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So so pleased for you Sue. I hope they like the high rise life and come to nest in the spring . I bet it made your Christmas  All quiet at mine.

Maybe the birds are as fed up as we are and have decided to cheer themselves up with a bit of nest hunting.  Let’s hope the visits are a good sign   
Sue

Hi Sue
I’m so happy for you, it was well worth putting the box up even though you thought it was a no no
Well they sure have proved you wrong, they know it’s there so I think it’s on their radar now and probably well sheltered and away from any interference from other birds or cats
You certainly have an early Xmas pressie
I’m keen to hear your news roll on the spring
👏🏻🎉🌸
Happy Xmas to you and your family 🎄🎁🎅🏻⛄️
Happy Christmas and new year to everyone of my bird family friends 🎅🏻🎄🎁⛄️

Well folks haven’t been on here for ages as nothing to report BUT, decided to turn on my camera box this morning to see if any signs of anything interesting at all and low and behold an early Xmas present for me.  As most of you will know I am now living in a flat on the fourth floor with just a balcony for a garden.  My hubby reluctantly put a bird box up for me but he nor I ever expected truthfully to ever have any interest. Since we’ve been here we have seen only a handful of blue tits and none as high as our balcony.  Today however, a pair decided to pop in and give me the pleasure of about five minutes of activity, including a nest wriggle.  I honestly was gobsmacked.  In truth I don’t expect it to come to anything but it has given me a thrill and made my day. Roll on spring.
Merry Xmas everyone.
Sue

Just thought it was an appropriate week to post up a picture my wife took of our Winter garden Robin. He/She has been around since the end of September and hangs about our garden all day. I guess it is probably a winter migrant which has moved down the country or across from Scandinavia. I was astonished to learn from a documentary some years ago that the Robins we see in Spring and Summer in our gardens are generally not the same ones we see in Winter.

The ground here has been frozen solid for the past fortnight and we had 4 inch of snow on top for the last 9 days. I have been making sure that there is enough sunflower hearts  and crumbled shortbread on the cleared snow free lawn around the feeders. I also do the same under our fir tree which is clear of snow.

The food has been welcomed by Starlings, Sparrows and Blackbirds. I counted 10 Blackbirds in our garden last week on a morning when the temperature was still minus 10C!!!! Normally the Blackbirds are very territorial so one can only surmise they become more tolerant in life threatening freezing conditions.

Happy Xmas all!!!

As far as I know I still don't have any roosters - I never have had, strangely. Going to upgrade a couple of cameras and get a few last bits sorted soon, so once they are up and running again I will know for sure. Roll on the new season!

Thanks Springtime, a lot of hard work and expense. I now understand why landscape gardeners charge so much!!!

I managed to capture our two roosters on our recorder last night.

Going to switch the system off again until March so as not to waste costly Electric. The birds arrive around 4:30pm and leave around 7:30am. (The clock is still on Summer time)

Hi All

Thought I would check in.

Much change in our back garden this Autumn. Our 27 year old wooden fence adjoining the back field with the horses was leaning in badly with the horses compacting the ground behind the fence. Our shed was also leaning and the roof was rotting.

5 weeks later, after days of labouring, digging out several cubic metres of clay in awful weather, we have built a sturdier concrete 2ft 6" wall from posts and gravel boards that support 4ft trellis panels. We have also erected a new Keter composite shed.

Unfortunately the Ivy had to go and believe me I wrestled with the jungle like stuff and the huge roots for days, attacking it with a petrol chainsaw!! Although Ivy is great for the birds I don't think we will reinstate it again, 25 years of dealing with it is enough for one lifetime and i am feeling my age these days!

The result is that 2 camera boxes and a Robin Kettle have no place to go now. However, for some reason the cables to these had failed anyhow. 

So that leaves us with our two house wall boxes which were occupied by Blue and Great Tits last season and our Starling box all with cameras. I have moved the large open fronted box to a side fence behind the Raspberry canes but due to the failed cables there will be no video feed if a Blackbird or Robin take residence. We also have the Swift boxes with cameras out front which did have some interest shown this last two summers by immature non breeding birds.

We currently have two Blue Tits separately roosting in the two wall boxes  (I think they be the same pair that nested last summer). Both these boxes are now side view boxes.

Good luck to everyone for 2023!

Some pictures of the work below

Hi Pete
I’ve noticed the blue tits very busy checking out the boxes and about in prs. It’s usual here that I see this on and off until the real season
It’s a wonder the birds don’t nest earlier with all this mild weather and plenty of food up in the trees with the leaves still in situ
Must be very confusing for them 😊

Hi Matt, nice to hear from you, I keep popping on to see if there is any news. Have you any roosters? I check every night but none up to now. Any changes for 2023 at your end? Good luck for a great 2023.

Called in at Dobbies garden centre yesterday and found the cutest little Wren box and just couldnt resist myself  so I am trying to find a location for it now, once its up I will post a pic. We get Wrens in the garden in fact they have just appeared again so be amazing to get a nest

Here we go again folks, so exciting to see the birds returning again. My boxes are all cleaned out and ready for the roosters!   No changes for this season I think my set up is doing fine for now. I have two Robin boxes that are getting nicely buried into the ivy it would be amazing to get a Robin! Good luck to everyone I hope this Spring is a successful one for us all.