Tales from Mum's garden

Today I was over at Mum's, and I took my trail camera with me. After Friday nights attempt at capturing deer on the trail cam, and only getting a Hedgehog and a Wood Mouse, I thought I'd test the cam again in the comfort and security of Mum's garden.

 

Well the results are in and I still have a lot to learn. I thought I had positioned the cam to capture the garden birds bathing in the little stream. As you can see from the trail cam vid clip below, I didn't have the cam in the right position at all, and missed all the action which was happening bottom right just off the camera range.....

 

and as this is my first time posting a vid clip off the trail cam I'll be interested to know if my blog post readers can see it ok.....

 

 

As I said yesterday it is all trial and error, and I'm just the sort of person who documents her errors along with her triumphs.

 

The trail cam is back up and focused on a well used and loved Great Spotted Woodpeckers nut stash in the garden now. Regular blog followers will know that last spring and early summer Mum spent a couple of weeks in hospital and several weeks resting at home after having cancer treatment. During this time I set up my portable hide at the bottom of Mum's garden, and whilst she rested, I was in the hide taking photos of the garden birds. The Woodpeckers became quite used to my hide after a few days, and eventually after a few months, we were able to establish (with the help of my close up photos) that there were seven individual Great Spotted Woodpeckers visiting the garden. Four of them were juveniles that would happily feed anywhere in the garden, the other three were two adult males and an adult female. They all appeared to favour an old crack in the back of a trunk. A peanut feeder is always at the front, and the Woodpeckers would take a nut from the feeder and go round the back, wedge it in the crack and feed from it there. One of the adult males had a lower mandible longer than his top mandible, hence we called him Bill, and initially we thought it was just Bill who was doing this to help him feed, but photographic evidence showed that the other male, Ben, and the adult female, Jen, were also eating in the same style. So as a pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers are again feeding in the garden again, on exactly the same trunk and nut feeder, my next experiment with the trail cam was to capture them stashing the nuts in the crack. Hopefully I will post photos and vid clips on tomorrows blog post.

 

Mum and I sat in the conservatory after setting up the trail cam and within minutes a female Great Spotted Woodpecker flew down on to the trunk and done exactly as I stated above. Nuts were taken from the feeder and taken round the back of the trunk.

 

Nut feeder at front of trunk with GSW perched at the back  - photo taken from the conservatory

 

the nut stash crack at the back of the trunk

 

It's not only the Woodpeckers that have discovered the 'nut' trunk. The regularly visiting marmite Parakeets also have their eye on it...

 

 

But the GSW is happy to fight for it's nuts.....

 

 

The marmite Parakeet eventually flew off, but they are becoming more numerous in the garden and even the Jackdaws don't seem to spook them anymore....

 

 

Even the Starlings will try to stand their ground, but with the Parakeets sharp hooked beak aimed at a wing the Starlings often retreat first.....

 

 

There were several other birds around today but I was mainly taking photos through glass whilst Mum and I had a gossipy catch up in the conservatory...

 

 

The bug house that Mum bought late last year has no stems taken, so it looks as if we will move this to a better position soon...

 

 

Last autumn I sowed some Crimson Clover around the new path way at the bottom of the garden. Some of the clover perished in the winter, but I'm well chuffed to say today there are finally some flowers.....

 

All I need to do now is pull my finger out and prepare my little patch in Mum's garden for my meadow flowers. I'm behind. Seeds should have been sown this month but I've not even prepared the ground yet.

 

Elsewhere in the rest of Mum's garden, more spring flowers are emerging.

Muscari, aka Grape Hyacinth, can sometimes be a bit of a thug in an established garden, but at Mum's they are looking like little gems of blue. Years ago Mum bought some species Muscari and these are just taking hold too. So at the moment there are three varieties, but we've forgotten the species names.....

 

 

 

Fatsia Japonica is looking great as it starts flowering...

 

 

one of the species Hebe is also looking at its best at this time of year....

 

 

Bergenia, aka Elephants Ears, is another flowering plant that looks great during early April...

 

 

the Prunus Serrula tree is shedding it's bark again, and looks beautiful....

 

 

the brute that is species Euphorbia has self seeded around the garden. The young plants are already in flower even though they are only about 20-30cm high....

 

 

'Drumstick' primula are also doing well...

 

 

Mum's bought herself a new species Hellebore which is low growing and has marbled leaves. It's looking very pretty at the moment...

 

 

The House Leeks I replanted last year are spreading well...

