Post by Delilah on May 14, 2019 6:41:53 GMT
Hello! Although we had no birds in our boxes last year (well... we assume we did not!) we always have large numbers of birds visiting, waiting for their food - we feed throughout the year, removing only the suet during baby time.
Over the last few years we have come to realise parent birds are very resilient, the tit families in particular, and as there is always a fair amount of activity in the garden with all the ducks (the ducks' paddling pools are very near the blue tit box siting and they take some cleaning and re-filling every day) and that both my husband and I are often out and about in the garden (both near pre-historic now so not out working) my husband messing around in and around his sheds and me messing about in the greenhouses or general gardening, we think the birds are fairly used to human activity throughout the day.
The blue tits see me every day walking near their box, and take no notice - I was hoping both parents were out at the time and it was only when I looked at the pic I realised mum was in there. But as I said, dad was hopping around my head as I was climbing down the ladder and he went straight in.
Over the years I have come to realise that it takes a great deal for a parent to abandon a nest, and that if they know one is regularly about they get used to you coming and going. The blue tits watch me filling the feeders every morning (along with all the other residents hanging around with their beaks wide open!) and although the tits bring back soft food for their babies, they fill up on the mixed seed.
The great tits are a little more wary, they know when I have my camera and watch me watching them - yet when we were digging a large trench for my runner beans yesterday, which is fairly near their own box, they took no notice whatsoever.
I hope they all realise I pose far less threat than the 4 jackdaws that visit througout the day attacking the feeders (clearly thay have received the message from Chris Packham that they can do whatever they like and get away with it)- we try scaring them away but they are such intelligent birds they just fly to the cherry tree and grin at us.
Over the last few years we have come to realise parent birds are very resilient, the tit families in particular, and as there is always a fair amount of activity in the garden with all the ducks (the ducks' paddling pools are very near the blue tit box siting and they take some cleaning and re-filling every day) and that both my husband and I are often out and about in the garden (both near pre-historic now so not out working) my husband messing around in and around his sheds and me messing about in the greenhouses or general gardening, we think the birds are fairly used to human activity throughout the day.
The blue tits see me every day walking near their box, and take no notice - I was hoping both parents were out at the time and it was only when I looked at the pic I realised mum was in there. But as I said, dad was hopping around my head as I was climbing down the ladder and he went straight in.
Over the years I have come to realise that it takes a great deal for a parent to abandon a nest, and that if they know one is regularly about they get used to you coming and going. The blue tits watch me filling the feeders every morning (along with all the other residents hanging around with their beaks wide open!) and although the tits bring back soft food for their babies, they fill up on the mixed seed.
The great tits are a little more wary, they know when I have my camera and watch me watching them - yet when we were digging a large trench for my runner beans yesterday, which is fairly near their own box, they took no notice whatsoever.
I hope they all realise I pose far less threat than the 4 jackdaws that visit througout the day attacking the feeders (clearly thay have received the message from Chris Packham that they can do whatever they like and get away with it)- we try scaring them away but they are such intelligent birds they just fly to the cherry tree and grin at us.