What a privilege! Unusual things in our gardens.

It was quite amazing, to see them every day. All the long-timers here say they have never seen it. We would have around 5-7 every day. I'm guessing the herring or shrimp run was stronger than usual which is why they were here.

I have a visiting hedgehog which entertains my cat who just sits and watches him. I put out cat food for him and missed him over the winter but hope to see him again soon.

It’s not unusual for them but I saw a red cardinal when visiting my son the US last year. It regularly flits about their garden but I was beyond excited!

We had a Pokemon once. It was one of those virtual things that younger teens could spot and 'collect', and they were always turning up in search of it. I quite miss it (and them).

I’d love to see a badger- only ever seen one in a zoo. We do get echidnas from time to time in our garden (a bit like hedgehogs ) We always got loads of king parrots until recently but they have suddenly disappeared. We get kookaburras in the evenings, very noisy.

A few years ago we had about 12 waxwings in our apple tree . They were there for an hour or so and I was able to get close, they were not disturbed at all by my being there.

I am in Canada and often see raccoons and occasionally coyotes in the neighbourhood. There were a pair of bald eagles in the park this morning. Last year I saw a young bear visiting neighbouring gardens! He was removed to a more appropiate environment!

Shelflife

A few years ago we had about 12 waxwings in our apple tree . They were there for an hour or so and I was able to get close, they were not disturbed at all by my being there.

We have had waxwings once too. I had forgotten it was ages ago and has never been repeated.

Small and brave for this time of year - a solitary Night-Scented Stock, in a pot and just about to flower !

We have a mostly white blackbird. She has been around for a few years and is nest building again

We have had badgers in the past - before dh blocked a hole in the fence to stop a visiting friend’s little Westie from charging off.

One evening I had made a bread and butter pudding, and had put a lot of buttery crusts out on the lawn (garden is very small) for the birds in the morning.
Not long afterwards we were amazed to see two large badgers woffling around the lawn, hoovering them all up!

On the only other occasion, I was sitting in the garden after dark, just listening to fairly quiet music from indoors. A solitary badger appeared and wandered around, coming within just a few feet of me. I had thought that badgers have an excellent sense of smell, so was surprised that s/he evidently wasn’t at all bothered by the smell of human so close by.

Yesterday I was oiling the garden seat and a sparrow hawk flashed in and caught a pigeon, but panicked when he saw me and flew off releasing a happy pigeon.

Yesterday there were two frogs mating in my pond. No spawn has been laid so I think they were two gays!

Just my seagulls x

This week I've had the privilege of being visited by a group of 4-5 wrens nipping in and out of the bottom of one of my hedges, wonderful. Sparrows nest in it every year and feed on the lawn and flower beds morning and evening along with blackbirds and starlings.

I'm often visited by blue tits, the odd goldfinch, and robins. over the years I've been visited by a couple of frogs, a fox and once saw a jay. Once, in a split second, a sparrow hawk swooped down and flew off with a sparrow from inside a very spiky shrub. Love to see it all, especially bees and butterflies.

How could I forget the evening I investigated strange noises in a previous garden... 2 hedgehogs mating. That was a new one on me.

A greater spotted woodpecker has been visiting our peanut feeder all winter. I haven't seen it lately, I suppose they are getting ready for breeding season.
I haven't seen but have heard a tawny owl most nights. It seems loud so must be sitting on next door's roof.

Bees!! Loads today, humming away - around the winter honeysuckle and winter clematis. Bumbling into the greenhouse by mistake.

I saw my first Brimstone Butterfly of the year today, always a real treat! With the wonderful sunny weather we’ve been having all week ( in Surrey) I was really hoping to see one.

This cheeky one visited this morning. We don’t usually get the white ones.

Our hedgehog is now out and about each night. We put out food and water for him. We have a night camera set up and love watching him snuffling about. He looks nice and fat and healthy.

I live in sunny south London with a small garden set in large communal gardens so it’s a bit of an oasis for urban wildlife. One of the neighbours has a tally of over 40 bird species seen. We have bird boxes , bat boxes and hedgehog boxes in the grounds, log piles for stag beetles and small water holes. We have foxes, squirrels, hedgehogs , bats among our residents and smaller rodents somewhere no doubt. We have a colony of ground bees which visit in the autumn. We have a pond in the garden which is heaving with frogs and spawn at the moment. There will be dragonflies and mayflies over the summer. We won an award from London in bloom for a neighbourhood community garden and the judges were very excited about the biodiversity we’ve encouraged. We saw bumbarrels (long tailed tits ) the other day and regularly get wrens, nuthatches, woodpeckers, and yes, parakeets among the many visitors on our bird feeders.

I used to get cows in my garden. The houses were newly built next to farmland and the cows used to get confused when going back to the farm for milking.

That sounds absolutely blissful Vegansrock

That's just brilliant vegansrock
It shows what can be done in an urban area.