Who needs Springwatch ?!?! The latest news from Marks Mansion back garden......

Since my last blog post on the 25th May, quite a few things have happened, some of which was unplanned. Mum went back into hospital on the 26th for her last four bags of 5FU chemotherapy and the usual daily radiotherapy sessions.

My intentions were to keep an eye on her garden whilst she was staying in hospital, do a few more blog posts and get her house spick and span for when she came out on Friday afternoon. That all went to pot when I started feeling ill on Wednesday and had to cut short my hospital visit to Mum. By the time I got home that afternoon, I felt pretty rotten and had broken out with some sort of cold/chesty cough. As Mums immunity system is now shot to pieces because of the invasive treatment she's having, it meant I couldn't see her until I was absolutely sure I wasn't contagious.

 So my well intended plans on spring cleaning her house for her went out of the window, and I didn't see Mum again until Sunday. By this time Mum was back home but was really feeling the side effects of her radiotherapy treatments. I don't want to put into detail what she is going through, but if you can just imagine having several layers of your skin removed with sand paper and then pouring vinegar over the exposed area.........well that's what Mum is feeling now just with radiotherapy. And there is nothing I can do to help her. The second batch of chemo will also have some more side effects as the days go on now. All I can do is just be there when she needs anything. Talk about feeling useless.

 

So with my short bout of illness and Mums long bout of side effects, we have had to catch up on our one common denominator. Mum's garden. So hopefully my account below will put a smile back on Mum's face, because I'd rather see a smile than see her grimace with pain as I have done the last couple of days.

 

Well who needs Springwatch ? There's enough drama going on in Mum's garden to make several TV episodes about. Our Blackbird family is what took up most of my time on Sunday, and Mum even made it downstairs when I told her our first chick had fledged and left the nest.

For the peeps that don't follow my blog, Mr and Mrs BB had made a nest inside one of Mum's old wicker wall hanging baskets. They laid five eggs, hatched five chicks, but last Sunday morning Mum and I found a dead chick on the front garden path. I think the nest had been predated by a Jay as I had seen Mr BB regularly mobbing one last Saturday (as per my last blog post). So we were left with four nestlings and two very attentive parents.

 

 

Below is our first fledgling. It was the biggest of the four chicks, and very nosey. After it left the nest (by jumping onto a bit of ivy and making it's way to the trellis) Mum was able to sit right by the open door and watch it being fed by Mrs BB.

 

 

And then there were three......

 

All the time the chicks were growing, Mum and I were so careful not to disturb them or the adults (quite a feat in itself considering how near they nested to the side conservatory and shed doors), but now they are bigger I finally managed to get a photo of an adult on the nest. This is Mr BB, the ever loyal Super Dad with fledgling number two on Sunday evening.......

 

 

Number two fledged early Monday morning. By the time I'd got out of bed and gone downstairs at 8am, it had already made it's way to the bottom of the garden.

 

And then there were two........

 

 

Number three actually fledged this evening. Mum and I left her house at 5pm, me to go home and Mum to go to radiotherapy with her friend Tracy, and by the time Mum got home number three had left the nest. So no photos of number three, and as for number four, well I'll be back there tomorrow morning for the latest 'Markswatch' news......

 

The photo below is of number one, who I found perched on the fence and being well taken care of by both parents....

 

 

and this is number two, who popped out on Mum's rockery at the bottom of the garden when I was in my hide today......

 

At the bottom of Mum's garden is a field where horses are often held before being moved onto 'forever' homes. Whilst Mum was in hospital last week two new horses moved in, with a new foal. He is gorgeous and I spent quite a few hours watching him play and sleep on Monday.

 

 

But back to the garden. Now the nyger seed feeder has been re-discovered by the Goldfinches they are never off it. Last week I saw my first juvenile Goldfinch, but on Monday I took the below photograph. Is it my imagination, or camera angle, or whatever, but doesn't the bird on the right look considerably smaller than the bird on the left ? Surely the juveniles I saw last week haven't 'coloured' up so quickly ? Or have they ?

