A good day in the garden

[badgerwatcher]

My garden changes every day, and is still full of surprises, but some days I don't spot anything particularly unusual, and other days, like today, make me realise I'm living in the garden of Eden!

Last night at dusk, I was watching the foxcubs scrunching their supper on the lawn and the wind was rustling the silver birch. Suddenly, as it got dark, and the stripy noses of the Badgers were just visible as they wended their way down the side path in search of peanut butter, a bird started to sing, the most beautiful, sharp and complex, clear song.
It was a NIGHTINGALE! I've never heard one before, and it was singing in my garden.

Today, I was sitting here writing. A loud tap on the window just now turned out to be a baby blue tit, whom I discovered sitting stunned on the ground beneath the window. One of his siblings was fluttering around him, obviously very distressed. He sat rocking to and fro for some time, and I thought he might be dying, so I got a box, and went outside to him, as we get so many cats in the garden, that I thought it was only a matter of time before he became a cat snack. I was able to pick him up very easily, which was worrying, but when I did, his claws were still gripping, and when I put him in the box, he fluttered his wings. I sat beside the box on the garden bench, to protect him from attack from predators. He kept closing his eyes, and looked very poorly. I lifted him out and, as I did so, he seemed to pick up. I sat him on my lap and sang him blue tit songs. He started turning his head to look from side to side, as if testing it to see if it was damaged. All seemed well. I picked him up and held him sitting on my finger, and whistled him some more tunes. (Today I am dressed in blue tit colours, so he may have thought he was having a nightmare about a giant blue tit. lol) His balance improved as he sat there, and he tested his wings. He blinked his eyes several times, then he sang me a little answering song. I carried him to the holly tree and held him up so that he could hop onto a branch, which he did. He hopped from branch to branch, calling to his siblings. Then he fluttered up into the macrocarpa tree. He was perfect, clean and new, still with the yellow marks around his beak. I hope he will survive.

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There were a lot of birds today. We have families of fledgeling blue tits, great tits, wrens and starlings. A magpie and a baby wren were both taking advantage of the mealworms I put out, just outside my window.

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Slow-worms and lizards have been out and busy, moving out of my way as I walk along the paths, and baby squirrels racing each other across the roof.

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And tonight at dusk, the garden is once more full of foxes and Badgers, and bats (I don't know what sort) were flying about.

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[Wild-Woman]

Aww! Smashing. What a lucky lady to have all that wildlife and what lucky wildlife having you!

[goosey]

Lucky, lucky Badgerwatcher, what a lovely report. Your garden sounds a wonderful place - you a right, a Garden of Eden. I am so glad your Blue Tit survived the day. Lovely Photos as well, love the squirrel .

[smartie]

Lovely report Badgerwatcher - it's so good to have you here again. That baby wren is beautiful. We have some wrens nesting in the ivy (or the twig pile, we're not sure) at the bottom of the garden here, but they are very shy and I've not seen any fledglings yet.

[demicav]

That's a lovely report with fantastic photos. You're very lucky to have all this wildlife so close to you.

[jennyb]

BW, that sounds really idyllic. Hope the little blue tit survives.

It sound like you put out peanut butter for the Badgers. What do you put out for the foxes?

Jenny

[badgerwatcher]

Thank you all.
Jenny, I put out peanuts for everyone, which I crush slightly and sprinkle on the grass. The collared doves love these, the Badgers enjoy them as a starter, and the foxes relish them. The most glorious sight is a young Fox scrunching on peanuts, his eyes screwed up in ecstasy.
I make peanut butter sandwiches for the Badgers, which they like very much, the foxes also like them. Sometimes I put out a sprinkle of sultanas, which lots of the birds and animals seem to like. Any apples or bananas past their best go out, and they are always gone by the morning, but I don't know who has them.
I put out live mealworms for all the fledgeling birds, and sunflower hearts for the birds, and the baby squirrels love them too.
I make fat cakes with animal fat and various things in winter. And I put out pastry scraps.
Niger for the goldfinches of course and mixed seed, which has incidentally made a wonderful meadow of my garden, with oats, barley, wheat, and flax.
I hide eggs around the garden which Badgers and foxes both enjoy.
I make jam sandwiches for the foxes, which is also a useful way of giving them homeopathic mange remedy, as nothing else relishes jam sandwiches like foxes do.
And a dish of fresh water on the ground as well as the bird baths.
I was putting out dog food for the foxes but it was attracting the very large local cat population, and I feared for the fledgling birds, so I stopped that.
There is a young tabby cat that hangs out with the Badgers at nights. She sits among them as they wander about, and watches them with great interest. They never acknowledge each other.
The Badgers and foxes still eat a large amount of worms, snails and slugs, as well as Slow Worms I think. My 'lawn' is full of 'Badger-nose' craters! I think there is a large Badger population so I don't feel I am doing anything wrong with the sandwiches, as I don't make vast quantities, and they are the healthiest looking Badgers you could ever hope to meet. Quite excessively glossy!
I haven't started feeding the bees yet!