BIRDING THE LUNE ESTUARY THE FOREST OF BOWLAND AND BEYOND.................................................................WHOOPER SWANS COCKERSAND PETE WOODRUFF

Wednesday, 17 April 2024

The Nuthatch, Tits, And Hedgehog.

I was really pleased to have found this local Nuthatch again this week. According to my records, these are breeding for the third consecutive year.   


The bonus for this years sighting was, as I got into a position out of sight and hidden under a tree to record the bird, a male Nuthatch was in song close by. After listening to the serenade, the female continued plastering to reduce the crevices as protection against the elements and possible predators....Fascinating stuff!


In the spilt second I stopped filming, the Nuthatch was entering the nest hole.

Garden Wildlife.

We get occasional visits by the Long-tailed Tits, and it was a pleasure to have three in the garden yesterday.


It was also pleasing to see the Hedgehog roaming through the 'long grass' of our lawn. Although always a little worrying to see out in daylight, visually it appeared fit and well.

11 comments:

  1. Three delightful video clips, Pete. Yes, it's always a little worrying to see a 'hog out in daylight, but I would not be surprised if it was as a result of a neighbour doing a bit of spring garden tidying and disturbing its daytime 'nest'. Do you feed the 'hogs? I feed ours dried Black Soldier Fly larvae and they love it.

    Best wishes - - - Richard

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  2. Yes we do feed the hogs Richard, but we've yet to find a way of keeping the cat/s out of the station we knocked up for the hogs. I'll pass on to KT about the Black Soldier Fly larvae being on the menu!

    Regards....Pete.

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    1. My feeding stations have two house bricks - one either side of the entrance - with a roof tile on top. The house bricks are sat on their narrow sides, and the long sides give just the right height to let the hogs in and keep the cats out. You might have to stick a rock on top of the roof tile to stop the cats forcing it up. We have many cats visiting at night and since I've done the entrance this way I've not had a problem. For the actual feeding station I use quite a long clear plastic storage container, lid-side up, with a Hedgehog-sized hole cut in one end of the long side. It's easy then to lift the lid to top up the food without disturbing the overall set-up. As an added precaution, I make sure that the food tray/dish is in the position indicated in my attempt below to do a simple diagram!
      __________________________
      ! !
      ! !
      ! food tray !
      !___________________ !
      ! !
      ! !
      ! _____ !

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    2. That didn't work - I'll email you a picture!

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  3. Thank you for this Richard....To be continued via e-mail.

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  4. Lovely picture and video of the Nuthatch, I saw one in my garden for the first time a couple of weeks ago but unfortunately not seen since. I too get my peanut feeder visited by Long Tailed Tits which seem to visit more frequently of late.
    Strange the Hedgehog out in B-road daylight.
    Ian Mitchell

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  5. Excellent you got the Nuthatch in your garden Ian, and worth noting the Hedgehog retuned to our garden about one hour ago today Thursday 18 April. Also worth noting, in little more than a month away we need to be on the lookout for the enigmatic Bombus monticola.

    Regards....Pete.

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  6. There I am again Pete. Beautiful serie photos. The Nuthatch, I see them sometimes in Germany. Have a nice weekend! Greetings Caroline

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  7. Thank you Caroline. I welcome your visit to B2B, and hope you have a good weekend and the week to follow.

    Kind Regards....Pete.

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  8. Hi Pete!!! Very nice birds in your video... I love Hedgehog... Happy weekend

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  9. Thank you Ana. Hope you have a happy weekend too.

    Regards...Pete.

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