FLEDGING IN THE RAIN?

The weather recently has been interesting, cool for spring and seems to be finally making its mind up that summer is a season we’re allowed in the UK.

With a few days of warmer weather of late, I’ve noticed plenty of butterflies and bees around and this is encouraging as a sign that the weather could actually be good this summer.

The blackbirds must have chicks as both the male and female are now seen regularly in the garden looking for the odd worm, insect or piece of fruit.

Both parents are also taking mealworms, which is good as I’d like all parent birds to make use of the food offering I’m giving out.

Where the blackbird’s nest is, I just don’t yet know, but it’s another one I’m eagerly looking for.

The blue tits are also making use of the mealworm hand-outs, although they do seem to have found some caterpillars, which is good news for a whole host of other birds too.

The caterpillars are very small so I think they’ve only just started emerging in the last week or so.

I think the blue tit chicks will be fledging very soon as the youngsters are being very vocal whenever the parents bring food.

One set of parents that seem to thrive on the mealworm hand-outs is the robins. Both local families are in or around the garden within seconds of me emerging from the house.

If I’m not around the garden and there are no mealworms, the robins seem to wander around, knowing I could be watching through the windows, trying to ‘force’ me to deliver a new batch to the feeding station.

The various house sparrow families are obviously still feeding up their youngsters as they are another bird, along with great tits and dunnocks, which are making short work of the mealworms.

I think I know where the nest sites are, but no definitive location has yet been found. Perhaps the next week or two will help my search.

Finally I’ve seen both the male and female great spotted woodpecker adults eating from fat snacks in and around the garden.

I suspect, just like the blackbirds, there are young chicks in their nest and as finding food has been difficult, they’ve ‘raided’ the next best food source, which just happens to be my fat snacks!

It’s really good to know they’re around and I hope they do stay, as winter visits are frequent, but summer ones are not.

In the next few weeks I’m looking at making contact with a hedgehog rescue group as I’d like to have these garden-friendly animals around our house and the surrounding area. More news on this next time.