the wren

quite an elusive bird to photograph.

a few photos taken over christmas

think it's a black cap

two of these have been visiting our garden for the last couple of weeks, they mainly feed on the suet cake, was able to get a photo of one of them this afternoon, had a look on the internet and the nearest i could get to identifying it was a black cap, please correct me if i'm wrong.

our missy

we bought this coat for her last christmas but it was too big, we tried it on again tonight, and it fits perfect.

roosting bluetit

the bluetit nest box that we put up in the autumn has got a visitor, it comes in at about 5pm, and leaves about 7am, we managed to download a bit of video after several days of trying this, then that, then this, you know how it goes, will keep an eye on it over the winter months.

greenfinch

quite a lot of greenfinch are visiting at the moment, took a couple of photos of them.

sparrowhawk

we saw him take one of our greenfinch last sunday, today he wasn't so lucky.

starlings

the starlings have found their way into the feeder box

feeders and nestboxes

decided to make a new nestbox and feeder, made the nestbox from 6" wide decking plank, fitted a nestbox camera inside (which i purchased from handykam), the old nestbox that the bluetits nested in, has been converted to a feeder, fitted some 1" galvanized mesh on the front, so that the bluetits can get in, and left a gap at the bottom, so that the robin, great tits, sparrows and other similar sized birds may enter, the starlings can't get in but they are catered for in another part of the garden. the nestbox camera is piped through to the tele in our bedroom, fingers crossed that the blue tits will nest in it next year, the feeder is situated directly facing the nestbox, and hopefully when the bluetits go looking to feed their chicks, they will see the feeder full of mini mealworms, thus enabling them to rear their young more easily, also any other similar sized birds may do the same, posted a few pictures of nestbox and feeder.

greenfinch

we have several of them that visit the garden but this one stays around a lot longer than the rest

bath day

just after they were given a bath.

mealworm feeder

the bug

does anyone know what this bug is called, found it crawling up the gable end of our house the other day, very interesting looking thing.

our dogs

the dogs went to the groomers yesterday, took their photos before they get chance to mess it up.

mrs robin

mrs robin is looking a bit dishevelled at the minute, not surprising after 3 broods, ( she must be worn out ) she wasn't the resident robin in our garden but she has become very friendly over the breeding season, i leave the garage door open and she helps herself to the mealworms that i leave on the worktop, yesterday whilst i was on the computer she flew into the house, and had to go through several doorways before she found me, she then sat on the printer until i got up and got her some mealworms, all of her broods have been in our garden but as of yet we haven't seen one baby robin.

this morning in the garden

while relaxing in the garden this morning, i spotted a baby bluetit coming out of the nest box, i rushed in for the camera and took a picture of it walking on the roof of the garage, a few seconds later it flew away, got a photo of mr blackbird and also one of the little ones.

bluetits

these 2 little birds have been working so hard over the last week or so, i don't know how many little ones are in there but they have never stopped.

our garden birds

we have been quite busy over the last few months doing some major improvements to the house, now that we are ( nearly finished ) i can start to enjoy our garden birds once again, quite a lot going on at the minute, despite having 2 robin boxes in the garden they have decided to nest in the ivy on the back fence, the bluetits are in the box but they seem to just come one day and then you don't see them near the box for 1 or 2 days then they are in and out of the box again, the collared doves are nesting at the top of our large conifer, and the blackbirds a little lower down, plenty sparrows at the moment but none are nesting nearby, managed to take a few photos tonight.

denis

missy

she is now 9 months old and has just come into season, we have bought her a pair of those doggy knickers which she wears when she goes to bed, our bed that is, she has decided that she wants all of our creature comforts which includes our heated water bed, we don't think we will breed from her and we'll probably have her spayed before she next comes into season,