A WHIFF OF AUTUMN IS IN THE AIR

As the first wafts of an autumnal scent started to drift around the garden, so the signs of the third season of the year became more apparent. 

In the airs above the garden I’ve seen large numbers of swallows, almost entirely youngsters with their shorter forked tails, chattering away as they chase food. 

They seem effortless in the way they dance across the sky and all the time accompanied by one of my favourite sounds of nature, swallows nattering to each other. 

Given the weather next week is looking quite settled and mild, I expect a few swallows to be still showing their aerobatic skills for a little longer, although it’ll once again be a sad day when they finally depart for another seven months away. 

While there have been some reports of swallows staying in the UK throughout winter, I don’t expect them to stick around here. Perhaps the warmer southern counties near to coast are the best chance, if indeed any do decide to stay. 

The hedgehog(s) haven’t been seen for a few days in the garden, although one of the neighbours is still seeing them more regularly. 

I’ll put more dog food out now, in addition to the water bowl, to help them/it fatten up for winter. Finding out where it calls home might be beyond me at the moment. 

In the garden, just like in the wheat fields around the house, that harvesting has been in full swing. 

All the broad beans have been collected and one or two tomatoes too; but once again they have been poor again this year. 

So indeed, have the sunflowers with only one making it to show its sunny self, and even that one is not fully open yet! 

Finally, another new nest in the garden, taking the total this year to five, in addition to the robin ivy next, goldfinch bush nest, great tit nestbox nest and woodpigeon tree nest. 

While the bird remains anonymous, I suspect the layout of the next suggests a robin. 

The video would show why I think it’s a robin, because the entrance is rather open, after I created it following the demise of the first two robin broods. 

It’s not the robin family that successfully fledged a brood from the ivy because they definitely nested again in there, but it’s perhaps the robins that are now trying to stake a claim to the garden against the ivy family. 

This could be one to watch over autumn and winter.

SUMMER LIFE IN THE GARDEN CAN BE QUIETER

Life in and around the garden has become a lot quieter in recent days, with the newly fledged blue tits, great tits, robins and house sparrows all seemingly off to find adventure (and food) in the surrounding countryside.

The magpie family are still very audible around the garden, particularly in the morning when the youngsters are often heard cackling, often a few hours before anyone’s alarm has gone off!

They are also fairly noisy in the evenings, although this isn’t too bad as we’re still awake. The reason for their noise is often down to the increasing number of cats around, which is really annoying for everyone.

I intercepted two cats with voles in their mouths, which is so frustrating that they’re catching prey that could feed owls or kestrels, or even foxes. Instead the cats are clearing up and we don’t get to see those animals in the countryside setting we’re in.

The robin family, which successfully fledged a brood at the third attempt, had spent a couple of weeks around the garden, but have not been seen for a couple of days.

There are four youngsters and they seemed to enjoy spending time around the garden and could often be found literally under our feet.

 

  

While it’s sad to see them move on from the garden, it’s so pleasing to see the parents have chicks after two tragic attempts at previous broods.

We’re seeing a few more glimpses of the swallows, which can be put down to the adults teaching the newly fledged chicks the best fly catching methods.

They’re starting to learn to swoop lower and lower around the gardens and it’s a great sight to see.

It’s a shame they’ll be leaving in a matter of weeks, although the squawking swifts, which are still sometimes venturing over the garden in the evening, will depart much sooner.

IT'S SPRING, BUT NOT AS WE KNOW IT

So, as lockdown continues the wildlife is busy nurturing the next generation, all going on during one of the warmest and driest springs ever recorded.

In and around the garden the house sparrows in the garage roof have appeared to fledge, along with a few other house sparrow families around here.

They’ve also seemingly gone off for a few days, possibly to rest, as their presence in the garden is limited at the moment.

The robins are definitely around a lot and seemingly intent on raising another brood, albeit in the same area as the two previous failed nests this year – one due to cold and the other due to magpie predation.

Whether a third nest will be successful is something I’ll be able to keep a close eye on as lockdown continues.

It’s great to be able to work in the garden and be surrounding by the lives of nature that being in the office would mean I’d miss.

The swallows are still gracefully taking to the skies and I think the pair are on eggs, because I only generally see one at a time.

