Until we bought the trailcam, we had no idea what goes on when we are in bed, except for the time two hedgehogs were mating on the patio. They are really noisy.
@fidgetbones one evening there were loud noises outside our dining room patio doors. We wondered what the kerfuffle was about to discover two male hedgehogs snout to snout apparently vying for a nearby female's attention. It was almost as if she was filing her nails, yawning and saying "boys will be boys". I bet by the time they'd finished jostling she had already found her latest "beau".
Martina Franca, Puglia, southern Italy Love living in Italy but a Loiner at heart
Every day when I'm in the garden this fellow comes to see what I'm doing. When I stop for a mid morning break he joins me for his own drink and bath. I think he became used to me being close, as over winter he damaged his foot, so couldn't get away from me fast, so was close by when I put out the bird food. Since then I have enjoyed his company. 🙂
The wren eggs have hatched and we can hear the tiny cheep- cheeping. The parent wren visits about every minute through with caterpillars, primarily. The nest is by the backdoor.
It's the big re-wilding win of the year for our joined gardens
Every day when I'm in the garden this fellow comes to see what I'm doing. When I stop for a mid morning break he joins me for his own drink and bath. I think he became used to me being close, as over winter he damaged his foot, so couldn't get away from me fast, so was close by when I put out the bird food. Since then I have enjoyed his company. 🙂
I was looking at your picture and somehow initially completely missed the blackbird. I was thinking you were having a laugh, talking about a stone bird 😂. Nice story though!
The wren eggs have hatched and we can hear the tiny cheep- cheeping.
Well, three baby wrens fledged yesterday from the nest, right by the backdoors. It was all rather dramatic as wrens kind of 'semi-fledge'. They can't really fly when they emerge from the nest (not precocial) and more flap and hop about. The parents feed the babies close to the nest site for a week or two before the babies disperse.
Omg, the little uns are so very vulnerable and seem like they should still be tucked up and safe. They fell/flapped/climbed out of the nest and sat on the concrete by the door looking confused, pouting with their outsized, yellow clown gapes. One of the three flew into my neighbour's kitchen, through the open door and dove under the washing machine. We locked up his dog and sat on the sofa whispering, while the baby gathered its wits. Slowly, over the period of about an hour, it crept out from under the washing machine, hopped around the kitchen, investigated the cooker and eventually went out of the door, towards the parents, who were going nuts, calling and defending the space from sparrows and pigeons. The baby then sat outside, right by the door, near the other two fledglings. They seemed to freeze.
I have to say, that if a cat had been about when they flopped out of the nest, none of the three would have lasted two minutes. We have more cats than people in this area, so it was just luck. I suspect if the dog had also been out, the birds wouldn't have lasted long either as it would have wanted to bounce them about the garden like chew toys.
Wren populations are doing well in the UK. They have often have multiple broods a year and I can see they would have to, to make up the numbers.
I'm not sure my blood pressure can take all this wildlifing lark.
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Love living in Italy but a Loiner at heart
Love living in Italy but a Loiner at heart