Wildlife gardening thread.

Bug House grandson and his dad made first week of home schooling. Grandson drew the plans on computer, then he and dad cut the wood ( all scrap) and screwed it together. They’ve since collected fir cones, some straw and hay ( from the guinea pig supplies) to fill it up more.
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Hollyberry said:
Bug House grandson and his dad made first week of home schooling. Grandson drew the plans on computer, then he and dad cut the wood ( all scrap) and screwed it together. They’ve since collected fir cones, some straw and hay ( from the guinea pig supplies) to fill it up more.
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Great stuff, let us know if it works well.
 
We don’t get much wildlife in Bexley. The nearest we get to wild life is on Friday nights when the oap’s get their pension and blow it up the working mans club. We do get hundreds of parakeets in our garden ????
 
The behaviour of the frogs is called amplexus, the smaller male clings onto the female for into 3 days.

The male places his cloaca near to the females in order to fertilise the eggs.

3 days? lucky buggers.
 
Catchic said:
I think there are pockets of glow worms still in the U.K. Can't recall exact locations but they are still to be found. Friend of mine saw them when he was on a bird ringing project a year or two ago. You've reminded me to look into it again. It's one of my top "when we can travel" wish list entries lol.
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There is at least one local to me for Glow worms

 
Vipar said:
We don’t get much wildlife in Bexley. The nearest we get to wild life is on Friday nights when the oap’s get their pension and blow it up the working mans club. We do get hundreds of parakeets in our garden ????
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Bexley , welling etc always sticks in my mind as pebble dash land. There can not be many of the chalet style houses round there that have not had a loft extension.
 
By the way I lumped frogs and toads together but they look more like toads, warty skin and the markings indicate toads

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Ivory55 said:
Bexley , welling etc always sticks in my mind as pebble dash land. There can not be many of the chalet style houses round there that have not had a loft extension.
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True ✅
 
we have a big pile of old shrub prunings lying on top of pebbles, am not showing J this thread as it woud be yet another excuse not to get it cleared up. it is meant to be a patio/seating area.
We have loads of dandylions for the bees and insects though.
 
movan said:
My toads are just being HORRIBLE to each other. :(
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Some of them might be frogs - I don't think Toads and frogs are happy together.

At the nature reserve I visit I have often seen one sit on the other to push it under the water to I presume to drown it. :cry:
 
MikeD said:
Some of them might be frogs - I don't think Toads and frogs are happy together.

At the nature reserve I visit I have often seen one sit on the other to push it under the water to I presume to drown it. :cry:
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Thanks Mike that sounds about right. :(
 
Hopefully some of you can help me. At my last house I had a nest of starlings I think it was. Now that I’ve moved house I’ve put a few bird boxes around the garden and also made 2 from corks. I put food out for the birds, seeds, suet and fat balls. I’ve even got one that the nearby squirrel can’t get to. The little birds eat the food but I can’t attract any to nest. Any help would be great.

Oh the area is plagued with seagulls though they don’t stop in the garden. Thx
 
irnbru said:
Hopefully some of you can help me. At my last house I had a nest of starlings I think it was. Now that I’ve moved house I’ve put a few bird boxes around the garden and also made 2 from corks. I put food out for the birds, seeds, suet and fat balls. I’ve even got one that the nearby squirrel can’t get to. The little birds eat the food but I can’t attract any to nest. Any help would be great.

Oh the area is plagued with seagulls though they don’t stop in the garden. Thx
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There's a lot of factors involved here

Position of nest boxes, height, shelter from wind, how many natural nest sites are in the vicinity etc

Have you any thick bushes/trees that birds nest in anyway, any crevices etc

Sometimes they do nest in unusual places, we had a pair of pied wagtails nest on the log store a couple of years ago, on top of the logs

Old kettles and watering cans shoved in trees can make good nest sites too, it's a bit like kids/babies really, you can buy the most expensive nest box/present and the baby doesn't touch the present and plays with the wrapping paper.
 
CazPaul said:
There's a lot of factors involved here

Position of nest boxes, height, shelter from wind, how many natural nest sites are in the vicinity etc

Have you any thick bushes/trees that birds nest in anyway, any crevices etc

Sometimes they do nest in unusual places, we had a pair of pied wagtails nest on the log store a couple of years ago, on top of the logs

Old kettles and watering cans shoved in trees can make good nest sites too, it's a bit like kids/babies really, you can buy the most expensive nest box/present and the baby doesn't touch the present and plays with the wrapping paper.
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No, no thick bushes. No other nearby nest boxes that I know of. There is a few trees behind the garden. I'd love to get them to nest. They seem to eat , play in the birdbath admiring themselves in the mirror then bugger off ?

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Since I've been home I've needed to replace the bird feed at least twice a day as I can't bear to see them disappointed when they make their subsequent visits later in the day. The larger birds; pigeons, collar doves, starlings, magpies are a nuisance as stay on the bird table and just eat and eat. The smaller ones; robins, sparrows, tits, finches, wrens etc. politely take one seed or worm, fly up to a tree and come back for another afterwards. I'm thinking of reserving the first hour for the weak and vulnerable.
The blackbird nesting in the hedge by my back door has 4 chicks and as soon as I return from putting the food out it's there like a shot.
I've had a group of Serins in my garden this year for the first time ever and I've read that they have started migrating this far North to spend spring and summer here. I never saw buzzards in Sussex until about 6 years ago. I saw plenty many years ago when on hol in Cornwall.
 
irnbru
Sandra, I'd be patient a little while longer. It took a few years before the birds nested in my garden. Then a little jenny wren nested in a haging basket, where one of the plants I had put in on the side near the bottom, had fallen out. She made her nest in the hole.

:)
 
Here are 2 of the shrubs we kept in our new-to-us garden.
The bees love the azalea. Small birds use the clematis for cover when approaching the seed feeder which hangs by its left side. We did find the remains of a nest in there.

IMG_20200412_105919381.jpg
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reckless said:
Here are 2 of the shrubs we kept in our new-to-us garden.
The bees love the azalea. Small birds use the clematis for cover when approaching the seed feeder which hangs by its left side. We did find the remains of a nest in there.

View attachment 377751View attachment 377752
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Clematis Montana.... Love it.. I know some people don't like the way it 'goes mad' but at my last house I planted it at the bottom of a large oak tree and grew it up into the branches. It crawled through the branches and looked amazing.

People knocked on the door to ask what the beautiful flowering tre was? :)

I love the colour of the azalea. Doyou just squeeze the dead heads off at the end of Summer?

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