Your Garden Characters.

I have one regular character, a male blackbird with white patches on his head. He's been a resident in my garden for about four years so he's getting on a bit. I have memorised his song and I can even predict which little phrase he's going to come out with next. I call him Daddy Blackbird. He used to have a wife - Mummy Blackbird - I could tell her apart from all the others because she was enormous - not just fat but a really big bird, and beautiful with it. She was very feisty and quite tame, but she very tragically got killed by my neighbour's cat last spring - she was right in the middle of building a nest too, which made me doubly angry. Daddy Blackbird was mournful for weeks, but thankfully he has a new lady friend now, although I don't think they managed any chicks last year.

Also lately, during this harsh weather, a fieldfare has taken up residence in the garden - it's huge and fat and taking great advantage of my generosity - it's going through apples like nobody's business. It's very quarelsome and greedy and fights away any other bird that attempts to enter the garden at the moment!

Very occasionally a crow or two will visit. They are very very shy but nevertheless always gentle and thus I have named the "The Friendly Crows".

Your dunnock is very cute, and sweet how it follows you around and clears up after you! I have lots in my garden but none quite so confiding as yours!

Hi PeregrineRhi, Great thread! I love hedgy, we have a dunnock who comes to see my pet conure through the kitchen window. They are firm friends.

My son & I name everything lol.

We had a frog called Big Goldie. But we didn't see him last year. Then my Mum rescued one from her cat & put him in our pond, he was huge so we called him Biggy.

Then there are the squirrels, so many of them descendants from Nutsy a wise old Mum. Nutsy got mange though and died a few years ago. Silver (male), Midgey (female) & Baby (female) were one litter full of character. Silver is still going - quite a big male. Baby went missing last year in winter & appeared about a month later looking very fat & with only a stump of a tail with stitches in. Someone had obviously rescued her from an accident of some sort & looked after her. Baby then became Stumpy. She was tame & bickered with Midgey. Midgey was the smallest of the litter & was extremely tame, took nuts from us, lounged by us lounging in the summers, had her own special box of fancy nuts. Waited on the door step or top of the gate for us to come back from school, she was great. Midgey stopped coming 2 months ago after getting very thin & fragile (despite being well fed). We couldn't get her into a vet box so couldn't get her help. We presume she died & miss her so much, she was a very special squirrel.  She was 3 yrs old. We haven't seen Stumpy for quite a while either. She followed me all along the road on my way to work one morning in September. Midgey's babies, Stripe & Rusty still visit but are male and not tame. It always seems to be the female ones who become tame.

Wood pigeons - the original 2 were called Dumply & Toes. Dumply was enormous! Toes had a funny foot, but kept on going. Now we get so many I can't tell.

Old Captain, my male blackbird of around 3 yrs old still comes, he's balding around his beak & got one wing hanging but is top blackbird of the garden.

I used to have a robin who sat on his own little bird table & took mealworms out of my hand. He used to come to the kitchen window & ask for food.

I have a nice one at the moment who is tame & says hello when I am doing the food, eats quite happily around me.He attempted to land on the dish of mealworms the other day but bottled out at the last minute. Haven't got a name for him yet.

 

 

Awww what great characters you have! Annabanana I also have a very grumpy Fieldfare at the moment, The Songthrushes and Blackbirds have banded together to try and thwart him. He can deffinatley put away the apples too!

thebirdmum - your garden sounds amazing! Love the squirrel's names. We only have the one squirrel named 'Mr. Squirrel.' He hasn't been around for a few days though.

Hopefully he will be back soon PeregrineRhi, maybe he's found thicker shelter & feeding near there for a while.

Hi Pergrine

Great thread to talk about our favourite birds in our gardens

I have had a good list of birds throughout all the properties I have stayed at.  The Blackies are the stars of the show each time

Never had independant names for the birds - always the same names. The birds are so pampered you would not believe it.

I have had Blackbirds feeding from my hand, and following me around the garden.  They spend a lot of their time getting under my feet in the garden area.  Still I love them a lot.  Dave has had Female Blackies following him too - and they love us for spoiling them to bits.

I have had a male blackbird who sat on the bedroom window sill to get our attention first thing in the morning.  He 'chonked' at us to say he was there. So cute

We have had a Pied Wagtail which sat on the lounge window sill to get our attention for food first thing in the morning and the same Piedy would met me down the farmtrack at night from work.  Just a little character.  So cute.

I have seen a 'mother' Rook feeding her youngster from our bird table.  The youngster just seemed to fit under the roof of the table and mum Rook fed her with the bird food -so sweet and entertaining.

We have had a pair of Pheasant at our tables to hoover up the dropped seed.

Too many stories to tell here

Regards

Kathy and Dave

Nice idea for a thread PeregrineRhi,

My favourite has to be Fatty. He was a young house sparrow, and all summer he sat in a mesh tray that is suspended from a fence, all fluffy and rotund. He would eat then sleep without moving! The other sparrows had to eat round him!! We used to watch him for hours. I don't know if he still comes as all the summer babies have grown into teenagers now and their colourings have changed.

Then there were the starling parents who brought one fledgling to my bird table and fed him right in front of me, grabbing as many dried mealworms as they could in their beaks - 10 or more, before feeding him. He still comes, and I hope he will bring his babies this year.

There are so many more.

I forgot Billy (no mates) my starling from last year. His parents left him sitting on the bird table & legged it never to return. He stayed on the bird table for several days calling, waiting for them to come back. He stayed in mine & my neighbours gardens all winter, trying to make friends with any bird he could, he eventually found starling friends & started to venture further. I can't tell if he still comes as all starlings are so similar.

Susan H said:

Nice idea for a thread PeregrineRhi,

My favourite has to be Fatty. He was a young house sparrow, and all summer he sat in a mesh tray that is suspended from a fence, all fluffy and rotund. He would eat then sleep without moving! The other sparrows had to eat round him!! We used to watch him for hours. I don't know if he still comes as all the summer babies have grown into teenagers now and their colourings have changed.

Then there were the starling parents who brought one fledgling to my bird table and fed him right in front of me, grabbing as many dried mealworms as they could in their beaks - 10 or more, before feeding him. He still comes, and I hope he will bring his babies this year.

There are so many more.

I loved the baby sparrows this year! we had so many!  This was my 'fatty'.  He looks like he's formed around a fatball!




I take too many pictures! heehee. I'm really enjoying reading these posts. Nature's just great isn't it ?)

Oh! He looks just like my Fatty. So beautiful, and superb photo by the way.

Hi Peregrine

What a little podge that he is

Rolly Polly with feathers on

Love this thread and look forward to seeing more pictures, and hearing more stories from people {smile}

Regards

Kathy and Dave