Half tennis ball/ half blue tit

Yesterday evening, as I looked out my kitchen window I noticed a little tennis ball caught in the branches of a small little ornamental tree I’ve got in my backyard. Nothing new there, next doors children are always losing their balls over my wall until I notice and chuck em back over.

There was something strange about this tennis ball though, it was moving. But with no head or beak showing, my mind jumped to how about an hour ago I’d been throwing ikea boxes out of our top window whilst we put together some furniture.

Had I decapitated a fledgling blue tit??!

Luckily not.

Tennis ball with wings and head.

I've never had a bird land in this little tree

Fledgling Blue tit - are they always so round?

I think it would have stayed in the tree for a while but unfortunately it saw me and it fled, disguised as a walking tennis ball.

all the way to the other end of the garden

In that short amount of time it seemed to have completely forgotten about me and decided to try to eat a small stone. Look at the little claw gripping the stone, very cute.

My, aren't we buff?! Isn't nature amazing - just look at it!

Such yellow, blue, black and white.

I Really hope this little blue tit comes back for a visit, I think I’ve mentioned before I don’t get many blue tits visiting my garden and when I do I love it because they seem so minute compared to the strong House Sparrows.

I’ve left water and nuts in a feeder near the tree – just in case.

Berries, we can share, but don’t take them all

Raspberries from my drimnagh garden last night.

Last night, I got in from work, opened my back door, picked these berries and ate them in about 10 seconds.

Does anyone know how much longer will I get to enjoy these berries before the birds start enjoying them for themselves?

This is my first year of growing fruit in my back garden having sown a few seedlings last year.

Do birds even like raspberries? I know they devour strawberries, is it the same for all fruits?

I’ve also got blackberries, blueberries, a necterine tree and cherry tree about to produce fruit – are they all going to be devoured by birds rather than me?!

14 House Sparrows and a Blue Tit

A few photos from the back of my house tonight.

Male House sparrow

Typical strong, thick beak

Juvenile, female House sparrow, the beak still has its yellow and flattish chick shape, plus no definite supercilium (stripe over the eye).

See the difference in colour of the female adult (below) and female juvenile's beak. This chick was already very adept at feeding from the feeder

Compared to this chick (left) which you can see in this photo, was still very dependent on being fed by her parents.

She just flew and sat in various places chirping, fluttering her wings and waiting to be fed.

Look ma, look how I'm flapping my wings. Look at my little beak, feed me.

Feed me?

Look how cute I am... feed me. See definite supercilium of female adult on the right.

A different young chick feeding herself, you can still see the yellow in the corner of her beak.

Look how I flap my wings Ma. Ma? Am I stressing you out Ma?

The Ma did feed her, she would fly down to the feeder, get bits of nuts from the feeder and then fly back up and feed the bits to her chick.

In summer peanuts, grains and seeds offer some of the protein these birds need.

There’s no point leaving out fat balls, suet balls in summer – you’ll find that they remain untouched – your garden birds don’t need the fat the suet provides at this time of year, they need protein – so save your suet/ fat balls for when it starts to get colder.

Very frazzled looking Blue tit at the feeder.

Someone give that bird a decent meal and a good nights rest.

I think this is a Blue tit chick? The feathers look new and fluffy and as though they're still developing their colour and shape, the crest feathers look to be still coming through. I think the HS is an adult because of the definite supercilium and the beak colouring - though there does seem to be a little yellow still in the corner - so I'm not 100% sure.

The birds also seem to be using some earth I’ve got in a raised bed for dirt baths.

I’ll try and get some photos some evening – it’s common for me to see 5 or 6 sparrows all wriggling around at the same time in different little pockets of earth they’ve nestled themselves into, cleaning themselves.

What I also noticed tonight was a Male adult House sparrow landing on one of my Raspberry bushes, ripping off some of the leaves and eating them. I saw on Springwatch a few weeks back that birds will sometimes eat herbs such as Mint and even feed their chicks the mint in the nest. The researchers weren’t 100% sure why, but felt it was being eaten for its antibacterial properties – could it be the same with the leaves from the Raspberry bush?

Wheezing Greenfiches

Not a bit of birdwatching done over the weekend. After dropping off and collecting Cara and friend to their Women’s Aid 70k cycle (well done to all cyclists who raised over €20,000 for Women’s Aid), helping two other friends move house, getting some benching re-concreted in my garden and finally mowing the grass and doing a bit of gardening, the weekend was gone.

I did manage to get a walk in last night after work, before the rain sets in for the rest of the week.
Map below shows where I walked – Landsdowne Valley, back up and then along the canal towards Kylemore Rd and back again to Davitt Rd.

