Goldfinches Galore and Buying Home Accessories!

On Friday, to my amazement, my wide eyes beheld six, yes SIX, baby Goldfinches at the feeders with their parents! So EIGHT in total! I was so happy that this family had chosen to visit my garden feeders. The only problem is that I am constantly topping up the sunflower heart feeder as these birds don’t like cheap seed! 😀

Saturday, was a long day, 😦 We got up early to go to Wickes to order the wall cabinets for the kitchen but there was no one at the service desk so we went home empty handed. Will have to book a consultation, seems a bit silly just for one cupboard as the kitchen is already fitted, but that’s the way things have to be.

David then went to Next, and bought a ceiling light for the freshly painted living room.  It was only £35!

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See above the pictures of the colour scheme that David has chosen for the living room. Also included is a close representation of the dining table we ‘finally’ bought from Furniture Outlet Village, I was giving up hope of ever finding a black glass table for the Red Panda inspired room. It is black opaque glass with six, high backed dining chairs. I have seen them online going for £500+ but we got the table and six chairs for £299! I just had to get it! 😀 It is being delivered on Tuesday, I so can’t wait! I just wish the roof and the external building work was complete, so I could finish the decoration in the dining room and we can finally have our first meal in our new home. 🙂

Reminiscing…

Find below a video compilation I made of all the visiting birds that have graced my back yard this past year.

I feel so blessed that these feathered friends have wanted to enjoy the food on offer. Though I may moan and groan that they are eating me out of sunflower seed and mealworms, I have enjoyed witnessing their antics and the ups and downs of their life cycles.

With lots of weddings in the near future, I decided the other day to look on Ebay for a nice dress to wear. Here’s a dodgy picture of me wearing one that I won for £22!

Birthday Cheer!

Today was my nephew, Nathan’s third birthday. Mum and I went to visit with cards and presents. I played with Nathan who seemed a lot more open with me than the last time I saw him. He is a very shy boy but absolutely gorgeous!

Other news of the day is that there are at least 3/4Goldfinch babies visiting with their parents, that is a big brood! I saw them  in the tree opposite and the babies were all chattering, begging for food and chasing their parents everywhere. lol 😀

The lone baby Blue Tit was also seen but the Great Tits have not visited since the last time I saw them. 😦

House news: we have almost finished painting the living room, orange! I will post pictures of the progression when David allows me, as he wants to surprise his family first. We are still waiting to hear from Chestnut Roofing about the work needed doing, its been two weeks since we agreed to go with their quote, I just hope the work is carried out soon as it’s stopping other work being completed. I think David’s estimation of moving in in August is a bit optimistic!

More Baby Goldfinches!

Monday, being back home from a week at David’s sitting the dog Toby who kept waking us up at 5.30 am everyday! I relaxed and watched the birds visit the back yard. Today I saw at one time six, yes six Goldfinches! Two were babies begging for food!

Two solo Blue Tits have also been in the yard on separate occasions, I believe that one is the fledged baby and the other its parent. The baby Blue was having trouble with the seed feeders, I don’t think he/she knew how to get at the seeds. 😦

I also disturbed the Dunnock who was visiting the yard. I  saw Mr. Dunnock last Tuesday eating from the ground cage feeder that I put into the ‘new’ house next door’s yard. 🙂 To say I was pleased that he had found it was an understatement. 😀 So I hope that he goes to the yard next door for more food. 🙂

The Pigeons again have been picking up the dropped seed that the Goldfinches leave, they are real pains but they are so intelligent as soon as they hear the Goldfinches calling then they swoop down for their dinner.

Where Have All the Birds Gone?

I was close to despairing today before the five Goldfinches visited, as it has been a few days since I have seen anything like the amount of birds visiting the garden as in previous weeks.

On Monday, all I saw was one lone baby Blue Tit who was crying in the Mock Orange tree looking for seeds, but I think also looking for its parents whom it must have left. It made me feel sad watching him/her all alone.

Tuesday, as I was topping up the bird feeders, five Goldfinches came to eat the sunflower hearts and nyjer seed. They look glossy and plump! I also saw in a spate of 10 minutes, either a Large or Small White butterfly (I have trouble telling them apart), a Cinnibar Moth and many Bees.

A lone Magpie was looking into the yard earlier, looking to see if there was any food on the floor, but the dreaded Pigeons had gobbled them up before!

The Blue Tits and Great Tits have not been seen recently, possibly going through their moult? Though I have read that they only moult in Autumn, so I am wondering where they have got too, possibly chasing insects?

Baby Blues…..!

This weekend has all been about painting the new house. My wrist aches from painting the living room ceiling for three hours solid! How I ache!

For a rest from the monotony of painting, David and I would wander to the window opening to the back yard and watch the visiting Goldfinches, Great Tits and Blues. We would laugh at the antics of the Pigeons, which are now getting on my nerves as they have found my domed feeder and keep sitting in the tree eating my expensive sunflower hearts! 😦 I’m not impressed!

The news of the weekend which has brightened my soul is that I have managed to see a baby Blue Tit! Just the one! I can’t believe all those mealworms that I bought only helped produce two Great Tits and one Blue. 😦 It must also be the dreadful weather that has contributed to the low frequency of young birds?

