• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team
  • HI folks the server that hosts the site completely died including the Hdd's and backups.
    Luckily i create an offsite backup once a week! this has now been restored so we have lost a few days posts.
    im still fixing things at the moment so bear with me and im still working on all images 90% are fine the others im working on now
    we are now using a backup solution

In the garden 2022

Status
Not open for further replies.
Vivienne14

Vivienne14

Kentish Brummie Moderator
Staff member
As part of the smooth running of the forum, it is our policy that a moderator will set up certain recurring threads in the General Discussion section at the start of each new year. This section has been set up in accordance with those forum maintenance arrangements.

Originally this topic was started by member DaveM . This thread continues that discussion and will be open for posts on 1 January 2022.
 
Last edited:
mw0njm. said:
my grass has not stopped growing it does look rough. no daffs or snow drops yet.
Click to expand...
No snowdrops here either. Lots of buds came on the forsythia in December. Lots of ash and branches and birch twigs came down last year, I tried using them plaited as holly wreath rings as the florists refused to sell me any more. I will try harder this year.
 
i had 4 new and different bird feeders for christmas so i hung them up on the multi feeder i have and moved it further up the garden so i can get a better look at any birds thats visit....so far i have only had a squirrel trying his luck and a pigeon....hopefully i will get some other birds soon...fingers crossed

lyn
 
Topped up the fat and peanut feeders. Then cleaned and filled seed feeder. As soon as I was in the house blue tits and sparrows arrived. Plus the standard pigeon. Mealworms and suet pellets on floor for robin and magpies - only a bit as don't want rats.
Thought I had something strange on fat feeder (it is half under some branches at the bottom of the garden and in dull light is hard to see clearly). When I used the binoculars and "it" moved I realised "it" was a "they". What I could see was two tails one each side of the feeder and the heads were hidden. Two sparrows I think.
 
Astoness said:
so i am not the only one then dave...maybe the birds will start coming back soon as snow is forecast sometime this week

lyn
Click to expand...
I think we are lucky - as you know, Lyn, we are over the field from Moseley Bog and surrounded by lots of trees so I think the area attracts the birds. We don't get starlings but lots of blue, great and long-tailed tits plus sparrows by the load. There was a jenny-wren on the fence this morning but didn't see it feed. Blackbirds - more common in spring and summer but have seen them.
In the past we have had a woodpecker (they live in the trees on the green up the road - or did as I haven't seen them for a while). Also a nuthatch - but again not seen for a while.
 
Remember the RSPB Birdwatch survey at the end of January. Viv.

Big Garden Birdwatch

Big Garden Birdwatch is the world’s largest garden wildlife survey. Every year, hundreds of thousands of nature lovers like you take part, helping to build a picture of how garden birds are faring.
www.rspb.org.uk www.rspb.org.uk
 
OK, so we are now a bit more south than a lot of you, and fairly isolated.

Haw / gold / green finches.
Brambling.
Greater spotted woodpecker.
Nuthatch.
Blue / great / long tailed / marsh tits.
Serin.
Siskin.
Jay.
Magpie.
Sparrow hawk, for whom the feeders are where lunch hangs out.
Kestrel.
Pheasant, (with his wife).

We had two magpies with light chocolate plumage rather than the usual dark colour. Now only one shows up, after a pile of light coloured magpie feathers in the grass.

My wife is the bird enthusiast, but not at twitcher level, I can only distinguish small medium and large.

We have just been away for a month, and the birds took nearly 10 minutes to come back when the feeders were topped up. Normally they are parading on the window cill in the morning.

Andrew.
 
1642444033317.jpeg
This is the pond next to our house. The geese seem to be always there.

Yesterday we had our third snow of 2022. We live in Franklin TN (well south of the Mason Dixon) and this weather is unheard of. We have lived here for 14 years and while we get some cold January days normal high temp 55f and a dusting of snow. Yesterday we had about 6" and was lucky enough to find the snow shovel we bought with us from NJ.
 
Tiny crocuses coming up in a very sheltered spot under a holly bush that is growing from the oak base. And some in the barrel. I took a wrongly delivered letter to Barmy next door, I tried to escape whilst he said he is cutting all the trees on his side. Apart from the oaks he didn't mention them or the majestic pine which helps create the Narnia effect when it snows. I hope they don't fall on us. He was hacking ivy at the time. I pray he will remove his junk. Maybe someone else complained. Our grass is long and tussocky and very baldy in places. Muddy. I cleaned the bird box late autumn, and there has been dried grass protruding since December, so they had either started nesting very early or it is to keep them warm when thy roost. Do they do that? In the artificial robin's nest they have place pretty leaves, rust and red when the creeper turned.
 
Reading in the Gardening Today Mag…

“Your 2021 garden bird sightings were consistent with the previous year, apart from a few notable exceptions. Happily, numbers of house sparrow and starling appear to be levelling off - this is consistent with RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch data, which suggests initial declines have slowed over the past few vears. Sadly, numbers of chaffinches continue to
fall, both in our research (down four per cent since 2019) and in the Big Garden Birdwatch, with the lowest average sightings ever recorded since the survey began. The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) reports that chaffinch
numbers fell by 30 per cent from 2007 to 2018…”
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top