Tuesday 25 August 2015

IS THAT AUTUMN KNOCKING ON THE DOOR?

It looks like summer is about to end with a whimper, although nature doesn’t appear to be complaining too much. 

The house sparrows have had seven broods between them so far, with the most recent batch fledging in the last few days.

There must be a flock of 25-30 now hanging around the garden, most of which are youngsters learning feeding technics from adults.

The robins are appearing dishevelled, with the odd youngster scouring the garden for tiny morsels while the adults skulk in the bushes, barely recognisable with their red breasts looking very dull.

One or two young blackbirds are now see two or three times a day, picking up plenty of worms and the odd slug, which they thrash around the garden, wiping off the slim.

The odd great tit is now putting in an appearance, but blue tits are scarce. I expect both will be back soon in numbers after they finish their moult.

Finally the swallows have signalled their own end to the summer season by starting to gather on telegraph wires.

I counted nearly 30 this week, which is certainly up there with previous record years, and with many more flying around I’m hoping the local population will show an increase in parents next year.


I’ll be sad when they finally go for their warm winter ‘holiday’ as they are such an elegant bird with a beautiful voice.

But I know they’ll be back next year and perhaps I’ll be able to provide a nest site suitable. I’ll be working over the winter to build one and see how they react next April.

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