over Christmas, I hope it does I had enough cold last year to last a very long time. I saw the squirrel leaping along the trees at the side of the garden today, I hope it found some food for it's trouble, we may see it again if it stays mild for a while.

More November

The last couple of days have been dry, yesterday was lovely, clear blue sky and almost no wind, today is cloudy with a cool breeze. It is really looking like winter now as Ben and I go for our walks, there are very few leaves left on the hedges and the berries have almost all been eaten. There were a lot of holly berries a couple of weeks ago but I noticed there are very few left today. I put the first fat balls out in the garden today, it didn't take the birds long to start on them, under an hour in fact. The Gold finches have been in near the house on the dock seed heads, they only come to the bird food when I put out sun flower seeds and bird seed. I like to leave seed heads on things as long as possible so that there is a bit of variety for them to choose from. We seem to be a bit down on blackbird numbers at present but they may be out round the fields still. I hope to see them later in the year, we had five or six last winter. I have added two photos to the blog which I took last winter one of a rook which spent ages trying to get the fat balls off the hook. The second one is a young Sparrow Hawk which visited three days in a row and just sat on the stone trough under where the bird feeders were, it never came again after the third day.

November

During the winter I am going to include things of interest in both our garden and the immediate locality as there is less to see on the old bog road now.
It seems that the coming of November is a signal to all the birds that it is time to get into their winter flocks. There are large numbers of the finch family congregating now in the hedges as Ben and I go for our walks. The pigeons are also to be seen in the fields in quite large groups. The river Barrow in Athy has its usual flotilla of swans which always gather at this time of year, it has evidently been a good year for cygnets as there are quite a number of young ones among the flock. I haven't seen the buzzards lately but they are probably somewhere in the locality as they have been mewing round all this year. We have a good range of species of birds visiting the feeders again. they seem to feed at slightly different times of day, for instance great tits, coal tits and blue tits come mid morning, then around mid day we get sparrows, chaffinches and green finches in larger numbers. The robins like the bird table best as do the black birds. The pheasants are rather nervous at present as the shooting season has just begun but quite a number roost in the garden. the red squirrel paid a fleeting visit to the garden again last week which was lovely.