Bulgaria

                                                                                                            Kingsley's Peachery - Shadbags Corner

The Jay

Garrulus Glandarius

Jay’s  are shy woodland birds, rarely moving far from cover.

In autumn you may see a Jay burying acorns to retrieve later in the winter.

Jay’s eat mainly acorns, seeds and nuts but may eat  nestlings of other birds and small mammals.

They Jay can be recognized by its screeching call.

Late January, 2 weeks of snow sees the garden busy with birds searching out food.  With temps falling to –24 it’s hard to believe these small creatures can survive but survive they do .  If I had to pick the most beautiful bird visiting our garden this month it would be a difficult choice but I would have to say the Jay  comes out tops.  The Jay such a  colorful bird, a member of the crow

family.  Visiting our garden once or twice a day but never staying long. I have watched it eating snow, I guess  that’s one way of getting water when everything is frozen solid.  With frozen water pipes for over a week we have had to do the same thing, bringing in buckets of snow and melting it on the range supplying us water for  cleaning and toilet flushing.  The thaw is promising to

come but  every evening it freezes solid again. Icicles as long as 2 foot makes spring feel a long way off but March is only 4 weeks away.   Gary woken by our neighbors' dogs, last night got up and went outside to  find that a sealed tap  had broken its seal and was sending water out into the Garden as though we were in Trafalgar Square.  Mains got turned off and this morning Gary is fixing the problem . 

After a very long journey we arrived at our house a week before Christmas.  We had hoped to arrive at the beginning of December but things took a little longer than planned.  Eventually though, our dogs ready with jabs, tests and documents, a car packed to the hilt we were ready to start the

journey to  Bulgaria. 3 days travelling the journey went smoothly until the last stretch  through Turkey and the border crossing.  What should have taken an hour to achieve took several as the weather which till this point had been warm suddenly turned cold, foggy and snowy.  InTurkey

and approaching the border between Turkey and Bulgaria the fog was so heavy it was difficult to see a yard in front, then at the border the snow was sitting thick and icy  the remainder of the trip was the same.  But were here and as quick as the cold weather came in it was gone.  Well till now!

The gardener’s friend, what winter garden would be complete without the colorful cheery Robin.  Because the weather just now is very cold with lots of snow we have started to put out food for the birds, the robin seems to enjoy boiled potato peel most of all but is also partial to raisins, apple and cornflakes.  Given the choice though its to the tray  of cooked potato peel for our Robins.

European Robin  Both Sexes
Brown upperparts and red breast.  

Erithacus rubecula

Length: 13-14 cm  (5")
Wing Span: 20-22 cm  (8-9")
Weight: 16-22 g  (½-¾ oz)  

“How many woodburners

are one woodburner

too many”

With one Turkish stove  already installed at the house, another just been delivered from Pratiker, we were picking up our groceries in Sredets and decided to pop in the stove shop for some fire lighters.   There it was the latest  of their models of  a woodburning range and of course it took only 2 seconds to look at each other and say shall we buy one.  Back to the house to await delivery of the stove and flue pipes, we looked at our other stoves and wondered what we had done, what are we going to do with 3 stoves and a small house.  That’s what

Blue Tits in our garden also love the potato peel but would normally feed on insects, especially caterpillars, and seeds. In springtime they will also feed on pollen, nectar and sap, and in the autumn on berries. 

One of the most agile birds, that entertain for hours by hanging upside down from feeders, branches, etc.

Blue Tits will nest in a hole in a tree, wall or nest box.

 Blue Tits are well known for nesting in more unusual places, such as letter boxes, pipes, etc. The nest made by the female from moss, wool, dead leaves, spiders' webs, and lined with down.

Blue Tit 
Both Sexes
Mostly blue upperparts with yellow below.   
Cyanistes caeruleus
Length: 11.5 cm  (4½")
Wing Span: 17.5-20 cm  (7-8")
Weight: 9-12.5 g  (¼-½oz)  

“The Great Spotted Woodpecker's range continues to expand, and has been partly aided by Dutch elm disease”

The Green Woodpecker is a large woodpecker (bigger than a Blackbird) which has green mantle and wings, yellowish rump and whitish underparts. The crown and nape are red. There is black marking around the white eye. The tail is blackish with green barring. The bill is grey-black and legs olive-grey.

This had to come a close 2nd when choosing the most beautiful bird in our garden this month.

The male's black moustache has a red centre while the female's is all black.  Juvenile green woodpeckers are speckled with black on the underparts and head, and spotted with white on the mantle and coverts.
As with other woodpeckers, the stiff tail feathers are used as a prop whilst clinging to a tree and its toes are specially arranged with two pointing forwards and two backwards.