HOW MUCH CAN CHANGE IN A WEEK IN WILDLIFE?

What a difference a week makes, not just for politics but for wildlife too.

The weather has miraculously changed into summer mode and looks like it could hold out for at least another week – perhaps getting even warmer than it is now!

While last weekend was very nice Bank Holiday Monday was wet, windy and cool, but it didn’t stop the first major fledging of the year – well the first one I officially know of.

 

I'm sat here in late evening typing this post as a robin is scouring the garden just inches from me, before breaking out in to song, which I roughly translate as being - Where Are My Mealworms!

 

The blue tits appear to have gone and this year they didn’t come and say goodbye, which is what happened in 2010 as the picture below will demonstrate.

I didn’t see any of the blue tit chicks actually outside of the nestbox, but did see the adults trying to entice them outside with caterpillars – despite the weather going from sunshine to heavy rain on the Bank Holiday Monday.

I suspect that at least one of the two robin families that have been visiting my garden and feasting on the mealworm hand-outs have also fledged, and the other family based by the railway bridge must surely be almost ready to go.

One of the house families has definitely fledged in the last couple of days as yesterday I saw at least three chicks begging to be fed by the adults, before having their beaks stuffed with mealworms.

The blackbird family eggs have hatched as both male and female are regularly seen gathering food in and around the garden. I don’t know where the nest is but suspect it may be near the railway bridge.

Talking of the bridge, I’m yet to confirm if the swallows I saw underneath there have actually made a nest. I have seen a number of them gathering mud this week, so perhaps the nest is currently ‘under construction’.

One family I’m sure still has chicks is the great tits, as they are now regular visitors to the mealworm hand-outs; again I’ve not idea where the nest is.

Finally I had a new butterfly species visit my garden, the beautiful and aptly named Orange-Tip. It didn’t stay for long, but it was wonderfully coloured and if all my butterfly and bee friendly plants continue to increase in number, then perhaps I’ll see it again soon.