We have had all the ususal birds feeding as normal during the snow and ice(robins,blue tits,sparrows,gold and green finches,blackbirds,etc but I was very surprised and happy when on 2 occasions we had a woodpecker come and have a feed from the fatballs.
I have stopped feeding birds as last winter, on two occasions, I saw a rat eating from my wire mesh bird feeder which had peanuts in it. Perhaps I should buy a different type of feeder if other people don't have this problem?
We've had about 60 Fieldfares roosting in trees in the gardens around us. In addition to thise we've had blackbirds, blue tits, great tits,coal/long tailed tits, robins (who have become quite fearless)dunnocks, sparrows, rooks, magpies, starlings (unfortunately) a pied wagtail and 3 different types of birds of prey have moved into this suburb: buzzards, sparrowhawk and a merlin!
The cold weather brought a selection of birds to my North London garden, but sadly, it also brought a rat! My dilemma was how could I discourage the rat but continue feeding the birds. I opted to carry on feeding the birds and hope that with improved weather, the rat will depart! I would add that I back on to a field so rats do appear from time to time.
I've had a lot of birds in my garden over the cold snap. All the usual suspects except I've had a mistle thrush which wasn't around before but i'm leased to say he's still around even though the snow has thawed now! I did notice that the sparrows were being rather nasty to the goldfinches literally pushing them off their feeder... this wasn't because they wanted to feed on nyjer seed it was just so they could be nearer in the line for the mixed seed feeder! I've solved this by getting a larger mixed seed feeder and moving the nyjer seed to the other side of the garden! poor goldfinches!
During the recent cold spell we have lost all our large fish and there appears to be a quantity of dead frogs. How do i tell the difference between a dead or hibernating frog?
Blue Tits (Couple) Great Tits (Flock of 8-12?) Blackbirds (2 / 3 pairs) Robins (Like Batman there is aleays one at my side) Magpies (2 / 3 pairs Redwing or two (during the snow) Unidentified brown & speckly And the grey flying rats.
That's so sad to hear about your frogs. I'm worried about mine but haven't seen any so far, so hope they're tucked up in my compost bin. Frogs don't really hibernate, they go into a state of torpor, so they can be spotted hopping about on warmer days in winter..returning to where they were 'sleeping' when temperatures drop again. I'd suggest your frogs are dead. To make sure you could take them in to somewhere warm, but I reckon if they were alive they'd spring to action if handled. Just out of interest, where did you find them? Kate
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the rat but continue feeding the birds. I opted to carry on feeding the birds and hope that with improved weather, the rat will depart! I would add that I back on to a field so rats do appear from time to time.
Blue Tits (Couple)
Great Tits (Flock of 8-12?)
Blackbirds (2 / 3 pairs)
Robins (Like Batman there is aleays one at my side)
Magpies (2 / 3 pairs
Redwing or two (during the snow)
Unidentified brown & speckly
And the grey flying rats.
That's so sad to hear about your frogs. I'm worried about mine but haven't seen any so far, so hope they're tucked up in my compost bin. Frogs don't really hibernate, they go into a state of torpor, so they can be spotted hopping about on warmer days in winter..returning to where they were 'sleeping' when temperatures drop again. I'd suggest your frogs are dead. To make sure you could take them in to somewhere warm, but I reckon if they were alive they'd spring to action if handled. Just out of interest, where did you find them? Kate