BIRDS A RARITY IN THE GARDEN

The nest boxes are empty and the garden is virtually free of birds, apart from the odd visit from fledglings and swooping swallows. 

One question that remains unanswered is whether the house sparrows have taken up residence in the blue tit nest box – which fledged eight chicks from eight eggs.

The camera to the nest box isn’t working properly again, so a view inside is proving difficult.

If the female is on eggs then it’ll be hard to tell as they normally are quite still most of the time.

It is likely to be another week before it is known if they are in there.

The garden itself had a good soaking of water for a while, but now it looks like a prolonged dry spell is on the cards, which means the new hosepipe will see some action!

All the plants, tomato, sunflower, broad bean and peppers are now in situ, and growing fast. If they get enough water then the tomatoes can hopefully make up for the poor harvest last year with a bumper one this year.
After all the sunflowers did very well last year and now, thanks to the slugs and snails, they’re likely to be fewer and shorter than 2016.

IT’S GETTING QUIET IN THE GARDEN

After the blue tits and great tits recently fledged, the garden has become a much quieter place. 

The chicks can sometimes be heard in the trees and bushes nearby, but their begging cries for food from their parent will soon disappear; as they learn how to find their own food and the parents take them further away from the garden area.

In the absence of the tits and their youngsters, the sound of house sparrows and swooping swallows is infrequently heard.

However the house sparrows may become more prominent as a pair of house sparrows has taken interest in the blue tit nest box and nest.

In previous years the house sparrows have nested a couple of times on top of an abandoned tit nest, and it seems this may be happening again – hopefully they won’t block the camera view!

The magpies have also moved away, with their fledglings, although they may well be in the same areas as the young smaller birds – which may result in some of the tits not being able to return to the garden in later summer and autumn.

After the slugs and snails tried to take out the young sunflowers, the survivors are doing ok in the garden.

The tomato plants and the broad beans are also out in the garden, and hopefully will continue to grow in this warm and often wet weather.

There’s be more planting going on in the garden in the coming weeks, so hopefully growing conditions will continue to be favourable – plenty of sun once the plants are able to bear fruit.