Birds in the tree!

I'm laughing...but only in a sympathetic way Honeysuckle! What a crowd. All you need now is a fox and a Deer and you'll have the full set....oh....yeah...and a Badger Set too!

Wot?! No squirrels?
Blinking magpies are my main annoyance. Trying to encourage small birds with feeders but the black & white beggars just sit on them & eat everything.
Rabbits are a serious problem for plants though, maybe chilli powder, garlic sprays, etc?

I've got a fox you can borrow for the rabbits

How lovely! Can’t wait to hear about the pond too!!

lovely blog but I know what you mean about the pigeons and all the roosting wildlife. the bunnies are cute but glad I don't have them as we have enough of a problem with squirrels.

Been there with the Fox Karen! Lost a load of chickens over the years to the Fox and the beautiful little Call Ducks which were literally sitting ducks when the Fox broke into the chicken run. Do see the odd Muntjac but don't need a Badger or the big Deer!

And.. you can keep your Fox Grandad-gardener!

We have one odd Squirrel Darren, but it only appears very rarely and goodness knows where from. We are out in the Fens with open fields (well we were until they started building along the road - everywhere!), the odd copse further away, so where it comes from I don't know. It appears later in the year for the Hazel nuts and also the bird feeders.
As for the rabbits they sneak through the wire fencing and I suppose the only way to stop them is to put small wire-netting all the way round, but then I might not get the Hedgehogs!

The pond is a major saga Dandan, the planning started last June, but he didn't start until November - too busy, on holiday etc.! I will write the blog this week and bring you all up to date.

The Farmer beside us is not happy about our large hedges Seaburn, as they harbour the pigeons according to him, lots of strong language when he told me he would have them all down. But with open fields and the winds howling across the fields you need some sort of wind-break. I admit the bunnies are cute when they are small, but found out today they had bitten through all the leaves of the Grape Hyacinths and eaten the bulbs. Luckily only those, which multiply at a furious rate anyway, but who knows what else I shall discover when I get the garden weeded - couldn't work out why the leaves all came off in my hand! I have a horrible feeling the Mother rabbit may have had them under one of our sheds, so they will think of it as home - Yuk! What sort of harm do the squirrels do?

the squirrels this year have taken to removing flower heads from a lovely double pink hellebore. they were dropped either next to the plant or the place where the female sunbathes. they also dig up bulbs especially tulips and to remedy that I have put chicken wire over the bulbs 2" deep. They also enjoy the food we put out for the birds! then they bury it for later. I stopped getting whole sunflower seed as they were popping up all over the garden!

I just wish they were the red ones and not the grey.

Wouldn't that be lovely Seaburn? A family of RED squirrels taking up residence, you'd forgive them any damage to the plants just for the joy of them.

Wowee!!! that is a lot of doves, I love it, probably would not if they were all in my garden though, we have pigeons and doves that live at the bottom of our gardens in the old hawthorn hedge, not as many as you Honey but I do like them, they haven't worked out how to get the food out of my new feeders, they have their own so everyone gets fair shares in my garden, no rabbits or squirrels, thank goodness, it would amuse me for a while but after reading what happens in others gardens I'll be happy to see them in your pics...Bally farmer needs very strong language, they've done enough damage to our wildlife over the years with all their antics ripping out hedgerows and spraying, I'm not far from the Fens and know how the wind cuts across...

Had to smile at the tree full of doves - and the pretty little bunny too. Its not surprising your garden is a seed eaters paradise Honeysuckle! Our biggest flock of birds is rooks - there is a rookery with at least two dozen nests. All they take from the garden is moss from the lawn to line the nests, so they re very welcome to that! But they make such a NOISE!

You're right about the farmers Lincslass, there are no hedges for the birds to nest, hedgehogs to hide (the name gives a clue as to what they need!) or the pheasants, partridges etc to shelter. Partridges are in decline as they feed on the insects in the fields, but with spraying the weeds the insects feed on aren't there, so no partridges. It's all sad, major appeals for animals in decline abroad, but our wildlife is disappearing rapidly too.
OH insists on adding sunflower hearts to the feeders, which don't stay in when the tray, which is there to catch all the bits, gets landed on by a huge pigeon. All the food scatters everywhere and a horde of pigeons are gleaning underneath!

We have a rookery further up the road Stera, the noise from that doesn't get quite this far - but they bring all their young down into our chicken run to eat the feed. Chickens being not the placid things most people think have killed a few young ones who aren't savvy enough to get out of the way. The young all sit on the overhead wires and it's THEN they make a lot of noise.