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07 maggio We need a bigger gardenWe need more room to accommodate the birds ... latest arrival on the scene is a goldfinch seen feeding on some lavender heads from last year. What with that and the two wood-pigeons which visit plus the bluetits and sparrows and starlings and blackbirds ... I haven't room out there to mow the lawn Da Vinci CodeI read the 'Da Vinci Code' (Dan Brown) a while ago and thought it was an excellent story, well thought out and executed. It also impinged on some work I was doing on crop circles, inasmuch as the geometries and mathematical series involved in Da Vinci Code (DVC) are echoed in some formations we have seen in our cereal fields over the years. The clever use of the Fibonacci series and its connection with the Golden Ratio was great. Now, it appears that, as the film is about to be released, the established Church seems to be getting rattled about some of the content. Are they afraid that some of the issues raised in this, and other Dan Brown books, may cause people to think that maybe, just maybe there could be a little more truth than is comfortable. What are they trying to hide?
Another aspect is the recent court case in which Michael Baigent allegedly said that some of the story of DVC was based on Holy Blood, Holy Grail.
Baigent lost the case ... but it is interesting to note that HBHG has shot up to number four in the paperback Non-Fiction list. DVC is number one in the paper-back Fiction list.
I shall probably delve into the wonders of Fibonacci at a later date ... and Vitruvian Man.
06 maggio ConfusionI'm not sure who is most confused now ... me or the bluetits!!!
I have been trying to identify the various birds in this drama and find it very difficult when one of the birds comes out of one box and flies straight into the other. I am hoping that with some slow-motion video I can pick up on the facial mask to see if these are, indeed, two, three, four or even five separate individuals all intent on getting into the Guinness Book of Records. The activity is really breath-taking. It now takes me twenty minutes, at least, to wash-up the tea things instead of the usual six or seven. 05 maggio More problems!Now then ... the two boxes are both definitely being used but the problem is this ... the same bird is visiting both boxes. I saw it taking nesting material into one box with regular visits. Then it took, or tried to take, a long piece of last years bindweed (about 18 inches long) into the box. Two sparrows were intrigued by the antics of this little bird that they hung around for a few seconds watching the procedure. I looked away (kettle was boiling, time for coffee) and when I looked back the long strand had gone! It was now hanging out of the other box!! Out came the bird and carried up into the forsythia bush to adjust its grip, I suppose, and then it returned to the first box and flew in as if it owned it.
It now seems that this one bluetit has two homes in my garden and, if it has two mates as well, he is in for a very busy few weeks!!!
More later.... 04 maggio Even more exciting news!We have two nest boxes in the small garden we have, the newer one is the one that has been occupied recently, the other one has been ignored for about five years. Well it would seem that the old box now contains another pair of bluetits. There is quite a lot of activity and the comings and goings are very frequent. I shall give them a couple of days to establish and then try to get a shot or two (photographically speaking) so that I can illustrate my blog. 02 maggio Bluetits are still in controlThese little dynamos are constantly on the go now. But I really must impose myself on the garden as there are certain jobs to be done before it's too late. I'm sure that if I don't have the radio on too loud ... except for the cricket ... they may tolerate the odd mowing of the lawn and weeding of the borders. We shall see. 23 aprile 5-Day Break in WalesWe shall soon be going for a short break in mid-Wales. We will be going to Llandrindod Wells and having some trips out, half day to the Brecon Beacons, half day to Aberystwyth and a full day going roung the Cambrian Mountains. I shall be taking my camera(s) as there is a good chance of seeing Red Kites flying in the area. The Red Kite is a large bird of prey (mainly a scavenger!) and has come back from the verge of extinction by careful conservation coupled with extensive education on the nature of the birds. It was long felt that the Kite was responsible for the death of small animals, such as lambs, and were therefore fair game for those 'keepers who worked for the local land-owners.
When I return I shall publish my photographs and reports to this blog.
29th April 2006
Well that didn't take long. We have been to Wales for our 5-day break and now ... it's all over! But we had a great time and stayed in mid Wales at the Glen Usk Hotel in Llandrindod Wells. We arrived on Monday afternoon at about 4.00 pm only to find that the lift had broken down! But then we found that our room was on the ground floor so it didn't really matter, after all. After a good night's sleep we woke to lots of Welsh 'sunshine' (you know ... misty rain!) and we were to visit the Brecon Beacons Mountain Centre about 30 miles away. Well, the weather slowly improved and we arrived in time to see the edges of Pen-y-fan gently disappear into the murk only to re-appear after about ten minutes. We got back onto the coach and went to Brecon, home of the 23rd Regiment of Foot, defenders of Rorke's Drift in the zulu war of 1879. Then it was back to Llandod (as the locals know it) by which time the sun had come out and I did a walk round the town. It's a remarkable little place, very Victorian in it's layout and architecture. There were lots of historical bits and pieces to see and lovely old shops to explore.
