What kind of bird is this?

This big bird landed in her garden this morning! Before her first coffee it's always hard to say what she sees, this is why she grabbed the camera. The bird was so kind to wait - that was really nice :)

This is a moment when your help is needed. Do you know what kind of bird it is? Grey heron maybe?
This gracious guest landed in the garden in Algarve - maybe that could be of help. 

Chicken-coop? NO! House for chickens!

"Home is the word reserved for the place where people live. Place where animals live are called pigsty, cowshed, stable, coop and usually they look like maximum security prisons – no windows, cold concrete floor, full of bars and chains.

For the chickens I am taking care of since 1,5 years, I have decided to build a wooden house with porch, which is the prototype of my own house.

This is traditional carpentry work, I have made with the same precision and feelings as the house I am building for myself.

Not many people know that hens can live up to 20 years, and even less people let them live that long.

With me, my birds will be watching sunsets on the porch and will die for natural causes”.  

“Home” – traditional carpentry construction by Anna Siekierska.

This is Anna’s diploma work at Fine Arts Academy in Warsaw, promoter: prof. Romuald Woźniak.

Recommended further reading Backyard Chickens for Beginners: Getting the Best Chickens, Choosing Coops, Feeding and Care, and Beating City Chicken Laws

Recommended further reading Backyard Chickens for Beginners: Getting the Best Chickens, Choosing Coops, Feeding and Care, and Beating City Chicken Laws

Bird Houses - Spontaneous City

Looking at this art installation it all seems to be so organic and obvious. Like it’s always has been there and should stay there. Beautiful and practical at the same time. Promotes biodiversity and gives pleasure to look at. 

Made of several hundred bespoke bird house mounted on a tree, in style with surrounding architecture.

London Fieldworks' Spontaneous City in the Tree of Heaven is a project in London commissioned for the Toyal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and Islington Council as part of Secret Garden Project – a program of events for lesser known green urban nooks of London.

As London Fieldworks says about themselves: “…interdisciplinary arts practice formed in 2000 by artists Bruce Gilchrist and Jo Joelson for creative research and collaboration at the art, science and technology intersection.”

More on London Fieldworks

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If you would like to improve your garden to a beautiful paradise, let me help you to design it. We can work online. Contact me at ewamariasz [at] gmail [dot] com.

Happy Gardening!

Xoxo,

Ewa

How to make pretty bird food?

Pretty bird food is home-made. I made it last week and tomorrow it goes out. I recycled 4 plastic bottles - cut the bottoms. Then I filled it with seeds and poured melted lard.      

If you live in zones 4-6 and in the winter you start feeding birds in your garden, don't stop it. Do it as regular as you can. Birds get used to the food you provide - it becomes an important place in their winter life. If you stop feeding, they wait for your food and sometimes they may die while waiting too long and getting what they need to survive.
Pretty bird food is not only pretty, but also yummie!

Caring for Geese

Picture courtesy of theseanster93

Keeping Geese on Grass

When initially caring for geese, after a couple of weeks the goslings can be provided access to an outside area but please be careful that they do not get overly cold. As foxes maybe around the use of a fox proof fence should be implemented but, if you do not have access to this equipment, ensure that the geese are kept inside at night as to protect them from the danger. If there are any trees, vegetables or plants around the area that you will be keeping the geese you will need to protect these as the geese will likely eat them! Using a fence which is around three foot high should suffice.

Feeding Geese

Initially, the goslings should be started on a good starter ration and moved onto a grower ration at around the three week point. As a way to aid digestion, the geese should be provided with access to flint grit. The finishing ration for the geese should last between three and seven weeks and during this time the geese’s access to grass should be restricted. The final period coincides with the part of year in which grass loses its nutritional value and this acts as a filler and will reduce the amount of weight that the geese gain.

Checking and Caring for Geese

You should take the opportunity to check your geese at least once a day. During this time, it is recommended that their water drinkers are checked to ensure that they have plenty and that the water is clean. The geese should also be littered once a day.

When working around geese, it is recommended that you give them plenty of room to ensure that they feel safe and comfortable going about their own business. It is recommended that attention is paid to any geese which move away at a significantly slower pace than the other geese as this could indicate that they are ill and need treatment. If any geese do indeed move slower than the others, they should be monitored over the next few days.

Any objects which the geese may eat or sustain an injury from should be removed from their living area.

Controlling Vermin

Vermin may be attracted to the area in which there are geese as they are attracted to food. Vermin can be a particular problem when keeping geese as food can be spilt and if vermin are then around they can spread disease, cause damage and occasionally even attack. To prevent vermin, measures to avoid them such as cleaning up spilt food, keeping food in a vermin proof container and blocking up holes around the area that geese are living in is highly recommended.

