Sunday 7 April 2019

STALLING THE BREEDING SEASON?


Given the cold weather recently, the wildlife could be forgiven if they have delayed spring for a few weeks.

The blossom may have blown from the trees, the buds may be showing and new leaf growth emerging, but the weather isn’t tempting many to start bringing the next generation into this world.

Now of course you could understand if they used Brexit as a reason for stalling, but this is one area that the wildlife has in their favour – they don’t know anything about it!

The dawn chorus has been somewhat dampened since the clocks went forward, although the voice of a few blackbirds is now competing with the robins to see who can wake us up first.

A female blackbird has been seen around the garden in recent days, so I wonder if they try to nest in the conifer hedge again – last year seemed to fail, which was probably due to the local cats.

I’ve not noticed any activity around the nest boxes, but with the lighter nights I’ll have more chance to investigate – but given the cold weather I doubt that much action has taken place.

The pond is very good shape, and while there is unlikely to be much large animal action this year, it’ll definitely be a good resource for insects as a refuge and birds as a drinking/washing station.

April will no doubt warm up, but I don’t expect much breeding action from the birds until we get to the end of the month.

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