 

 

Let's move on to the Woodpecker tree and 'Nut Nook'. This stumpy tree, which Mum and I mis-treated many years ago when trying to move it (I hacked the poor things roots so much) is a survivor. It survived me moving it and it's survived a very harsh short back and sides after last winters storms. And for some reason it's very appealing to the birds in Mum's garden.

 

The 'Nut Nook' is at the back of the trunk where we hang one of the peanut feeders. The two photos below are what we can see from the conservatory...

 

 

However, from my little hide at the bottom of the garden, I can see the back of the trunk where the 'Nut Nook' is......and it's open to all birds. I may have to re-name it the Nut Nook Café.....

 

 

The poor scruffy adult Great Tit below was just content on getting some protein from the feeder.....

 

and it wasn't long before it's juvenile offspring discovered the feeder too.....

 

 

One of the Jays found the 'Nut Nook' easily....

 

but this juvenile Great Tit found our bug box instead......

 

And the 'Nut Nook' is all thanks to the regularly visiting Great Spotted Woodpeckers.....

 

 

The above photo is of Ben, one of our male GSWs, putting his nuts in the nook. Bless him.

 

Up until today, when I spent a few hours in my hide, I thought there was two males (Ben and Bill) and one female (Jen) who visited the garden. But I am wrong. Late yesterday afternoon, just as Mum and I were leaving to go to her radiotherapy session, we saw Jen with a juvenile GSW on a tree further down the garden. I couldn't grab any photos at the time, so today I made it my mission to photograph the first juvenile. Well that was my plan, and as with most of my plans, it didn't happen. But I did discover there are THREE adult male GSWs visiting the garden at Marks Mansion...........

 

 

Above is Ben. Perfectly formed beak. Both upper and lower are the same length.

 

Above is Bill. His upper beak is shorter than the lower.

 

So here is our new male GSW. This is Bob. His beak (bill) is completely opposite to Bill's. Bob's beak shows a longer upper part compared to the lower.

 

And Bob stashes and feeds from the 'Nut Nook' exactly the same as Bill, Ben and Jen......

 

A few years ago I photographed the GSWs visiting Mum's garden, but had no idea until now that there could be more than one pair, or one male, visiting and feeding. Now I know.

This also means that Jen, the female, could actually be more than one bird. I will need some time to go through all of my hundreds of photos, to see if there is actually two or even three females that are also visiting the garden.

 

So that's a real turn up for the blog ! I always presumed it was just the one pair that visited Mum's garden, and now I have photographic evidence of three very different males.

 

So back to the garden. The little stream that runs from the top to the middle of Mum's garden, is very popular with all of the birds. Sadly it's not so popular with me as it's so hard to photograph the birds that bathe there. Below is one of the Starlings having a good preen after a good dunk.

 

 

The House Sparrows have such a large family group that there are still young juveniles popping up....

 

The juvenile Robin below has defected from the next door neighbours garden. It seems to feel safe enough in Mum's garden as we didn't raise any Robins this year. Here it's had a bathe in the stream and decided the best place to sun itself is on top of the bird table roof......

 

 

For my final few photo subjects, I accept no credit. These are all down to my Mum's green-fingers. There's only one word to describe how the garden looks now, and that word is 'lush'.

 

 

 

Last but not least, below is a 'grab' picture opportunity of our Mrs BB taking a splash in the stream hidden by geraniums.....

 

So tomorrow should see the last of the BB family fledging, and maybe I'll get to the bottom of how many female GSWs are visiting the garden. If I'm really lucky I might even be able to photograph one of the juveniles.

 

But what I would wish for more than anything, is to see Mum pain free and sitting in the beautiful garden that she created. It's not the Cancer that's causing my Mum so much pain and discomfort, it's the treatment. I know that, and if I could swap places with her right at this moment, I would not hesitate. Love you Patsy xxx