As always I had my trusty camcorder to hand and filmed the little Blue: Hope you like?

 

Ups and Downs…

I have come to the conclusion that the Goldfinches are the Starlings of Summer, the Starlings attacked the bird feeders last Autumn and the Goldfinches are doing the same this season. lol I am needing to buy another bag of sunflower hearts, these birds will make me bankrupt! I counted about six of the Goldfinches on my feeders but there could have been more as I was watching from the new house next door. They were making a collective racket! 🙂

Amongst the Goldfinches the Pigeons have been gobbling up the left overs and under the shrubbery a lone Dunnock has been making his frequent rounds of the back yard.

The Great Tit family visited again today, I was wondering where they had got too. The two youngsters were still begging for food lol 🙂

A single Blue Tit has been making his presence known in the yard today, calling his threat cackle to all and sundry. 😀

The planting for wildlife has been a success but it has also brought about its disappointments as well. I must look like a flower to some bees as this incident has occurred before.  I had been in the yard topping up the bird feeders and I had a long dress on. ‘Nothing wrong with that’ I hear you say, but as I went indoors to wash the pots and pans for the new house, I felt something tickle my back. I rubbed my back but I kept feeling itchy, so I looked down the back of my dress and there was a little fury bee stuck in the weave of the fabric. 😦 I took the dress off and tried to prise the bee off but he was stuck by his face. 😦 He kept going round and round. 😦 In the end my Mum cut him out, but I think he was injured. Should I have put him out of his misery? I couldn’t. 😦 So I put him next to the rose bush and hoped he’d recover.  N.B. To self, I must watch for any wayward bees in clothing when I go into the yard.

Apart from this sad tale, the bees have been loving the Foxglove and the Siberian Bellflowers. I have never seen so many bees in one place! 

The news from the Society Finches is that even after we closed off the nests, Chocolate has still produced eggs. 😦 She dropped one from her perch and we found it on the base of the cage smashed, the shell feels paper thin. 😦 I really don’t know what to do with them. How can I stop Chocolate laying eggs? I did see a lovely Society male for her in the pet shop the other week when we were looking for Gouldians but David wouldn’t let me get him. He still wants to breed Gouldians, but we just can’t seem to get a nice looking breeding pair.

Other Wildlife and Flowers

I thought the birds were taking too much of my blog, so today I am focusing on the other wildlife that is spotted in my back yard!

With a day off work today I was taking lots of pictures of the wild flowers that have bloomed around the yard. Slide show below.

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With planting for the wildlife such as bees and butterflies, I have noticed that the numbers of bees have increased. Today I saw at one time, four bees all flying around the flowers of the Siberian Bellflowers that have flourished along the walls of the yard. My Foxglove has been successful in growing in its first year and this video shows an eager bee entering the trumpets to gain the pollen.

With the lilies growing in the garden, I spotted a Lily Beetle and his mate! 

I also spotted amongst the birds visiting, the resident rat poking his head out of the insect house that isn’t for him!

 

 

 

More New Life

Today, waiting to go to work in the afternoon, I had the privilege to see a young Goldfinch visit my back yard!

At the time the young Goldfinch visited, I counted 7, yes 7 Goldfinches all at my feeders. Its a good job I have just ordered another Nyger seed feeder, as the numbers keep increasing! 😀

I have also seen the Dunnock visit a number of occasions today, he must be hungry, but because I have moved the ground cage feeder into my new home next door which he hasn’t found yet, I can’t feed him, and I feel increasingly guilty for him 😦 Update: I have seen the Dunnock collect seeds and fly off with them in his beak which makes me suspect that he is feeding his young. Ohh, I would so love to see baby Dunnocks!

Later on in the evening, I saw two Blue Tits in the yard eating sunflower seeds and suet. I heard from the tree opposite a sound similar to the Great Tit chicks but I don’t think it was them. I have a sneaking suspicion that it may have been Blue Tit young. I so hope it was and that they visit the yard again soon!

Goldfinches are Rising…..

Saturday started as Friday ended, awash with rain and wind! 😦

The Great Tit family visited again which was nice to see, the babies even sitting on a branch from our Mock Orange bush.

The news of today was that I saw not just four Goldfinches visiting the sunflower feeders but six! Yes six! I was so overjoyed, they seem to be growing in numbers!

Over the weekend I have seen a new species of bird in the yard. At first I thought it was the Dunnock (who was spotted jumping about the shrubbery), but the beak was more finch-like. The only other possibility was that it was a female House Sparrow. I saw the new species eating from my fat ball feeders and then just sitting quietly in the bush. I hope the new bird will continue to visit my feeders again so I can verify if I am correct or not. It would be nice to have a new species of bird visiting to join the Great and Blue Tits, Goldfinches, Dunnock, Pigeons and Magpies.

News on the house was that yesterday David paid for the rest of the paint, we spent £200! (They were on discount!) We did get one tin of paint that was for a £100 as it had a self cleaning mechanism! 😮 In the afternoon, David’s brother and cousin helped paint the ceiling in the kitchen, I painted the gloss and David steamed and cleaned the carpet in the living room. It was a long day!

We were looking on Bing maps on Friday, walking down our road, and David spied them first, they had captured my Mum and Dad walking out of the house. It was a very surreal feeling seeing my Dad there, immortalised!