A nest of swallows at the farm down the lane appears to have fledged this week.

And talking of fledgings, the great tits fledged earlier this week, but did so just as I left the house to go to the office for a few hours.

They definitely stayed around for a couple of days, but I was unable to count how many. I think four or five given the calling made from the youngsters for food just after fledging.

One thing the lockdown has enabled me to do it explore the area around the garden a little more.

I took my girls on a nature walk one evening this week and we went in search of a great spotted woodpecker nest in a nearby small wood.

We knew it was there through the power of Facebook, but no idea exactly where.

Luckily, we found it thanks to the noisy chicks, and were really fortunate to be there long enough to see the parents come to feed them.

I’ve seen them feeding in my garden, but had never seen a nest or watched a parent feed youngsters, and it provided a great result for my next generation and me to ensure we go back to the woodland again.

THE NEXT GENERATION IS ALMOST WITH US

In the last week or so the robins have still been around the garden, sometimes looking at the ivy and going in to investigate what I presume can be to build another nest.

I’ve even seen them go in with nesting materials, although not very often and I don’t think there was enough movement to suggest the garden will have robin chicks this year, sadly.

The great tit chicks are very loud now and I’m surprised they haven’t fledged yet, although the parents are seemingly trying to tempt them out now!

Perhaps when the heat we’re likely to see tomorrow will prove the final straw as the nest will become very hot and their feathers will increase their body temperature and incentivise them to reach for the outside world.

The house sparrow families are seemingly thriving and the swallows are looking like they are nest building, more on both of those next week.

The pond has plenty of life in it, but there’s not been the sign of the frog for a while and there’s not visible frogspawn.

However, it is providing a place for insects to live and they are needed for a bio-diverse garden, which is what I want to have.

The broad beans, tomatoes and other flora are growing quite well, although not so much the poppies. I don’t know why that is, but they are in various locations around the garden so let’s see how they all are in a few weeks.

As we approach the traditional summer season, it’s going to be interesting to see how the current Covid-19 situation will impact everyone and the wildlife.

One thing’s for sure is the wildlife around the garden has been carrying on with the breeding season, blissfully unaware of the situation their human neighbours are going through.

Time will tell how much the pandemic has affected wildlife, hopefully it’ll be in a positive way.

In the meantime we’ll keep on trying to help the birds get fed with mealworm handouts and watch as the next generations make their way in the world around us.

SPRING HAS SPRUNG, DURING LOCKDOWN

The swallows are back, and almost exactly the same day as the previous three years.

The lack of traffic noise has led to bird song being much more audible and just a couple of days ago I heard the distinct call of swallows.

Then today I saw my first one swooping over the fields next to the garden. It means the first sounds was heard in the 8th April and seen on 11th April.

The current sates I've first seen swallows each year, since 214, are:

2014 - 19th April
2015 - 21st April
2016 - 10th April
2017 - 8th April
2018 - 7th April
2019 - 7th April
2020 - 11th April (heard first on 8th April)

It’s typical that during this lockdown we’re seeing really warm spring weather, particularly after the wet and windy last couple of months.

Of course, we’re going to see cooler weather in the coming weeks, but it’s been nice to enjoy the garden and also for a lot longer than usual with working from home.

Sadly not everything is perfect in nature, and this was demonstrated early one morning when I found three dead chicks, perhaps a week old, in the garden not far from the potential location of a robins’ nest.

It has been very cold overnight and a gently frost was on partly visible, so I suspect this had killed them and the parents had removed the bodies.

While it could have been a predator or local cat, the nest location would suggest a cat unlikely and a magpie would have difficulty getting into the thick ivy - the nest is circled along with one of the dead chicks.

What I have noticed since is the robins both being very active in the same location, both with food and the odd bit of nesting material.

I haven’t heard any chick noises, but this is definitely a watching brief, with the male robin (seemingly) singing loudly and often from a series of perches around the garden.

Above the robin nest a pair of blue tits has recently been seen mating, but where the nest is, is another thing.

I suspect they are using the previously unused single nest box that was under the now removed triple sparrow nest box, but await final evidence.

We’ve also found a frog residing in the pond, I say residing because it’s been in there for quite a few days.

I don’t think it’ll be mating and laying frog spawn, but perhaps next year we’ll get that.

