Taking time to enjoy the garden.

Well what an enjoyable blog...I could almost picture myself there with you.
The birds are a joy at the moment aren't they.
How lovely to have visiting Dunnocks.
Your grape vine looks very strong Shirley...is it productive?

Lovely blog Shirley, and lovely garden too. I can just picture you sitting watching the birds. We sat in the garden last night with a bottle of good wine, listening to the birdsong. It was beautiful! I don’t know how long it will take the birds to visit us, but we did have a pair of sparrows in last week! I don’t think it will take long as we are only about 30m from woodland.

That’s my sort of garden! Wildlife friendly with lots of interest. It certainly looks well looked after and it’s well deserved to sit down and take stock. My problem is that I can never sit still for long…. Thank you for sharing your beautiful garden with us.

Julia, the Grapevine (Brandt is the grape variety) was planted in 2010 when the patio was built and the builder said it would never grow well! How wrong he was as we have good crops annually, but they are too sour and full of pips for us so we enjoy watching the birds feasting on them in the Autumn.

Karen, you only need to put a feeder filled with Sunflower hearts (not seeds) to find the birds will come in to eat. No fat balls or wild bird seed needed. A bird bath or dish of water would encourage them too.

Ams, it has taken me a very long time to be able to sit without jumping up to pull out a weed, or trim a shrub or anything that 'just needs doing'!

Lovely garden Shirley, and I really liked all your photos of the birds that visit your garden, I don't get any of those birds , so it was lovely to see yours.

You have a very attractive garden, Shirley. We were at a relative's home a couple of days ago and watched the parent blue tits rushing back and forth to the nestbox, even during the one day when it tipped down for a solid number of hours. They must be exhausted! I am glad you have greenfinches, we haven't seen any in our own garden for about 3 years. Fab bird pictures!

Really lovely blog, Shirley, and your garden is looking beautiful ... no wonder the birds love it. Yes, we enjoy just sitting and looking too ... especially when the blackbird comes for his daily shower in the bird bath. Two goldfinches visit regularly, and we have a great tit who has produced babies and they keep him very busy!

Thanks so much Callie, we heard a dreadful noise at midday today when a Seagull was being attacked by a Crow above our garden. The Crows have young in a big Eucalyptus tree along the road and ward off any Seagulls who dare to come too close!

Thank you Ange, I do love the emerging flowers in the Spring together with all the new lush foliage on the trees and shrubs. How lovely to have seen the busy Bluetits.

Sheila, many thanks for your kind words. Blackbirds are a joy to watch but since our new(ish) neighbours cut down the huge Bay tree in their garden, we haven't seen a Blackbird at all and I really do miss that. We were in the sun house earlier and saw a jet black Butterfly, no idea what it was, stunning though!

I loved your blog Shirley and your garden looks lovely.
I love to just sit and watch the birds. The blue tits nested in the box for the first time this year and was a joy to watch them going in and out.
It was one of Rick's favourite things to do. He would sit in the conservatoy and watch them.
I have hardly ever seen a green finch, I don't know why, but get all the other birds.

Lovey blog, Shirley! Nice that you could sit back &just enjoy your garden for a short time. Most of the time we find ourselves too busy to take time for a rest.

Although we don't have a garden like most people I enjoy watching the birds, too. It's pretty rare for a bird to actually enter the balcony but they visit our "lawn" (the patch of grass outside the balcony that the council gardeners cut for us every few weeks!) We get blackbirds, starlings, crows, rooks, thrushes (when there are any!), sparrows, magpies, as well as pigeons. We often get so many seagulls you'd think we lived on the coast & not 100 miles in land!

However we practically never see any of the finches or tits mentioned. 😥

what a lovely blog and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
We have a large beech tree and it is a nightly roost for wood pigeons, but they do drop a lot of mess underneath.
we also get plenty of birds but as for sitting listening that is difficult as there is building works all around us again :(

Rose, I wish our birds would take up residence in the nesting box. I mean it's all cleaned out in readiness for them!

David, you mentioned Thrushes, now that's a breed I haven't seen for many years in our garden.

Oh no Eileen, what is it, new houses or industrial? The next village along from ours can hardly be called a village now as there are so many new houses built on prime agricultural land with a further 200 due. There is a meeting about it tomorrow evening but I doubt the villagers will persuade the company to decline building them ... :o(

Lovely blog, Shirley! Enjoyed your pics, smashing captures. I have to agree, you can’t beat relaxing in a comfy chair in the sunshine, watching the birds and bees, butterflies too…busy busy…
It’s so therapeutic, a joy to see. I’m enjoying a pair of blackies visiting the back garden - I’m sorry your blackies went when the neighbours chopped the beautiful tree down, next door to you.. :-(
We tend to see tits of all varieties, robins, the odd magpie, crow and wood pigeon - although the last 3 are up on the bund. We have visiting dunnocks and sparrows - the latter OH refers to as ‘manky sparrows’. I’d rather a sparrow than a messy wood pigeon myself.
We have a wren or 2. One in particular loves the large umbrella shaped juniper - Eve seems to be annoyed by the little wren - not sure why, but she really doesn’t like it! 😂

Kate, I'm with you preferring to see a sparrow than a wood pigeon! The pigeons seem to think my garden is their 'courting area' as they are forever trying to do what comes naturally in full view.

How lovely to have a wren or two, such sweet little birds and so funny that Eve isn't so keen on them!

Your garden is pretty and colourful Shirley, it must be very pleasant to sit in it.
I don't look at birds, I have a phobia of them, but I've heard lots of Cuckoos this year, some days they can be heard from early morning right through to late afternoon.

Hywel, well done for looking in on this blog as I know you aren't a fan of garden birds! The Crows must have fledglings now as the adults are attacking any bird that dares to fly near the tree their nest is in. I don't think I've heard a Cuckoo for many years.