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.

FLEDGINGS AND VEGETABLES

After the great tit chicks fledge the nest earlier in the week, the blue tits managed to wait until someone could witness their departure into the big wide world – well the area around the garden.

The numbers of great tits that fledged is unknown, and while there were eight blue tits that fledged, a maximum of six were spotted high in the trees calling for food and reassurance.

It would be surprising if all eight didn’t fledged, but it’s so hard to tell if they all did.

The first one leapt for freedom at about 11am, but it took until mid afternoon for the last one to come out, and then a further couple of hours to reach the others at the top of the trees overlooking the garden.

They roosted nearby as they could all be heard at dusk chattering away, and at dawn they could be heard again.

They’ll probably be taken further afield by their parents in the coming days, but hopefully they will come back later in the summer to see their original home garden.

The vegetable growing season is well underway now with tomatoes, broad beans and chilli peppers all coming along nicely.

A few sunflowers have fallen victim to the snails and slugs in the garden, but the rest, along with some tomatoes and all the broad beans, are now outside.

It’ll be another month or so before we see if the sunflowers reach their potential, and if the tomatoes, chilli peppers and broad beans produce a good crop.

SUMMER IS FADING FAST

This summer has hardly been one worthy of the name summer, but with the last few days of warm weather have been gratefully received.

My garden has needed a mid-season trim due to the amount of green foliage growing because of the relatively mild and very wet conditions.

It's been a great season for the likes of slugs and snails, but not for wildlife relying on warm and drier conditions - the great tit chicks dying in my nestbox being one example.

One bird that seems to have coped with the conditions is the robin, which has produced two broods. One of the chicks is now a regular visitor to the garden and I think it could be getting used to me as it bobs around withing a couple of feet of me.

Time will tell if it hangs around, but I suspect it'll have a fight on its hands for the territory around here.

Amazingly the swallows have produced two big broods, probably benefiting from the dry conditions after the rain, in which millions of insects take to the air and some straight into the swallows' mouths.

I regularly count over 20 flying around, perched on our roof or on the telegraph wires. It is indeed a good year for them, well certainly around here.

There are regular visits from the blue tits and great tits, but only in ones or twos, while the tree sparrows, house sparrows and dunnocks are often in small flocks.

My garden plants have suffered, although I am hoping to harvest some tomatoes (at last!) and some sweet and chilli peppers.

The carrots and potatoes have not fared well, but I think we'll at least enjoy some over the next few weeks.

This week I was joined in my garden by a dragonfly, which I'd seen about a week ago, but this time I was able to capture a nice picture of it from about two inches. I think it's a Hawker, but would welcome an expert's help.