It’s been a long while since I had a new species on my garden feeders, but in the middle of March a Lesser Redpoll turned up. This is a very pretty little finch with a red patch on its head and also, in males like this one, on its breast. It is slightly larger than a Blue Tit and it feeds on seeds, usually of Birch and Alder trees. They breed over much of the country but they are declining; they have not been recorded as a breeding species in Leicestershire and Rutland for more than 25 years. They do visit the counties during the winter however, but numbers do fluctuate from year to year.
You may have noticed the small grey blob on the neck of the bird in the first picture. This is a tick, which is an external parasite that can attach itself to a variety of birds or mammals where it feeds by sucking blood from the host. Ticks do not usually cause a serious problem to the host as they feed until they are gorged and then drop off the host. However, they can carry a variety of viral diseases, including Lyme’s Disease.
Although the possibility of becoming infected by a virus carried by a bird tick is vanishingly small, you should take basic hygiene precautions. All feeders and bird baths should be cleaned at regular intervals and your hands washed thoroughly afterwards. That way the birds remain healthy and the chances of you picking up any nasty illness is minimised.
It’s been a long while since I had a new species on my garden feeders, but in the middle of March a Lesser Redpoll turned up. This is a very pretty little finch with a red patch on its head and also, in males like this one, on its breast. It is slightly larger than a Blue Tit and it feeds on seeds, usually of Birch and Alder trees. They breed over much of the country but they are declining; they have not been recorded as a breeding species in Leicestershire and Rutland for more than 25 years. They do visit the counties during the winter however, but numbers do fluctuate from year to year.
You may have noticed the small grey blob on the neck of the bird in the first picture. This is a tick, which is an external parasite that can attach itself to a variety of birds or mammals where it feeds by sucking blood from the host. Ticks do not usually cause a serious problem to the host as they feed until they are gorged and then drop off the host. However, they can carry a variety of viral diseases, including Lyme’s Disease.
Although the possibility of becoming infected by a virus carried by a bird tick is vanishingly small, you should take basic hygiene precautions. All feeders and bird baths should be cleaned at regular intervals and your hands washed thoroughly afterwards. That way the birds remain healthy and the chances of you picking up any nasty illness is minimised.
As the weather warms up we can expect more insects to appear in the garden – some welcome and some less so. I always look forward to the return of the bees, not just the honey bees and bumblebees but also the smaller solitary bees. Two that have turned up in the last week in March are the Early Mining Bee and the delightfully named Hairy-footed Flower Bee. Female Early Mining Bees (as shown here) are reddish-brown on the back with a black abdomen and between 8 and 10mm in length. They can be found almost anywhere and feed on the flowers of many species of plants. They usually nest alone in tunnels they build on a south-facing grassy slope.
Hairy-footed Flower Bees are 10-11mm long with a considerable difference between males and females. Females are black with an orange brush on the hind legs. Males (as shown here) are buff coloured, with a yellow face, and have a fringe of long black hairs on their legs. They are found in all habitats and nest in a variety of places including in walls and chimney stacks, and vertical faces in quarries, cliffs and rabbit burrows. As with all solitary bees, these are harmless. They present a pleasant interlude at this time of year with their entertaining antics and they are important pollinators around the garden.