On Wednesday we had an all-day trip through the Cambrian mountains with plenty of photo opportunities to take advantage of and we had our first glimpse of some Red Kites circling lazily above Rhaeder, where one of the feeding stations is situated. We were lucky enough to see more later in the day, but still a long way up in the sky. The journey through the mountains was spectacular and we past old lead-mines, silver mines and reservoirs, There were valleys so deep that you could just see sheep in the bottoms, but only as tiny specks. We went down the Dyvy valley to Aberdovey and then turned northwards to Tywyn and followed the Tal-y-llyn railway up a valley until we got to a woollen mill which served tea and coffee and the most beautiful cake you could hope to taste. We had lunched at Machynlleth earlier but still had room for a slice of cake!!! Then it was back through the mountains and saw the source of the river Wye on Plynlymon where it trickled down the side of the mountain at the start of it's journey through Wales. More sheep, wall to wall sheep, white ones, black ones, coffee coloured ones and, in one field we saw a small herd (pack? group?) of alpaca.
Exhausted and necks aching from craning our heads to see a tiny blob from the coach window which might have been a Red Kite ... or possibly not, we got back to Llandod in time for dinner. A fabulous day all round.
Thursday dawned sunny and bright for our half day going across to Aberystwyth and Devil's Bridge. Sheep and more sheep again and some great views of Red Kites this time. Aberystwyth was it's usual lazy uninspiring self but at least the sun shone, the breeze was cool and the coffee was great!
Our journey home was uneventful and we were back indoors in Kent by about four o'clock.
We had a wonderful time and found that the bluetits were still in the box. Fantastic! 20 aprile A Mugging witnessedThis incident was witnessed not by me ... but by my wife!
The bluetit box is sited on a fence in the garden and, as described earlier today, is in the fly-zone near the feeders. Well, one sparrow had completed his ablutions this morning in nextdoor's pond margin and decided to sit on the fence and have a leisurely preen. He'd just got to the part where the wing is up, head under when ... wham! The bluetit appeared from over the fence from behind the sparrow and landed on its back resulting in victory for the bluetit and a very bewildered sparrow falling down on our side of the fence. The bluetit extracted itself and flew straight into the box where, no doubt, he spent the next few minutes relating the tale to his mate!
I suppose an explanation could be that the 'spuggie' had picked a preening area two or three inches too near the nest box ... but who knows? More activity!This morning I noticed that the birds ... bluetits, starlings and sparrows ... were showing a lot more activity. Yesterday, i went out and attached another couple of pieces of garden twine (green stuff) to the bracket holding the peanut dispenser and, yes, this morning there was the sparrow still trying to shred it. I swear that his face was grinning from ear to ear.
The starlings were getting very agitated as the fat balls were nearly exhausted and they were trying to get the upper hand on the peanuts. The sparrows were equally determined that they were not going to be a pushover.
In amongst the frantic flying back and forth, the bluetits were zooming in and out of the nest box, seemingly unconcerned. 17 aprile The Birds are in!!!After four days have gone by with lots of activity, they have seriously taken possession of the box. There have been defensive manoeuvres, quite vicious at times, with the bluetits gaining the upper hand over the sparrows and even starlings which have been a little too inquisitive. For a small bird the bluetit is a brave little soul who appears to be fearless in his manner (...and his manor!)
This morning I saw a re-enactment of one of the funny cartoons in which a man is pruning a tree and sawing through the branch he is sitting on. We have a peanut feeder on the fence which is attached to a bracket by a length of garden twine. A sparrow has decided that the ends of the string, when shredded, would be a great component of his nest. He sits on the bracket and shreds the fibres like mad. It will be only a matter of time before the knot collapses and he becomes the most "popular" bird in the area.
16 aprile Testing blogDue to a momentus event in our garden
 on Thursday 13th April 2006, i.e. bluetits examining and taking possession of the nest box we put up a couple of years ago , I decided to keep a sort of blog in case anyone wants to know the latest comings and goings.Hopefully, as I get more au fait with the procedures, I shall add some piccies of the birds and perhaps other subjects ... we shall see.
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