 

 

and the Corydalis is looking very delicate...

 

 

The paper thin flowers of Anemone De Caen were looking stunning in the low light of today...

 

 

 

and my favourite flowering shrub, Dicentra Spectablis aka Bleeding Heart, is finally showing it's first few buds....

 

 

 

The Ribes, or flowering currant, is looking good after a harsh prune....

 

 

and the Snow Flakes are still flowering long after the Snowdrops have gone over...

 

 

Another Hellebore species is flowering well both in the front and back garden, with several self seeded plants found today...

 

 

You've got to admit, no matter whether your pleasure are plants, birds, mammals or nature in general, spring is a wonderful time of year.

More from Cranford Park including trail cam test and a stunning Skylark

Recently I invested in a trail cam. I tested it out in Mum's garden for a few days and nights (it's also infrared) and considering we had placed it in that particular position to see if a Fox visited the garden, was pleasantly pleased when the results showed the camera also captured small birds, and other critters, feeding on the ground.....

 

Jackdaw on the left with Rat on the right

Jay

Collared Dove

Cropped photo - male House Sparrow on the left with male Reed Bunting on the right

We also discovered there are two cats that visit at night, but no Fox.

 

I was really pleased with the quality of the photos, so naturally was looking forward to using the trail cam at Cranford Park. We know Muntjac, and possibly Roe, deer are visiting the park at night, along with Foxes and, of course, the resident Rabbits.

I've found plenty of tracks and droppings from the deer, and spoken to many early morning and evening dog walkers who have seen a fleeting glimpse of the deer. But I have only ever managed one photo of a Muntjac from many years ago.....

 

This was taken several years ago on the pathway from the woods on the other side of the M4 leading up to The Crane pub. Yes the cat looks huge, but it is standing on a higher part of the pathway and to be honest Muntjac are the smallest of our UK deer.

 

 

 I had already contacted the admin at the Muntjacs and More Facebook page to get their thoughts on my tracks and poo photos. They confirmed the photos of the droppings and deer slots on last Saturdays blog post certainly looked like Muntjac deer, and they also solved the mystery of why Rabbit poo always looks flat. It's because the Rabbits sit on them !!

 

When I mentioned my trail cam they gave the following advice....

 

"Bucks use their paths constantly day and night patrolling their territory, so if you find a good path with fresh tracks on to put your camera trap you are pretty likely to get a deer on it the first night and if you want to attract them even more you could chop some fruit/veg up and pop it down, apples, pears, carrots, blueberries, celery are among things they particularly like and the sweet fruit gives off a lovely aroma they can't seem to resist checking out"

 

So late yesterday afternoon I went down to Cranford Park to put up my trail cam. It didn't work out quite as expected. Although I trust many on the Friends Of Cranford Park Facebook page, I don't quite trust everyone who uses the park, so I spent over an hour walking around looking for a suitable site to position the trail cam where it wouldn't be seen from a path way by any of the 'oiks' that hang around the park and woods in the evening. I eventually decided that as I have also seen Muntjac droppings and tracks in St Dunstans graveyard I would put the camera up there.

And then it started to rain.....

 

I had found when using the trail cam in Mum's garden that I had trouble with the strap that secures the cam to a tree or post. I seemed to have difficulty tightening it. And last night was no different. I found an excellent tree that was within the grounds, away from the path but which overlooked a large expanse of the graveyard. But I struggled to tighten the strap, and with it raining, I was struggling even more. I done the best I could, and put out some fruit as advised above, and went home dripping wet but hopeful.

 

This morning I was at the park at 7am. Not so much because I was excited about what the trail cam may have captured, but more because I was concerned that it might have been discovered and 'nicked'. Luckily it hadn't. But unluckily the strap hadn't been tight enough and the camera had dropped. Instead of getting the views I had got in Mum's garden, I had got views of the ground, not even the bait of fruit was in the pictures.....

 

But it wasn't all in vain. I did get a few shots of two mammals. One of them was a rodent that I could of put money on seeing, purely because I had already discovered their nut stash very nearby, and that was the Wood Mouse. The other mammal I honestly did not expect to see. A Hedgehog !

 

 

 

 

 

So I didn't quite achieve what I set out to do, ie- Roe and Muntjac deer strolling in front of the camera, but I did discover Hedgehogs frequent St Dunstans graveyard !

