Many, Many Tits

Stop right there and discontinue reading if your mind is in the gutter and thinking - WOW - she's going to write about female anatomy 'cuz it ain't gonna happen!  I'm talking about the lovely little English birds - tits - Greater Tits, Blue Tits, Coal Tits, Lesser Tits (not sure they have these but there must be lesser if there are greater) and Crested Tits.    So there.


They are delightful little birds and quite colorful mostly, except for the Coal Tits which are pretty much black and white but still delightful.  We have many in our garden and they come to the bird feeders frequently.  We have them all except the Crested Tits and I haven't even seen one of those but did see in a book that they exist.  The tits are our most frequent visitors although we have a large contingent of Blue Jays, Woodpeckers, Wood Pigeons, Robins, Starlings, some Wrens,and Magpies that show up regularly and maybe a few others that are not quite so frequent.  But I think I like the tits the best.  


I have to admit that both my husband and I dissolve into laughter any time either of us go "Hey, there's a couple of TITS in the garden!"  We go all Bevis and Butthead at that saying and then we look to see what kind they are and enjoy the heck out of watching them.  Everybody can enjoy a little sophomoric and idiotic fun.


  Think I read somewhere that the English Starling and even the Wood Pigeon might be in danger but I think if that's the case, the bird society could come to our garden and I'd happily let them have a bunch of mine to take elsewhere and repopulate.


Last year, my gardener told me I shouldn't feed the birds so much when there were babies in nests as they needed to learn to hunt and catch the bugs and worms and slugs and such.  Good advice and it makes sense but my Tits and other small birds just went elsewhere and I didn't have a whole lot of birds around or any birdsong during that period when I wasn't feeding them so this year I expect I'll just keep feeding them except on the days when my gardener comes.  Is that bad?  probably.  Because who knows if the next person to rent/own this house will be as happy taking care of the wild and feral creatures that meander through here.


Last year I put out a bunch of houses in the hopes that I'd get something to nest in them.  Didn't happen but the houses are still out there and maybe some little new mom and dad bird will need a new house and find one.  Also put out a bunch of hangers that have wool and stuff in them that supposedly the birds will take to make their nests.  Can't do much else unless I go build the nest for them and stuff them inside. 


As I've stated before, the birdsong starts around 6 and is quite lovely.  Don't know who sings what as usually I can't see which bird has its mouth open when I can hear songs.  It won't be quite so lovely come June when the birds start singing around 4:30 but right now I enjoy it.  Anyway, having Tits in the garden is great (Ha ha, ha ha) Love it  and those cute little birds. 

Disappearing Fish

We have a very nice pond in our back garden.  And we have 6 fish in there and looking very nice as well.  We had learned our first winter here that when it gets cold, the fish tend to sink down to the bottom of the pond and hibernate.  So we don't have to feed them and don't have to worry about them.  Our first year though, I did worry that they might not be getting enough air when the pond froze and I was right.  When spring came and the pond thawed, all of the fish came to the top gasping for air and they all died.  So we replaced them with the 6 we have now and next winter, I made sure to poke holes in the ice with this lovely golf club I had found thrown into the bushes behind our house.

Everyone told me that herons come and eat your fish.  I haven't seen a heron yet anywhere around our  house and garden but people kept telling me I would lose my fish to a heron.   About mid Oct, I finally decided to heed the warnings and put a net over the pond to keep any potential heron from stealing my fish and also to keep the leaves from falling into the water.  I left one end, about a foot wide, of the pond open because the neighborhood cats and foxes and badgers and squirrels all drink out of the pond.  There are water lily pads in the pond so I figured the fish could stay under the water lilies and out of danger or they would deserve to get eaten.  

Wow, talk about locking the barn door or tempting fate!  Our pond developed a leak and we were having to fill it, even after all the rain.  So our landlord came over to replace it and punched a huge hole in the lining to drain it.  I was standing by with two nets to catch my fish.  Pond is getting lower and lower in water level and so far I have only gotten one fish in my net.  Finally, the pond is almost empty and there are no more fish in there at all.  I go downstairs under the deck where the water is draining and there is one fish lying in the puddle there.  that's 2 of 6 and that was all!  someone, some cat, some heron, some fox, some squirrel, or some badger has come and eaten my fish, four of them.  OMG.  my net was too little too late.  

Once we get in the new pond liner and fill up the pond again, I am going to put the net over the pond right away.  I am still going to leave a hole for the wild critters and the neighborhood cats and hopefully these two fish have learned their lessons as to what can happen to their friends when they swim to the end of the pond.  yea, right.  maybe I'll make spring with two fish and maybe not.
 