View Larger Map

If you see where Davitt Rd meets Nass Rd, that’s where Landsdowne Valley is, I saw 4 Swifts here which was pretty cool. Also saw Wood Pigeons, Feral pigeons, Magpies, Jackdaws, Hooded Crow, Rook, Starlings, Blue tits, Mallards and some House Sparrows.
Back up to Davitt Rd and along the canal towards Kylemore Road, I didn’t see anything too unusual until I reached a hilly green spot where the canal goes under the Kylemore Rd Bridge.
There were loads of Greenfinches here, I hardly ever see Greenfinches so I watched them a while and realised it’s the Greenfinches which make that wheezing noise. I’d been wondering for ages which bird it was making that noise, so it was nice to finally see the noise in action.
Also saw Dunnocks, Songthrushes, Blackbirds, House Sparrows, a Moorhen, a dead eel (in the canal) and a few burnt out cars, bikes etc.
I’m not going to lie, it didn’t feel the safest doing this walk. It would have felt safer being on the other side of the canal, but I chose to walk the grassy side (less walkers, dogs, cyclists, more shrubs, trees, birds).
In fairness there was only one dodgy guy who freaked me a bit, but a little midge flew into my eye just as we were approaching each other so he no doubt thought the same of me.

The council do seem to be working on cleaning up this section of the canal. I walked on the grassy side but the other side had been re-paved and golden shale had just been laid down – so it looked a lot better and walkers did seem to be making use of the new walkway. Plus I saw a few CCTV cameras up at the Kylemore Rd bridge which made me feel safer. Whether the CCTV cameras are actually switched on and being monitored is another thing.

Didn’t get great photos so – a post with no photos!

I’ll definitely walk down there again when it’s the middle of the day, there’s better light and I have more time to walk past Kylemore.

Around Drimnagh

For the last 4 weekends I have been in Co Offaly, Co Cork, Co Monaghan and Yorkshire. This weekend I didn’t wander more than 10 minutes from my house in Drimnagh.

After I visited Drimnagh Castle yesterday I continued on and took a long walk along the Grand canal and then went onto Brickfields park.

Didnt see too much unusual but it was a stunning sunny day and in that sunshine everything usual took on an unusual shine.

Along the canal I saw Mallard Ducks and their chicks, a Moorhen, great close ups of a Grey Heron, House Sparrows, Starlings, Magpies, Jackdaws, Hooded Crows, hardly any gulls at all and some Goldfinches.

Female Mallard on Grand Canal, Drimnagh

Male and Female Mallard.I think she's about to sneeze.

Female Mallard and her chicks

Amazing camoflague of the chicks and female mallard.

Family outing. If you double click on this one and look at the mother and two chicks immediately behind her. They're near identical.

Look at the state of yer one.

Moorhen

House Sparrow, in a tree.

Urban birding - amazing that the luas is running, cars are driving along 2m away and the Heron isn't bothered at all.

Well, sometimes it did hop about 30cm further along the canal.

Grey Heron, Drimnagh

I like the way the shadow is biting its own tail feathers.

I've never got this close to a Heron. Double click on this for great close up of the Heron's face and beak.

I left the Heron to it and visited Brickfields park which is about 5 mins away.

Got some lovely shots of a little Mistle Thrush molting its immature feathers and coming into its adult plumage.

You can still see the juvenile grey feathers which haven't molted yet.

Well I’m assuming thats whats going on here.

No photoshop going on here - that's an actual glint in its eye from Actual sunshine in Ireland.

Again, just look at the camoflague going on here. The feathers are nearly exactly the same colour as the bark of the tree.

Another shot showing how similar the colouring of the Song Thrush's feathers are similar to the bark of the tree.

Two Collared Doves 'lazing on a sunny afternoon, in summertime...' about 5metres away from the playground.

It was nice getting these lovely shots so close to home. Within 10 mins from my house I’ve seen a beautiful Norman Castle dating from 1200′s, had long walks along the sunny Grand Canal and visited one of the three parks on my doorstep.

I still haven’t been down the Landsdowne Park walk yet, which could bring up some interesting birds as there’s a little stream running at the bottom. According to another Drimnagh blog ‘Drimnagh is Good’, there’s a possible plan to have this walk marked as a Slí na Sláinte which would be great.

Nice to be around this weekend so that I could appreciate the nature around Drimnagh.

Drimnagh Castle, Long Mile Road, Dublin 12

Drimnagh Castle was, until 1954 one of the oldest continually inhabited Castles in Ireland, and is an outstanding example of an old feudal stronghold. It is the only Irish castle still to be surrounded by a flooded moat, a very picturesque feature, described in 1780 as a “very deep ditch of water supplied from the Green Hills”. It is now stocked with fish. The castle, built of local grey limestone, consists of a restored Great Hall and medieval undercroft, a tall battlement tower with lookout posts, and other separate buildings including stables, old coach, dairy and folly tower. One of the most attractive aspects of Drimnagh is the garden – a formal 17th Century layout with box hedges, yews, mop head laurels and an allee of hornbeam.

