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Catching up

A breakfast bird count followed by a garden ‘need to do’ and ‘would like to do’ list sounds like a plan for a Sunday. Although, once my coat and boots are on and I walk out into the garden ‘plans’ very quickly get forgotten. Today… I must stay strong and focused!

The montage above shows the birds that visited this morning from 9-10am. Picking an hour is quite tricky to get an accurate count of the birds that visit and some like the goldfinches didn’t make an appearance in this time slot – arriving just after ten. I was thrilled to see the Wren pass through as it is even faster than the speedy Coal tit. I wasn’t certain we had siskins visiting at the moment but my count confirmed that they were too.

For those unfamiliar with the garden birds above starting top right they are: Coal tit x2; Blue tit x1 (but shortly after 4 were spotted with a pair looked at the arch Nestbox again); Great tit x1; Robin x1 (but there is also a rather bossy juvenile robin seen at the moment chasing off the dunnocks); Dunnocks x2; Chaffinches x 4 male and female; Greenfinch x1; Blackbirds x 4 including 2 partial albinos; Wren x1 (seen around pond today but recently seen foraging around and in a hanging basket); House sparrows x4; Siskin x1 and Woodpigeon x2.

It’s a dry, slightly windy day at the moment, so I will take this opportunity to get into the garden when I can. So it’s some weeding, taking penstemon cuttings, planting bulbs and moving around a few plants for me. I wonder what other gardener’s are doing in their gardens today – much of the same I expect. Please do share what’s going on in your garden – I know I’d love to hear about it.

The photos in the montage above were taken at various times in my garden.

16 thoughts on “Catching up

  1. Your montage of birds is really neat. I need to weed my rose bed, plant some bulbs, put some compost down and do some fall cleanup today.

  2. It’s so hot in the garden today!

    I’ve just been out to mow front and back as it was getting rather long. I’ve also pruned the roses to keep them going, watered the bell peppers, chive, spring onions and dwarf french beans in the plastic green house thingy.

    My final job was to turn the compost in the composter.

    I need to plant bulbs, I’m waiting for some to be delivered and I need to buy some chicken wire to cover the pots because we have a fox next door that likes to dig up the pots, sometimes for burying eggs in to eat later other times is a mystery.

  3. After a foggy morning we then had a wonderful sunny afternoon. I was – like you – quite busy in the garden, preparing a new garden bed (the lawn is getting smaller every year 😉 !), digging, planting and weeding. Now I am tired and feel my bones (the soil is very hard!)…..It’s a pleasure to see all the birds visiting your garden.
    Have a good week!
    Barbara

  4. I’ve been taking Salvia cuttings and putting up my bird table. The squirrel looked at it from a distance so I suppose I should be preparing for battle. I know the squirrel is going to win but hey – it keeps us both occupied over the winter.

  5. Hi again Racquel, Liz, Barbara, Donna and easygardener 🙂

    Racquel –Thank-you, I think they are great fun to see like this. Great to hear what you planned – hope you got done what you wanted. I stayed focused and got some weeding done and planting a few bulbs too. I didn’t get as much done as I hoped but I’ve made a good start! Have a good week 😀

    Liz – Excellent, I should be in Sheffield then and I wouldn’t have needed my coat 😉 Although I did get warm after mowing our lawn and had to take it off. Ah pruning… I love to prune too. Today I was cutting the past flower spikes on hosta, brunnera jack frost and Shasta daisies. Sounds like your peppers etc will last a bit longer having some protection. Mm… turning the compost – an excellent idea! I can’t turn mine but I suppose I should put a fork in and move it around a little. Oh… foxes and bulbs – I didn’t know that one. I had heard of squirrels eating bulbs. I didn’t get many planted today myself, it got dark when I went out to plant. I’ll get them done this week. I’ve been picking up bulbs since they appeared in the shops and have a good collection waiting now. Good luck with your bulb guard – hope the foxes leave them alone. Have a good week 😀

