SUMMER WARMTH COMES EARLY

Late spring and early summer have been remarkably good weather wise, in comparison to previous years, although it’s not led to happy scenes in the garden.

The blue tits suffered a catastrophic failure of the nest, with five youngsters not fledging, most likely falling victim to the consistently warm and very warm weather.

I have a slight suspicion, given the five that died were in condition that suggested they were close to fledging, that one or two chicks did make it into the big bad world.

Blue tit chicks were heard in the trees following the five deaths, for a couple of days, which is not unusual compared to previous years.

I guess it’ll never be known whether any blue tits did successfully fledge, which is disappointing because it’ll be the first year that nest box has not fledged successfully.

Meanwhile, the robins are keeping us guessing on whether they have eggs, chicks or perhaps neither.

I suspect something it happening because they’re spending a lot of time in the garden, flirting with the hedge area around the nest box hidden in the ivy.

They’re very nervous, even shunning free mealworms, which heightens my suspicion that eggs are definitely there.

What’s more I now only see one bird at a time, and in recent days it’s been carrying caterpillars and grubs towards the nest box.

Perhaps all will be revealed soon.

The blackbirds haven’t been seen or heard of for a weeks or so now, and I overheard one of the cat-owning neighbours talking about the cats bringing in a blackbird recently, so I just hope it wasn’t one of the ones in the evergreen bush.

If it was then it would explain why nothing has been seen or heard from them.

Again another shame because it’s domestic cats ruining local wildlife for people. There are eight cats between three houses, with one house feeding stray cats nearby.

It’s no wonder there’s not been sight of mice/vole/shrew predators, such as owls and kestrels in recent years; their wild food is being killed by well-fed domestic cats.

Finally the broad bean, tomato and sunflowers plants are all outside now, although the slugs and snails are ensuring all but the broad beans are not doing well. The battle will continue, but hopefully we’ll see success now the organic pellets are protecting the plants.