Opening Times:

April-Oct: Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday, 12pm-5pm.

November-March: Wed, 12pm-5pm; Sunday, 2pm-5pm.

How many Dubs know about this castle in Drimnagh? I doubt very many. I live about 5 minutes away and I had no idea it existed until I saw its turrets one day driving up the Long Mile Road. It’s kind of weird that more’s not made of this beautiful building and it’s not teaming with visitors at weekends, it just seems to exist off the Long Mile Road and mind its own business.

I visited for the first time yesterday and there wasn’t another soul to be seen.

Standing in the same spot, Long Mile Road to my right

and Drimnagh Castle to my left. Earliest records of the castle date from 1210.

(image taken from Wikipedia – View of Castle 1820)

The moat around the castle

Drimnagh Castle, Drimnagh, Dublin 12.

Unfortunately, even though I rang the bell the doors didn't open, so maybe that explains why there aren't many visitors?!

I was pretty disappointed that the doors were closed, it was about 3pm and in theory should have been open. Through the fence I saw some lads fishing so I knew there must be some other way to get in. Luckily another lad arrived and showed me which bit of the fence allowed you access to the unofficial  garden.

Lads fishing

I think the building in this pic must be a Folly.

Steps down to a morning swim

So – to the birds. There weren’t any unusuals that I saw. Plenty of Wood Pigeons, Magpies, Blackbirds, Feral Pigeons, Mallards and their chicks, Goldfinches and I saw a female Blackcap. I thought I heard a Moorhen but I didn’t see it.

Goldfinches - autofocus didn't catch them unfortunately, would have been a great shot.

Blackbird singing in the dead of day.

Immature albino Mallard duck? Or hybrid?

Curious how he's so much bigger than the other male mallard

There was also a female albino? hybrid? immature? mallard.

Utterly sad that I can't i.d her properly.

Female Mallard and one of her chicks

Mallard chicks

Mallard chicks

Beautiful female Mallard

and finally you’re going to have to trust me that this was a female Blackcap, I had my binoculars and saw its brown cap, shame sun was right behind her, anyway..

Female Blackcap.

I’d advise anyone to go and visit this place, especially in the sunshine, it was a beautiful, peaceful and calm place. I’d just give them a call first to check it will be open!

I’ll post again another time from the ‘official’ gardens.

For more info on the castle from Wikipedia, click here

and for the website where the above info was taken from click here.



Lazy gardeners are a birds best friend

When Sarah called over to my house on Sunday I gave her a quick tour of my house before we set off for Monaghan. The tour didn’t take long, I’ve only got a lounge and a kitchen downstairs! Anyway, as  she took a peek out my kitchen window, I remembered the state of my garden felt quite ashamed. It’s only a small patch so should be very easy to maintain.

In theory.

The reality is that the yellow of the dandelions has taken over, the raised beds are full of other mysterious and very healthy weeds and the grass is nearly as high as a meadow, except in a desolate, wasteland kind of way rather than a pretty countryside meadow way.

Then in the middle of all of this neglect there’s a chair where my better half has been sitting, reading in the sunshine.

So with me not being home in Dublin for the last few weekends and being too lazy to deal with it when I get home from work and my OH being really busy lately, the garden is seriously neglected and kind of getting on my nerves.

But no more, thanks to this article.

Lazy/ neglectful gardeners breathe a sigh of relief.

Taken from the excellent Birdwatch website

21 Apr 2010

‘Let it grow’

The RSPB is appealing to gardeners to let the grass grow under their feet by reducing their mowing and so help their garden wildlife this summer by providing an important food source.

With the arrival of warmer weather, the distant hum of lawnmowers can now be heard again. But the RSPB is asking for this to be silenced, occasionally, to allow lawns to grow, as slightly longer lawns are a valuable home and food source for birds and other creatures. Leaving some of the wildflowers that grow in lawns is also important as these provide food and nectar for bees.

Val Osborne, Head of RSPB Wildlife Enquiries says: “The RSPB is simply suggesting that you cut your lawns a little less frequently and when you do, you set the blades so the grass isn’t quite so short. We are always being asked what can be done for wildlife at this time of year and one of the easiest and most beneficial measures is to cut back on mowing lawns.

The RSPB suggests that if you do require a shorter lawn for pets or children, simply leaving a small patch uncut could make a big difference and will likely be populated with worms and insects which will provide food for all sorts of birds. Many ground-feeding garden favourites enjoy long grass, including Song Thrushes, Blackbirds, Dunnocks, finches and House Sparrows.

The RSPB is also appealing to local councils to leave roadside verges to grow for a few more weeks, as the wildflowers growing in them are a wildlife haven. “The side of many roads are a mass of wildflowers like Dandelions at the moment and they give bees valuable nectar,” said Val Osborne.