Still it’s a good sign that the pond is supporting a wide range of wildlife and plants.

And the pond is looking colourful and is proving to be a great source of food for bees and butterflies – there’s been both orange tip and peacock on most days in the last week.

DOES ANYONE REMEMBER WHEN IT WASN’T STORMY?

It’s fair to say that I’m struggling to remember when the last time we had some calm weather, given we’re experiencing storm after storm hitting the UK.

And, if there hasn’t been a named storm, then we’ve been hit be continual low pressures or the windy edge of a high pressure.

The fields are soaking, and large ponds of water are now forming and not draining at all.

Even the stream alongside the lane regularly breaches the banks when we’ve had a few hours of rain.

These videos are taken one day last week, then below are two mages taken the same time, on the following day.

To see all that in one go, here’s a collated image. What’s not shown is the water on the lane is gradually damaging the surface and there’s not a day goes by when the lane doesn’t have large puddles dotted along it.

 

The wildlife is not appearing to be affected by the weather, well from what I can see and hear.

The dawn chorus has been getting stronger each day recently, although the storm and wet mornings have limited activity.

During the day we’re now hearing more territorial songs from the robins, blue tits, great tits and also the odd chaffinch.

The breeding season is largely dictated by the day length, but I do wonder how the storm will affect it long-term.

If the butterflies and moths, which lay eggs that then turn onto the caterpillar food for the small garden birds, get impacted by the storms, then how will the birds cope?

That will also impact some the birds of prey in the area, but we can only wait and see how that all plays out.

If the stormy weather continues for a while, then our summer migrants might also be impacted; so swallows, house martins, swifts and cuckoos.

Again only time with tell, until then we’ll continue to batten down the hatches and hope the water levels gradually drop.

FROSTS BITE HARD AS WINTER DARKNESS CLOSES IN

The first hard frosts since February hit the garden recently, although one bird has been very vocal during the cold spell.

Walking around the garden and down the lanes around the house, I’ve listened and seen a number of robins defending their territories.

The robin, whose territory includes my garden, has been very vocal recently, and it only needs me to be in the garden for a matter of minutes before he’s close by, hoping to catch a quick and easy meal via my presence.

Life in the garden is definitely tough at the moment; the leaves have fallen from the trees (apart from the evergreens), the ivy has stopped growing and the food in the bird feeders is reducing quicker than any time in the last eight months.

I’ve spent some time walking up and down the lane recently, and there’s often a flock of redwings and fieldfares knocking around, sometimes with blackbirds on the outskirts of the group.

It’s great to see birds that are not around in the summer, the winter equivalent of our summer swallows – albeit I slightly favour the swallows!

One thing that has surprised me is the strawberry plant producing fruit (only two though) in the last week.

Each strawberry was not quite fully red, and didn’t look particularly appetising or edible, but it shows the capacity of the plant to produce in the colder months.

As we head towards Christmas, the darkest days of the year approach, so the wildlife will be paying particular focus on the weather conditions, as will us humans.

THE LONG ROAD TO DARK MORNINGS AND NIGHTS?

So September has brought what the end of August promised – cloud, wind and rain, along with a distinctly chilling feel in the air.

In the last few weeks there has been a couple of overhead views of swifts, chattering away and seemingly on their journey to warmer climes.

I don’t think they’re local swifts, merely family groups passing over and making the most of the conditions to feed.

I’ve also seen a couple of family groups of swallows, but again it’s been a week of so since the last sighting of our beautiful summer visitors.

In the garden the pond has seen too much litter falling in, so a clean-up along with new aerating plants is required soon.

There has been a smattering of blue tits, great tits and house sparrows in the garden, particularly in the last few days, making the most of the free food on offer.

One thing that has been noticeable is the local robins singing, and sounding like they’re reasserting their territories.

The one in our garden has been very vocal in the morning and evenings, making the most of the feast of bugs and earthworms the current weather is bringing to the surface.

The tomatoes are only just growing from flowers, so I don’t hold much hope for any red ones this year.

Better news on the sunflowers, the few that have made it beyond July are now getting quite tall, so they should be flowering soon – giving some birds free and natural foods for the autumn.

Five years ago most of September was warm, if not hot at times, so whether this year it’ll pick up temperature wise is another thing – the forecast suggest not!