Excuses, Excuses, Golden Excuses..

I know, I know, I know.. I was going on tour, I was going to post fortnightly - I was also going to be Vet or a Gamekeeper once upon a time too. I could go on, but this is supposed to be a nature & wildlife story blog interrupted with the odd gardening tale, and I can only apologise, promising hand on heart to post something outside of my little enclave next time. Note the lack of commitment to post in a fortnight – it might be next week (Cough! Cough!).

Oh, I still hear you begging for some form of excuse. Well presently I appear to be somewhat unemployable following redundancy, ergo job hunting takes precedence; daily searches, dozens of applications, on-line tests, interviews etc. etc., resulting in nae tour away, sorry! And of course there was a special event happening in South Africa & one in South London which may have added to my difficulty squeezing it all in.

Proudly though, I took a few more pictures, of one, of at least four Blackbird fledglings, who stayed in and around my garden nearly all of their first week in flight (if you can call it that). I’ve since reconsidered my view of the first brood, which I probably assumed wrongly, had been predated right at the point they were due to fledge, just because I hadn’t seen them fledge nor after. That was until recently, where of late I've seen slightly older juveniles visit now and then.

Watching this brood more closely, I'm now convinced they did fledge, as the parents behaved exactly the way they did last, this time round. And realise just how lucky I was to see more of ‘Jasper’ up close, soon after, but again not much beyond that first week. This again reaffirms my belief that it's only by getting up close and personal to nature, you really get a sense of what's going on, mistakes 'n all. Oh, and there are signs Mrs Jasper is going for brood number three, though it looks like it was too much for Mr Jasper - which begs the question was she fertile before he disappeared, time will tell.

I must mention leafcutter bees again, some have now filled & sealed several tunnels with their eggs, which could even emerge later this year, though the majority will interrupt their cycle, and emerge next spring, as it starts to cool.

From information I picked up in the States, they probably lay female eggs at the rear of the tunnel and males eggs at the front. I suspect you can appreciate the reasoning behind that, but as the males only have one good use, it's probably good they get a head start. But it also means if they're predated by say a woodpecker, the females further back have a greater chance of survival, it's all about the women in bee-life.

Leafcutter & Masonry (solitary bees) are also known to pollinate more prolifically than Honey (colony bees), in many areas, so any help we can provide must be good. Not that my neighbour might agree, pointing to his young rose without a whole petal to its single stem. Thankfully they haven't touched mine - yet!

AWOL this year so far, are my Greater Spotted Woodpeckers, which I must at least record for posterity from the previous summer here. I suspect my apparently ever-present presence in the garden this year, combined with their natural shyness, hasn't been all that conducive for them visiting, especially while their young are hanging on to their colourful coat tails.

The summer here (I know not everywhere) has been so incredibly dry, not to mention occasionally very hot, to the point I’ve had little more than a saucer or two of rain, until recently. My poor vegetables & strawberries needed all the help they could get; forgiven me yet? I've just noticed today I forgot to close the main water-but tap, after cleaning it out; the blogger is not amused!

Delightful bugs, flies, butterflies & moths abound at this time in the garden, gorging on nectar, pollen or smaller flies; much to the delight of Swallows, Swifts & Martins.

I'll sign-off with a list of my feathered friends who have at some point during this year put a smile on my face and a song in my heart, or occasionally made me go ARRG!!

Sparrow-hawk, Buzzard, Kestrel, Red Kite (OK once!), Swift, Swallow, Wren, Yellow Hammer, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Coal Tit (occasionally), Greenfinch, Collard Dove, Grey Heron, Carrion Crow, Rook, Jackdaw, Magpie, Wood Pigeon, Snipe, Woodcock, Duck, Blackbird, Dunnock, House Sparrow, Starling, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Robin, Great Spotted and Green Woodpecker, Tree Creeper, Partridge, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail (occasionally grey), Field Fare, Black Headed and odd Herring Gull. Yeah, until the next - TPH