fly catchers update

This morning I saw the female flycatcher peeking out of the house.
So now and then she peeks out, to get some fresh air, I guess,
From the house, she lauched out to catch a fly, and flying with the fly immediately inside again.
So she gets her vitamines and nutrition.
while she is doing the breeding.
I guess there are eggs. didn't dare to 'have a peek' yet.

Meanwhile the male keeps an eye on the house and new family.
Its funny he always pulls one leg inside...
as he glances around

Oh yes of course..the house is fixed a bit crooked.

I know...but the birds don't mind.
When the breeding is done, I get it fixed.

beechhedge

A few months ago, my garden got an dramatic change.
All the surrouding conifers were removed, because they were growing way too high.
The garden did't get a lot of sunshine anymore, because of the height of the conifers.
That was okee for years...
But when one conifer died last year,
The ugly brown dead spot forced me to do something about it.

Now a month ago, after having removed all the old conifers and their roots
and new ground on top, a new hedge was planted of red beech.
I love red beech...though when I decided to have these,
I hardly could imagine how it would look like in my garden.

Few weeks ago, after watering them almost every day,
the new plants are getting their leaves,
which makes the view quite a different one.
and....lots of sunshine!

red beech

During the warm days...all the trees have becoming their leaves.
In just a few days time, all of nature has changed.
Its always before they are out, you cannot imagine how it would look like.
It seems you've forgotten all!
When its there..you think..oh yeh of course...!
but every year its all new!
as if you see it for the first time.

The red beech begins to unfold.
Its great to follow the unfolding.

finch bath

After the beautiful weather its time for a finchbath

easter-splash

Its the most loveliest weather of all times.
It looks summertime, temperatures are warm and shiny.
Blackbird has one of his joyful moments,
having a great splashy time.

Malus

Recently I bought a Malus (sierappel)
for the birds..and of course for myself as well.
The tree is now in full blossem..even fading away already a little bit...
because of the very warm temperature we have got, like summerdays.

In autumn the flowers become little firy-red apples.
which are just for beauty.
But the birds love it!
They feed on the apples in winter time,
Especialy the blackbirds love it and I hope some other birds will feast on it too!

Building

She is doing the finetuning of the very last necessary furniture.
the finishing touch so to speak.
Very small tiny little twigs...as a soft plaid for the eggs.



He is carefully watching the whole buildingprocess,
as the main director over the construction.

Queen out!

Yesterday evening I had to get something out of the garage,
And there he sat on one of my gardenboots.

I had stored the cocoon of the Swallowtail butterfly (Koninginnepage) in the window of the garage,
to keep him cool..so that he would not come out too soon.
(The rest of the house is much warmer).
That morning I had checked the cocoon, but didn't see, any sign he would come out.
I was mistaken.

There he was in full colors...
sitting on the boot, on the floor and I was happy that my eye caught him.
He could have been sitting anywhere in the garage, without me noticing.
I put him on the boot in the little glasshouse, because it was too late to let him outside.

This morning when it was warm and lovely outside I let him sit on my finger,
(its such a special thing, this tiny strong legs gripping your finger).
From there he flew off...circled a little around, till he disappeared high up in the blue sky.

catching up

Catching up with the flycatchers.
Few days ago she arrived too.
They flew arround the birdhouses checking...
which one would be the one.
The decision was made very soon.
He wanted the red house.


she decided for house number 2.
so that was it.
Number two is the new house.


Today I saw her collecting the furniture.




While he carefully looked if everything went okee..
meanwhile taking inspection in the house, what was brought inside.
and singing a lovesong inbetween

2 Orangetips

This morning I checked the cuckooflowers,
to see if an Orangetip had laid some eggs somewhere on the plant.
To my amazement I saw 2 Orangetips sitting on the same flower!
A male and a female sitting/resting there quitly together.
I think they slept there all night.

When the sun became a litlle warmer, the male opened his wings,
to show off the beautiful orange.

It was such a treasure to see both of them there sitting so peaceful together.

Orange tip

When the Cuckooflowers(Pinksterbloemen) are open...the Orange tips(Oranjetipjes) (Anthocharis cardamines)are near by.
One of the hostplants of the Orangetips is the cuckooflower.
The female Orangetips look like cabbagewhites (koolwitjes),
but when her wings are closed, the wings have a green-white pattern.
The wings of the males however have beautiful orange at the end.

springflowers

Springflowers are popping up everywhere.
here from top to bottem:
anemone,(anemoon)
cuckooflower,(pinksterbloem) and
forget-me-nots (vergeet-mij-nietjes).

They are most beautiful in the early morning,
when the morningdew has covered them in a layer of tiny drops.

beechbud explosion

In just a few days the buds of the beech are exploding...
The leaves and flowers are bursting out of their buds, with immense power.
Its an amazing sight...
what a power.

spring has really sprung.

Hide and seek

Hide and seek,
The flycatcher is peeking through the branches and the buds,
to see what I am doing....

clickkk..clickkk..clackkk.

Fly Catcher

I finally succeeded to catch a glimpse,with my camera, of the Flycatcher (Bonte vliegevanger).
He is such a quick bird...
and he has a lot of 'work' to do, such as:

1 He is chasing, catching flies everywhere.
2 He is busy marking his territory.
3 He chases away all other birds, who are coming to close.
4 He is tweet-tweet-tweeting loudly..calling his becoming beloved..
(really twitter cannot compete with his tweets.)
5 He is inspecting so now and then the birdhouse he likes...
That is the one on the beech...and ...
in my garden...(hoerah hoerah.)
6 When he sees himself in the glass-window...he thinks there is an intruder...
so he tries to chase away his reflection.
There are so many glasswindows on my house...

I love it to have him around my house.

Update Bibi

Some of you readers, asked me how Bibi is doing now.
Since I wrote he had gone to the vet, which he didn't like very much.

He got from the vet a kind of injection..to give him some energy and strength.
He reacted immediately, he was even very, very alive for one night.
But for the next couple of days, he still did not eat, nor drink.
some maybe 2 laps...which he only wanted to drink out of the birdbath.
Every next day he lapped some more water...but still did not eat.
I gave him his favorites...cheese...salmon, milk...
Nope, he sniffed at it...turned around,
as if I had put some very poisonous thing in front of him.

Now few days ago he started to eat again..
first 2 or 3 catfoodchunks...
the next day about 5...and today he eats much better,
and as you can see he is much more alive.

What was the problem? I still don't know.
I am happy he is doing much better again.

Jay

There are 2 Jays (Vlamen) in my neighbours garden.
Mostly they can be extremely shy..and also very rude.
They are beautiful to see..with the blue on both sides of his wings, and blue eyes.

Later on my computer, I noticed that he is planning to build a nest.

XXL bud

It really is spring now.
The beechleaf-buds are almost springing open.
The finch matches perfectly with the colors of the buds...
He even looks like a XXL beechleaf-bud, about to spring open