 

I had another reccee around the park this morning, and discovered a few more places to hide my trail cam. I might also make some adjustments like attaching the cam to a stake of wood and securing it at home before placing it in the ground when I can next visit Cranford Park. But it's all trial and error.

 

In the bad light of the early morning I took some silhouette photos of a Great Spotted Woodpecker...

 

 

and a flying Kestrel....

 

 

Later on in the morning I heard the Kestrels calling and rushing over to the noise I just spotted them mating before both flying off. Great news for our Kestrels. Looks like we'll be having 'Kestrel Academy' in the meadows again this summer (sorry Tony for pinching your phrase).

 

As it got lighter so the birds really started singing. As reported a couple of weeks ago the first migrant birds have started appearing, the Chiffchaffs. Over the last couple of weeks they seemed to be only along the river, but today they could be heard in Cranford Woods, the Headland, the Ice House Copse and in the Memorial Garden with that unmistakeable call 'chiffchaff chiffchaff chiffchaff'

 

Birds are also starting to collect nesting material. They've been busy the last couple of weeks checking out potential sites and declaring it with loud bursts of song, now it's time to 'move in'.....

 

This is one of the boxes deep in Cranford Woods. Other boxes were being checked out today too.

I was having a sit down when this Song Thrush appeared from the scrub and found a worm....

 

 

 

 

Other birds being incredibly vocal today, especially in Cranford Woods, were the Goldcrests. Their tiny and tinny call is sometimes not heard by others. I was standing on one of the paths watching several Goldcrests chasing each other and calling, when one of the regular dog walkers stopped for a chat with his beautiful Doberman. Although I could point out the movement of the birds, and he could see them, he couldn't hear them at all and claimed all he could hear were the marmite Parakeets and Robins.

 

 

There were plenty of Wrens around too. Their song is incredibly loud compared to their body size...

 

 

There's a clearing in the woods, which back in the days when the old Cranford House was still there, was a bit of an experiment ground for non-native and ornamental trees. Not all of them have survived, and many have died, but there's one old hollow tree that has been popular with several varieties of birds over the last few years.

I've seen Kestrels use it as a view point and to stash their food. I've seen both Green and Great Spotted Woodpeckers investigate the many holes and hollows. One year I watched a very persistent Great Tit trying to continously take nesting material in, which then all fell out the other side. But this year it looks as if a pair of Jackdaws have decided to call it 'home'...

 

 

This is the side view of the hole and the only photo I could get of the Jackdaw in it. As soon as they saw me they either flew off or retreated deeper within the hole. Not shown in the photo are the many other holes and hollows above it. As always, this will be a nesting site I will continue to follow.

 

Probably the high-light of my day was discovering more Skylarks have appeared at Cranford Park. They could have come over from the grassy verges of the runways at Heathrow, where plenty still nest successfully each year, or they could have come over from the stubble field on the other side of Frogs Ditch where they've possibly been disturbed by ground maintenance. Either way, it's nice to see more of them after my initial sightings of only two over the last three weeks.

I saw around six or seven birds this morning. Over the last couple of weeks, the best sightings I had of them was when they were up high and singing and then 'parachuting' back down to ground and hiding amongst the long grass. Today they were singing from the ground so it didn't take too long to locate one...

 

 

One also obliging perched on one of the tree guards for me...

 

 

 

Unusually I only sighted three Meadow Pipits today, compared to the c25 that I spotted a couple of weeks ago. Maybe they were feeding on the stubble field, or were already hunkered low in the long grasses preparing their nests.

 

So birds seen today but NOT photographed include the numerous Goldcrests in the woods, both Kingfishers flying up and down the River Crane, the solo Little Egret just under the M4 bridge, a large female Sparrowhawk that I flushed from the ground in the Ice House Copse, a pair of Coal Tit by the outdoor classroom (ring of logs), many 'yaffling' Green Woodpeckers and the mating pair of Kestrels.

 

On my way home I checked in on the Goldfinches nest which I found last week, and was pleasantly surprised to see it occupied. I have had to take the photo from a distance so as not to arouse suspicion from the many pedestrians that walk under the tree. I could get a nearer shot but the welfare of the bird is more important to me than the quality or nearness of the photo. You can just about see the lovely clown-like face of the Goldfinch peering above the tiny cup like structure.....

 

 

So another successful outing at Cranford Park. More work needs to be done with my trail cam but at least I am learning from the errors of my ways. One day I will get some night shots of the Muntjac deer, and hopefully one of the Roe deer that I am convinced is visiting the park too.