Little owls and parakeets

Saw two little owls on Thursday in the oak tree by the bike path into work. I only noticed them because there was a very loud screeching coming from the tree which I thought initially might be a magpie - it did not sound like little owls I have heard in the past. I didn't have my binoculars with me and thought initially when I saw the first owl and heard it that it was a young tawny owl (though the head bobbing should have alerted me). A second owl then appeared and ran up a branch - and having checked out the cries on the RSPB site and having gone back to have another look (the appearing in daylight was another clue!) realised these were little owls. It would be great if they are nesting in this tree or nearby. I will keep a look out.

On Friday at the Chelsea flower show saw a pair of parakeets flying past and into a tree - I know they are breeding in London but still an unusual sight for me though I once saw on in Newport Pagnell - who knows what it was doing there!

Frost and sunshine in May

After a very cold spell where my potatoes were frosted just over a week ago we are now having a little heatwave. Everything is very green (though the garden is very dry) and growing at such a pace. The woodpidgeon in the garden nest is quietly tending the chicks - and interestingly all the usual coo-ing associated with them is absent. They are remarkably quiet and given that the nest is hardly a nest at all, just a few twigs, the nest and the pidgeons are really hard to see. You have to know it is there. The garden is coming into its best, with the love-in-a-mist just about to flower, and the irises just opening to the background of the peonies. It's been hard to do what I have needed to though - too hot to plant the cabbages and cauliflowers out during the day and a lot of time spent watering. Whilst watering some of the veg patch last night, I disturbed this frog in the strawberry patch which I hope is feasting on any slugs. Very welcome.

We have been listening for cuckoos but with no luck yet, and my run of seeing kingfishers seems to have ended even though many of my walks are near the river where they are often sited.

Water birds

The weather has stayed cold - much colder than May should be somehow. Last Saturday night (1st May) there was a thunderstorm followed by heavy rain with some parts getting about an inch of rain. Yet by Thursday this week, the soil seemed very dry again. Lat night we had more rain followed by a drizzly day today with outbreaks of more steady rain. So all good news for watering the garden, but not so good for getting into it and weeding.

This morning I stood by the river talking to a couple I know, when one of them told me they could hear a kingfisher call. I am not sure I heard it clearly - and will look it up on the RSPB site. But she told me, as others have, that you often see the kingfisher after hearing it, and indeed, a little while later we saw a bright blue flash as a kingfisher crossed the river into a tree on the other side. We didn't see any more, though we did see a little egret a little while later - the first, I think, that I have seen this year.

Back home in the wet garden the woodpigeon is sitting tight on her nest - and presumably her eggs. It's hard to see a proper nest in the tree and it is hard to get a good photograph from ground level. Nevertheless I have included it anyway.

Migrants and nestlings

The swifts have been back now for around 10 days - first seen over the garden on the 24th April, but that seemed to be just a couple of advance guards: by last Saturday (May 1st) there were a lot more, dong the usual screaming as they flew around. How can you not love them? On Sunday we saw a female wheatear down by River Meadow: I'd never noticed wheatears here until last year - but apparently they can appear in almost any grassland when migrating.

I have also seen the first chicks of the year: ducklings on the local river (two, on Sunday) and a rather bigger group, that looked the same age, on Willen lake, as I passed today. More locally, in our garden I noticed a blackbird chick on Sunday and we have been busy ensuring the cats have bells on their collars again, though I have to say it is the dog that is the bigger menace. Thankfully for the birds, the cats are quite old and no longer hunt, but the dog is very interested in small creatures that wonder around in the garden. However as he is only out there with us, we can keep an eye on him. Other birds nesting in the garden include a pair of woodpigeons (photo to come...); dunnocks (no idea where the nest is though), and possibly a second pair of blackbirds and blue tits. I think there are some long tailed tits nesting very nearby in the shrubs just over the wall. The woodpigeons are bad news really. Whilst I'm happy that the garden is wildlife friendly they are the kind of wildlife we could do without. They will just be seeing the garden as their local larder or free supermarket. And it is partly thanks to pigeon activity that I stopped growing broccoli.....

Walking along Hadrian's Wall

Our annual walking trip this year was along Hadrian's Wall in April. The weather was kind to us and I had forgotten just how lovely Northumberland is. I kept a diary of nature related events, posted below:

Day 1 11April
Not much to report from the first afternoon's walking from a few miles outside Newcastle (Wylam) to our first stop, around 8 miles, Though we did pass a nature reserve at a lake with a hide, there was no time to stop (:-(. By the time we finished our walk we were ready for a drink and our B&B.

Day 2 12April

Just completed 2nd day of walk here Brilliant day. Started off with a sighting of a sparrowhawk being chased by long tailed tits. (This sounds unlikely doesn't it? but am pretty sure that it was long tailed tits after it...) Then saw
kestrels and buzzards and later heard and saw curlews. Pheasants, rabbits, lapwing (just one!) very good time at Chesters fort and v good pub (for location) at lunchtime, with views over the Tyne, and buzzards calling. We stopped for the night at Simonburn, off the path, at a tea room/post office.
Day 3
The third day took the walk to wilder country, following the wall, visible much of the time, over the crags near and beyond Whin Sill. Jackdaws nested all along the crags and I wondered whether there might be peregrines, but we didn't see any. Fellow walkers saw dunlin. Meadow pipits were around but did not see any other upland birds, though did look out for golden plover and merlin too. Later I googled to see whether peregrines are seen here and the North East Wildlife Trust reports: The Whin Sill ‘corridor’ is important for upland and farmland birds including Lapwing, Curlew, Snipe and Golden Plover and raptors like the Merlin and Peregrine Falcon. Also further North are very important seabird colonies of the Farne Islands. The walking on this section was quite demanding though, so there was little time to look. Stayed in a very wonderful B&B 5 star, great views to the Lakes, and in the evening walked to an organic farm cafe

for dinner. Looked for but saw no signs of owls on the way.
Day 4 14 April
Took a path down to the river and to the fort ( ?) then gentle walking in lush countryside with the hills of Cumbria and Scotland in the distance. Saw our first swallow near the abbey then another at the farm near Walton. More lapwings (though not many). The best wildlife today was a pair of nuthatches which were flying in and out of an old roof in a delapidated building and in and out of a tree nearby though - so it looked as though they were nesting. The walking here was gentle and the sun shone again.
Day 5 last day

Now in fairly flat farmland doing our last stretch to Carlisle. Saw oystercatchers today.