Monday, November 6, 2017

Greystones Coast Daily Blog on Birds and things.....

November 4, 2017

BIRDS and THINGS Blog

Finally we have time to welcome the Birds of this area into our Garden.  I have been planning to do this for years but with work and other commitments, I did not get around to it until now.

Recently I watched Autumnwatch on BBC2 TV and decided to do some watching and note taking in my own back yard. There is so much that happens out there that we do not take time to see.  Now that I have more time, I will invest in the birds, keep this blog going if I can.

It is November and I have a view of the South beach from my bedroom window here in Greystones. The train runs along the track from Greystones to Wexford on the half hour. I used to live next to the Railway track that ran from Waterford to Tramore as a child so trains are important to me. I love to hear the whistle blow, to watch the train trundle down the track beside the beach. I especially love to watch it in Winter, cabins lit up, people looking out as it passes into the darkness.

Sitting on the bed in the back of the house I can see the tree tops in my garden. I have a 20 year old weeping Silver Birch, a laurel of the same age, an 18 year old Cherry, a Bramley Apple tree and a Pittisporum which I planted in 2004 when we came to live in this house.  I have various large shrubs,  acers and plants in the beds and a huge variety of roses... tea roses and climbers and ramblers that span walls and trellises. It is not a very mature habitat but it is pretty at this time of year and full of ripe hips. I have other climbers such as ivy, solanum and honeysuckle that offer seeds and berries to the birds. They grow on walls all around the house. The garden is rich with Autumn colour just now. The Cherry is a flame red today and the birch yellow and golden hues. It is a beautiful time of year and a perfect time to feed the birds as Winter is here. The clocks went back two weeks ago so it is dark most evenings around 5.30 pm and first light is around 7.30 pm. It will of course continue to get darker until the December Solstice when I look forward to longer days again. We have a short period of Winter here in Ireland and it rarely gets below zero degrees celcius.

Today was chilly at 3 degrees celsius but it is usually around 10 degrees by the sea. We are lucky to have only passing rain showers on the East Coast.

Jim and I bought two bird stations in Aldi today and installed one in the front garden by the den window and one in the back garden by the conservatory. We will monitor and take notes of activities each day as we go about our lives here. We actually have a family of Robins living in our beech hedge in the front garden. They patrol the trees daily from the Silver Birch in the back to a Silver Birch in the front. I hope by inviting all birds into our gardens that we do not upset the Robin Family too much.

Below is a photo of the Birch and Cherry trees in my back garden.




Trellis area is covered in Rambling Roses, Wisteria, Solanum and Ivy
Acer is so red at this time of year.



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