Common sparrows are becoming very rare in this English city garden,
we think driven out by the magpie population explosion and the
growing number of jays. Nature is becoming topsey turvey. Whilst
the common sparrow is seldon seen, once rare birds are in
abundance. Every morning the heron flies over inspecting the pond
for breakfast. The woodpecker rat-a-tat-tats in the old oak tree
(greater and lesser spotted are seen), green woodpeckers love the
marrow from the dog's bone. Mallards are trying to nest on the
stream (despite the fox earth in next door's garden). There are even
wild deer in the parkland on the other side of the stream. And yes,
after disappearing for winter the kingfisher's are back! Over the
rumble of the traffic from the major highway 200 metres always they
'cheap cheap' to each other a they prepare for the new season.
Caught together, a pity the light is going. The male
at the top is a lot more skittish, the female has a
fish.
BOOKMARK THIS SITE AND SEE HOW THE 2003 NE DEVELOPS
March 13th 2003
Yes the same pair of birds are back for 2003. They are even using the same nest hole. At
first we could not believe it when they were seen coming out of
the hole which had not been cleaned out since last year.
March 20th 2003
They are still around, every morning they perch in the sun at the start of the day before going off
hunting.
March 22nd 2003
They are cleaning out the old nest, maybe they will use it again this year
We were surprised they were going to use the same
hole that reared two broods last year.
The female sits on the sapling with the nest hole in
the top left centre of the picture.
Then at last the cleaned it out. Behind and below her
is the scree of rubbish from last year's nest. A
mixture of muck and old fish bones.
March 25th 2003
4pm, they are seen mating just out of camera range. How long before the eggs are laid?
March 28th 2003
The two are spotted together on the same branch, very unusual (see picture at the top of the page). The female has a fish in her beak. You can see
that the male has a slightly longer more pointed beak and less white under the chin and round the neck. Neither does it have the brown underside of
the beak like the female.
April 28th 2003
Not seen the female for several weeks, is she sitting? The male is very nervous, more so than
last year. Twice we see with raised wings lounging and
pecking as another Kingfisher goes past. Defending the nest?
May 2002
Hardly see the birds all May.
June 4th 2003
First fish seen going in the nest.
June 8th 2003
See the the parents regularly now, sometimes every 10 minutes. We can hear the babies in the nest
now.
June 15th 2003
When will the babies emerge? They are making a racket whenever the parent come back now.