Evil Lurking - Gnomes in Danger

                      You would think that if a back garden is full of wonderful nuts and suet and mealworms and such, that the squirrels and magpies and wood pigeons would be happy.  Plus the stray cats that wander through the garden.  There's always some cat food or fox food out for them and the foxes and badgers.  I feed everything that wanders through my house or garden, two feet or four or wings.  I try to keep them all happy so that (1) my cats can see them from the windows and enjoy the spectacle, (2) I like to watch them all, and (3) if they are full, maybe they won't eat each other!

                       My fish pond provides water for almost all the animals.  I have seen cats, squirrels, pigeons, jays, crows, starlings, and foxes drink from it.  Most of them are quite content to not bother the fish who I think have gotten smart enough to hide under the lily pads when there are shadows lurking above.  Around my pond I have a number of garden gnomes.  They aren't super special gnomes (my two antique gnomes live close to the house so they don't get knocked over), but just your average gnomes with a few of them holding solar lights.  There is a ledge around my pond and none of the gnomes are standing on the ledge but are all slightly back from the ledge and on the deck itself.

                    Apparently this is not a safe place no matter how far back I put the gnomes.  For several days I have seen a vague red shape at the bottom of the pond but the water isn't quite clear enough most days so I couldn't tell what it was.  Today I suddenly realized, as I counted my gnomes, that it was one of the solar gnomes, sitting on the bottom of the pond, doing an impression of a frogman with a lantern!  Shades of evil squirrels or pigeons or cats or whatever.  Some four footed creature has knocked a gnome into the pond again!  This happens ever so often which is why the gnomes are moving slowly away from the pond each time I fish one out again.  Dang it because it was a solar gnome too and his lantern will probably never light again.  Those little four footed demons who, for some inexplicable reason, must hate sharing the pond space with inanimate objects that smile at them.  The only way to get one into the pond it so nudge it forward until it touches the ledge and then push hard to get it to topple over and into the pond.  And for some amazing reason, the gnomes always land on their feet so they are standing in the pond beneath the surface waiting for rescue.  Poor gnomes.   This one took several days to rescue.

              But I am generous in nature and spirit and will not punish my four footed freeloaders because they still are fun to watch.  I'd just really like to catch one in action to see who is pushing the gnomes into the pond and how exactly they are doing it.   There is some evil lurking in the back garden.

Crows hate magpies

Crows REALLY don’t like magpies

           

            Sitting in our conservatory yesterday reading and watching all the activity in our garden.  We have a couple of big crows that come in to eat whatever they like apparently and usually they like whatever the magpies are having.  Although when there is food out for the badgers, the crows go for that.  Yesterday I noticed that as soon as a magpie showed up in the yard, the crows would come from wherever and swoop down on the magpies and chase them away.  The chase would go on from tree top to treetop until we could no longer see them flying.  As soon as a magpie came back, the crows would fly in on attack again, dive-bombing the magpies.  The magpies are well aware of the animosity the crows hold for them and take off when they spot a crow.  Luckily for the magpies, the crows don’t hang out very often or the magpies would have to find another place for freeloading.

            The babies are all big enough to be out and about now.  Last week I saw a Greater Tit mom still feeding her baby.  This week the baby had flown to the suet feeder and was helping himself.  The mom flew to the feeder too (could have been the dad).  They were on opposite sides of the feeder and the bigger bird (which is not bigger by much but has the adult plumage) hopped around until it could reach the smaller bird and then pecked its foot until the baby left.  Guess mom wasn’t ready to give up her baby feedings yet or once you start eating on your own, that’s it, you’re out!

            Other babies that are out are the squirrel babies.  Again, not much difference in size now between the babies and the adults.  Yesterday there were 7 squirrels running around the yard after the peanuts.  One squirrel was sitting by the wheelbarrow gnome chomping down on the peanuts when a baby came along timidly.  Baby had good reason to be timid as the bigger and older squirrel immediately chased him away.

            The only parents and babies I have seen cooperating for food have been the two mice.  They will both hop into the wheelbarrow gnome and sit there and eat peanuts together as fast as they can because as soon as a squirrel sees them, ATTACK.  But the mice are quick and agile and when the older squirrel was chasing the younger squirrel away from the peanuts yesterday, the mouse ran out and grabbed some peanuts and was gone before the squirrel knew it.  Gotta be fast to live in my garden!

            There is a black and white cat that has discovered that the garden might be a place for a meal.  So far he hasn’t caught anything except our cat’s eye, who rushes to the door and growls and smacks the door.  Puff is defending the home front.  He usually manages to chase the cat away (although that’s usually at about the same time the cat sees us).  Puff is then so exhausted from his work that he sits and collapses at our feet while we praise him for doing such a good job. 

I love my garden.  I’ve never been a birder but now I get all excited when I see a new bird and try and look up to see what it is.  Some birds don’t come very often.  Today the woodpecker was out there for a while, taking a break from pecking wood it seemed.  It’s always interesting to sit and watch the garden and see the action.