Although it has been very overcast, it has been quite warm, so warm that we have been able to sit out side to have have our tea and coffee through the day. On one occasion when we got up to go back into the house, a Jenny Wren with at least four Chick flew out of the nest that is by the farm house door. You may remember I put a camera looking into the nest, hoping that we would get the nesting on camera. I cant bOncee 100% sure that the Wrens did not nest there, but I did not notice that they did, and I am sure that I would have. Only last week I told you that I thought that something had pull the inside of the nest apart. When we saw the Wrens and their chick a day or so ago in the garden, we thought that they had come from the barn that we are converting. It could well be that the Wrens that come out of the nest next to the door are the same one that nested in the barn. I know that Swallows Chicks return to their nest of a night for a week or more, after they have fledged, I have never noticed that Wrens do. I am sure I would have noticed if they did, as they are so close to us when we leave and return indoors, and would they go into an old nest. Do any of you know?
I know that I am tempting fate, but I am amazed that the Swallow Chick is still about. I had thought that I would be moving the camera onto another nest this morning. I have managed to find another three Swallows nest that we can put on camera. One is on the first floor of the barn, above the nest we are now showing. Another two nests are in the barn we are converting, in another room from the one that had eggs in, that now looks abandoned. For some reason the cable that we were using was not connecting, and I had to put in a new cable today. I would have put it on to show you today. There are some very young chicks in the nest. Unfortunately I have mislaid the plugs to put onto the wire. As I normally do, I put them in a safe place that I could put my hands on, if I needed them. To safe that I cant find them. I will buy more tomorrow.
I should think that a lot of you have seen the crafty Fox, when the Badgers are feeding. I think that the Fox either builds its self up with frustration or bravery when it sees the other Foxes and Badgers feeding, for it without warning, charges into where the Badgers are feeding, the Badgers race back to the sett, of course fearing the worse. Normally they realise within seconds what has happened, and one of the Badgers will race out of the sett to chase the Fox off. I wouldn’t want to be the Fox if they work out what it is doing.
As Karen said on the forum today, the Rat that she saw on the feeder would have taken a saddle. The Rats have started to take the poison around the lake. From tomorrow it should start taking affect, and we will need to make sure that there a none lying around for Buzzard, Owls and other Birds of Prey to feed on. If a Fox or Badger ate one of them, that had been poisoned, it would be very unlikely that they would be affected by the poison. But there would be a good chance that it would kill any of the Birds of Prey.
I am trying something different for the Rats that you see on cam one. You may have noticed that the camera shows two Bird feeder locations and the lower Badger feeding area. What I have done is to put a large container under the feeders that are in the tree. I have made it with a lip around the edge of the container. I put food on the edge of the container, hoping for the Rats will go into it. If they do they will not be able to get out. What I will do with them then I haven’t thought about yet. Why I am trying this way is so that there is little chance of other wildlife eating poisoned Rats. Often if we have mistakenly left the lid off of a feed bin in the barn, we have found Rats in them in the morning, if there is a pile of bags by the side of the bin, they will get into the bin by climbing on the bags, once in they cant get out. When Jade was younger she would jump into the bin and kill them. She is to slow now to do it.