IS IT AUTUMN OR AUGUST?

I go away for a couple of weeks and the weather goes from record breaking heat, to a soggy August in a matter of days.

They should rename August as autumn, given the late evening and early morning feel in the air, not to mention the wet and windy weather.

Over the last ten days the swifts seem to have departed for warmer climes, can’t say I blame them, while the garden birds have definitely quit the breeding season for this year.

I have seen the swallow family, now looking great with seven fledged youngsters, taking to the air and learning the aerobatic skills that a swallow needs.

It’s a fabulous sight, watching the newly-fledged swallows dancing around the skies, flirting with the fields and trees, and all the time chattering away to their parents.

They’ll be off soon and to me it means autumn has already started.

The garden is quiet with the likes of blue tits, great tits, house sparrows, dunnocks, blackbirds, robins and wrens only sporadically visiting.

I’ve cut back on extra food for them, apart from a couple of feeders, but perhaps with the weather conditions I’m tempted to put some fat balls out there.

The flora is growing significantly with all the wet and warm(ish) weather, but not the ones I want to.

The sunflowers are not as tall as last year (no they’re not dwarf ones), the tomatoes are only just flowering, and the broad beans have basically failed.

But the grass, rose bushes and ivy, the ones I have to trim regularly, are flourishing – so plenty of time in the garden for me at the moment.

With Bank Holiday weekend coming up shortly, the weather is bound to improve…

The wildlife might not care about this, but the humans who use the garden certainly do!

SUMMER IN WET MODE?

While it's fair to say this summer has been warmer and drier than last year, well maybe July, the fledging of our summer visitors hasn't been too visual.

Certainly the swifts have been successful, and there are often family groups circling high above the garden on most evenings this month.

The screeching sound of the swifts is a fantastic summer sound, although it'll soon be gone again for another year.

The swallows haven't been seen in family groups, although individuals are regularly seen and heard. I do wonder if the wet spells in June impacted the nest, just like the swallow family on Springwatch.

If that has been the case, then the weather recently has certainly been much better, so hopefully we'll hear the sounds of young swallows in the coming days.

The garden birds are certainly not around as much, which is normal for this time of year. But a family of long tailed tits has visited the garden twice recently, so perhaps the parents are showing the youngsters where to get winter food.

Having said that, only this morning I've already heard a family of blue tits, great tits, wrens and robins around the garden, so they're either recent fledglings or they have stuck around a bit longer because of food.

The tomatoes and broad beans haven't been successful this year, although I'm hoping the spell of warm weather next week will help growth.

FLORA GROWTH, AS SUMMER HEAT BUILD

The weather has started to become more like summer, albeit the forecasters are saying it won’t last – how unusual!

The bird life in the garden is slowly moving away, although another nest might see some action during July.

The secret robin nest has either fledged or not survived, because there’s been a distinct lack of activity in the area in the last few days.

It’s hard to tell which is true, but in the coming weeks I’ll have a sneak peak in the nest vicinity to see what’s happened.

I hope it’s been fledging.

There have been occasional visits from families of blue tits, great tits and house sparrows, however they are happening less frequently.

Only today a fledgling blackbird was moving around the garden looking for earthworms, and succeeding too.

The new nest, I say new because it looks like a refurb of the one I spotted during winter in the garden’s main tree, has had visitors – yes I think it’s the owners.

It’s a pair of woodpigeons, which makes it another first for the garden.

I don’t know if they’re going to lay eggs yet, or even if they have already done so, but two of them have been heard and seen quite often recently.

The birds of summer appear to be doing ok, with numerous swifts often overhead, particularly in the evening when they make a right noise, while the swallows are certainly enjoying the increase in insect food – thanks to the improving weather.

Finally the tomato plants are now fully outside and ready for warm, sunny conditions to thrive and produce some lovely fruit - hopefully!

CHICKS AND RAIN EVERYWHERE

It’s been four weeks since my last post, and quite a lot has happened.

The main thing is that summer hasn’t even started, with much of the recent weather akin to autumn, rather than the warmest season of the year.

The great tits chicks did fledge, although it must have been while I was at work, because one day they were very audible in the morning and when I got home later in the day, there was silence.

However, the air was filled with the noise of newly-fledged tit chicks and has only stopped in the last few days.

It’s hard to tell if they are great tit or blue tit chicks from the sounds, but when the parents give alarm calls it’s much easier to identify.

They all appear to have been doing very well, and they probably stuck around for a bit longer due to the unseasonal late spring weather.

Of course, the last few weeks have been awful, particularly for the wildlife who expect much warmer conditions.

The constant rain and very cool temperatures mean many of the insects that birds feed on are difficult to find or have been washed away.

I’ve been continuing to hand out mealworms, which the great tits, blue tits, robins and house sparrows have been swooping on very quickly.

Just when I thought the bird life would fade away for the wet summer, the robins provided me with quite a surprise.

In the last few days I’ve noticed robins heading into part of the ivy just outside the kitchen window.

A pair of robins did spend time in the same area last year but didn’t raise a family there.

This year I’ve seen evidence in the last 48 hours that lead me to believe they have nested and now have chicks.

Two robins are now going into the area with caterpillars, and also some of mealworms I’ve been handing out.

I’m going to monitor the behaviour of the robins over the next few days, because I’m concerned the weather will reduce the survival chances of the chicks.

And given the incidents of the various chicks in Scotland on Springwatch over the last couple of weeks, my concerns are real.

The sound of summer, in the voice of the swallows and swifts have been heard when the rain stops, with swifts seeking higher air while chattering and the swallows swooping around the garden.

I think the swifts I’ve seen haver had young, but I think the swallows are either on eggs or have young. They usually cause quite a racket when the young leave the nest, so I think I’ll be able to tell when that happens.

In the meantime, let’s hope summer does come along and doesn’t leave us with a soggy and disappointing June – I think the swallows will agree with me!

CHICKS EVERYWHERE

The garden has been filled with chicks recently, both in and out of the nest boxes.

For several days the garden was home to foraging robin chicks, all closely followed by at least one parent.

They didn’t appear frightened by the increasing amount of foot traffic around the garden, disappearing into the bushes while humans were about, before returning to the garden once the all clear was given.

The nest box that’s been used every year since it was put up, has proven successful again, and the great tits that I witnessed ‘reserving’ the prime nesting position in the garden, are the proud parents.

I suspect they may well fledge from Sunday onwards, but with cooler conditions currently setting in, they may wait until early next week when it’s due to be a bit warmer.

I bought the first batch of mealworms, which the robins, great tits and house sparrows made use of. Unfortunately, the magpies raided the storage container early one morning and hoovered the rest up.

Another batch has arrived, and this time the magpies had better stay clear!

The house sparrows have also got a brood of newly fledged chicks, although I don’t know where their nest is.

Finally, the swallows have been seen mating on telephone wires above the garden, so they are obviously content to be back and ready for another family.

There’s not much action in the pond, although the flora is definitely blooming.