“Local councils and landowners may think they are ‘tidying up’ by trimming them down but they could be taking away food for many wild creatures. We would just urge them to hold off their mowing for a little while longer.”

I love it.

‘Dandelions give valuable nectar to the bees’ – excellent.

And just as well – we’re away again this weekend…

female BLACKCAP in the garden.

I think.

Female Blackcap in my garden this morning - not a house sparrow right?

I did wonder if I might have got very excited over a House Sparrow, but I see them all the time in my garden and I felt there was something different about this bird. Plus it was eating the apple which the House Sparrows show no interest in. The beak wasn’t like the Sparrows and it was a lot plainer than the sparrow. The only thing that’s throwing me from that photo above is the wings are quite drak on top and sparrow looking, the head could nearly be a sparrow too, grey and brown, but it’s too tidy a cap of brown for a sparrow – plus the chest is too creamy for a HS – so I’m 99% sure tis a blackcap.

Look at neat and tidy browncap on her head - so not a House sparrow and no pink bird.

Male House Sparrow

Female Blackcap

If I had longer to look I’d probably be more certain, but I might have had about 10 seconds.

Hearing my excitement in the kitchen and hearing me picking up the camera, cara came in to see what was going on. ‘Oh my God’ she said (which kinda suprised me, what she knows about birds now and is also excited at the blackcap?!), ‘A pink bird!’ ‘What?!’ ‘Oh I thought the apple was a pink bird’.

I laughed, Blackcap flew away, pink bird stayed, I looked sad, cara laughed.

Anyway – I had a female Blackcap visitor this morning- how cool is that!

Link to RSPB info on Blackcaps

I don’t like it

Yesterday I cleaned out the feeders in the garden and re-filled the water dishes with nice clean water. The Fieldfare has disappeared, so has the Song Thrush and Redwings. All gone now that the weather’s gotten milder. I think it was about 9 degrees yesterday. But even so, the feeders have gone very quiet, not even the House Sparrows or Tits were about from what I saw.

When I cleaned the feeders I saw a possible reason why.

In the first feeder the meal worm had got all wet and turned to mush, blocking up the flow of the feeder. So I unblocked that.

Then I noticed that in the 2nd feeder it was only a particular seed being left.

This is the remnants of the Wild Seed mix I put in the 2nd Feeder (the peanuts were leftovers from another feeder). As you can see the birds seem to be just leaving one particular seed – is it wheat ?

Remains from 2nd Feeder. This yellowy grain was the only thing in the Wild Seed mix not to be eaten. I don't know what it is. Wheat? Plus, old peanuts left from a 3rd feeder.

I wondered why in the severe cold seed was left in this feeder (below)….

The birds suddenly stopped feeding from here (4th feeder)

but when I looked closer at the feeder I saw what the birds saw – the only seed they didn’t like! Which explained why they stopped feeding here.

So I took out these grains so the rest of the other seeds could fall through.

So even in the extreme cold weather – if they can’t eat certain food, they really can’t. I probably should not have put this wild seed in this feeder. I won’t again.

In fact, I think from now on  I’ll just put sunflower seeds, meal worms in suet and peanuts and I’ll scatter wild seed on the platforms where they can have easy access to the grains they like.

I am surprised though that no bird – not even the pigeons! ate the wheat (if it is wheat).

Anybody any ideas?

2 Cormorants on the canal

Today was a beautiful day wasn’t it? I’d say the morning was great for photography and getting out there but I didn’t wake up til 11.47am. Shame on me I know, but it doesn’t happen that often.

I went for a walk along the canal about 3pm and saw the Loch Ness monster near the Blackhorse bridge, Inchicore.

Loch Ness monster in Drimnagh? No, a Cormorant trawling the canal for fish

There were two of them, this one popped up from under the water right next to me

The canal is full of Eels, Pike, Perch and Roach. I think Corms love eels and will eat them all in one go.

Typical Cormorant 'I'm a Lady' pose. Beak up in the air, angled neck and most of it's body under the water

Just look at the oily feathers on it's back and the yellow and white detail near the hooked beak. Unusual to see it swimming with body above water - but it's about to take off in flight

Take off. In these photos the eyes are consistently green. Are their eyes actually green??

The wing span is quite massive. If this was a juvenile there'd be white on it's belly and chest

wow

People feeding the Mallards, Mute Swans, BH Gulls - they all flock in

a 'Leave me alone' day

gliding up and down looking for a fight

I was glad I dragged myself out of the house – there’s beauty all around out there.

I got talking to a few people who saw me taking photos of the Cormorant and wanted to chat with me about them, which was cool, not that I knew much, but they did! and that’s how you learn innit? It was a guy fishing who told me the different kinds of  fish found in the canal. I like when I can chat with random people, I think it’s our natural way before insecurities/defences/bad moods mute us.