This is a guest post by Martin Gulliver goose breeder with over 20 years experience in breeding geese.

Webcam Live from Bald Eagle's Nest!!

Woman, 80, faces prosecution for feeding birds in her garden

Bird feeding season is coming closer, so in case you haven't heard the story yet, I would like to share it with you. The story happend in UK.

Mrs Coton - has been feeding the birds in her garden for 20 years. Can you believe, that she was warned:

"that she could face legal action from her local council if she does not
desist from feeding the "feral" birds.
Officials said that a neighbour had complained that her "overfeeding" had led to large groups of birds congregating on the street creating "environmental" problems and
damaging property.
Coventry City Council said it was considering serving an abatement notice - similar to orders given to neighbours who play loud music late at night - to curtail her bird feeding. If she fails to comply she could be prosecuted..."
Read rest of the story here...

These are the pictures of bathing bluetits, on early July morning... hope you enjoy.

White storcks - live stream transmission from the nest!

I just discovered a great project of watching the White storcks nest, which is located in Poland in Przygodzice (click on the name to see the location on Google Maps)

Transmission is really live and refreshed every 2-3 seconds - interesting to see. Don't miss it.
Storcks are leaving Poland at the end of August and fly to Africa, where they spend the winter and again turn back to Poland in the spring.

More information on th eproject in English is available here.

Here is the link to live transmission: White Storck Nest Watch.

Sparrows babies grew big

It's the end of May and already now it looks like sparrows babies grew really big :) Sparrows-Mom or Sparrows-Dad (dark feathers, on the right) is still blind and have not notice that baby (on the left, grey feathers) got bigger than parent :)

....Parent picks up little pieces of bread and feeding the baby - this is OK, but s/he doesn't see the size of the kid?

I don't know if this is normal, but it set me in very philosophical mood....

Rain, little ducks, azaleas and alliums.

While Atomik is sleeping...

....some other neighbours cats are fishing... what a convenient watching place he found... do you see the red fish under Juniperus tamariscifolia growing at the edge of the pond?

Human kind decided to bike to lake and see what's new. By surprise....

We saw a little ducklings! Mallard ducks have babies!
... and plenty of them! We counted 16. Two are little older - maybe 2-3 days - this is what I think, without too much experience on growing them :) I remember that they grow very fast, so 2-3 days is long time...


Even if the weather is not sunny - it rains since few days almost without stopping - many people, even older ones like to bike, if there is only some time without shower....

On the way back we see that there came time for Crataegus laevigata 'Paul's Scarlet' to bloom. Lovely little tree...

Do you remember this beautiful neighbour's house, that I have showed you late winter? At that time we couldn't see that there is Wisteria growing. Every plant at this property seems to be in the right place - I wish one day I could photographed this garden.... Maybe it could be easier, than I think... Wisteria growing on this house looks just perfect and this gardener knows, that at certain height it needs to grow horizontally.

Back to my garden. Azaleas and alliums are in bloom... also on the right side there is Wisteria that I train to little tree...


Blooming azaleas from the left: pink Homebush, orange Golden Eagle and bicolor cream to red, double Cannon's Double.

Azalea Homebush and right next to it yellow iris is coming.



Almost black iris is coming.... Anticipation is so exciting...

Alliums aflatuense "Purple Sensation" is in its peak :)
Are they not amazing with its perfect spherical shape?


Ajuga reptans looks so lovely and makes bees happy...



Aquilegia Nora Barlow Black and its beauty.

As per request of some readers, I would like to show larger view of my garden.. This one is on the Western side of the house. If you look North, this is what you see.

If you look South - that is the view. The same apple tree from the other side - we walk along the Western bed and you come to the second tree, that is big cherry tree, visible on the picture. There is wheelbarrow standing there with cibora, that I took out of cellar and is hardening in the shadow to get to the pond....
...on the way you pass beautiful shrub Spirea vanhouttei, the amount of little spherical flowers make the branches heavy...



We come to chery tree, where the view to the back garden opens. It looks too spacious at the moment, I am not making any more planting, because one day there will be a porch build, that I am dreaming of... The rest of the garden you will see in next post :) Because we need to stop here and ....

... pinch gone rhododendrons blooms - it is time to deadhead. Rhodos and azaleas should be pinched before July 4th. That is the border date. If you don't pinch, plants put all effort on producing seeds and forming buds for next flowering season. If you pinch, they contcentrate only on growing and blooming - so it grows better and flowering is more profuse.

Pinching is very easy, if you grasp the flower at the proper place, like here... and then with one movement...


The head is gone, sparing new shoots and opening space for them to grow....