    Barbara – Excellent! I know what you mean about the lawn – mine lost a little on edging today after I mowed the lawn! A new bed, great stuff – that is always fun. Yes, I too am feeling the work of today – great exercise though too 😉 I’m glad you enjoyed seeing the birds in my garden – many must be similar to your garden in Switzerland too. Thank-you, wishing you a good week too 😀

    Donna – I can see why you enjoy it then too. It is so much easier to see the birds run around when the plants die back a bit. I am looking forward to watching them more in the winter too. Have a good week 😀

    easygardener – Excellent! I never got my penstemon ones taken – but I did keep focused 😉 LOL, I can just picture the glances between the squirrel and you across the bird table! Yes, it will certainly keep you occupied I’m quite sure 😉 Have a good week 😀

  6. Hi Shirl, Wrens are one of my favourite birds and I was very happy earlier this year when I discovered they were nesting in one of my hedges. What a lot of noise those little birdies make. Like your collage a lot.

    Last Sunday it rained all day long but since then we’ve been having the most fantastic autumn weather with lots of sunshine, almost no wind and temperatures around 16 to 19 C. Simply wonderful. Yesterday I did a lot of weeding in the garden, my new border was full of it.

    And I’ve been filling up all my bird feeders. There are lots of birds in the garden now, they know that I have their food and water ready for them. 🙂

  7. I love Siskins – occasionally a group descend, but they never stay long.
    Lovely montage
    K
    I have never seen blackbirds like tht before!

  8. I should have been in the garden today but I have been inside preparing my fall/winter wardrobe. It has been tucked away all summer. The forcast is for much cooler weather. I had to get out the long pants etc. My poor garden could use a nice long drink. It is dusty and dry.

  9. Nice montage Shirl, looks like your partial albino blackbird which got me onto your site initially is still going strong. Nice to get the garden birds coming back in, I seem to have a Long Tail Tit flock regularly these days which is wonderful

  10. Hi again Nancy, Yolanda, Karen, Juliet, Lisa and Border 🙂

    Nancy – Thank-you, and I agree completely that birds add so much more to the garden. I’m looking forward to seeing more of them during the winter months 😀

    Yolanda – Mine too, what luck in your garden to have wrens nesting. The image in my montage is from a video capture – I would love to get photos one day. I plan to watch their route in the garden – its great to see them again. Great to hear you’ve had a break in the weather for a change. Ours is pretty variable yet but I too have much weeding to do too. Ah… I bet the birds were also watching for tasty bites in the borders as you weeded ;-D

    Karen – Me too! We have seen groups too but only the odd one is coming at the moment – I’m sure more will follow yet. We were very lucky this year to have juveniles visit the feeders. We do get a lot of finches here with their young. I enjoy the montages but I really must get some new pics for next time 😀

    Juliet – Thank-you, it is much more fun to do this way too 😀

    Lisa – Oh… a good job indoors then 😉 We’ve had it cooler for a little while now. Ah… dusty and dry is not a problem we have here – I’d send you some rain if I could 😀

    Border – Thank-you, ah… it is but I don’t think that’s the one 🙂 We’ve quite a few visiting with different patterns of white feathers. For a second year we have also seen partial albino juveniles too. I must try and get the full collection of them as it is very interesting to see how different they all are. However, they are a bit trickier to catch with the camera – much more spooked!! I agree, it is good to see so much activity now. Wow… a long tail tit group would be fascinating to see visiting the garden. We had a pair earlier this year and they were great to watch – enjoy seeing yours 😀

  11. Hi there Mike, I hope you are feeling well again 🙂

    Yes, it has been a while since I have done an update like this – where does the time go? I plan to do more regular posting on the birds as things are getting busy at the feeders now.

    Oh yes… I am always considering new ways to attract birds to the garden and I am experimenting with a few at the moment.

    I’d like to say that your photos are just getting better and better and I see you are also changing things around on the design of your blog too – that is fun isn’t it?

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