Swift Half update - 5th July 2011

• Warm and humid (and quite sunny) again for the past few days - but we've had a welcome bit of rain today.
• All the garden plants (including the trees and marsh marigolds) seem to be already on their way out, foliage-wise! The marsh marigolds are virtually dead (or died back), the buddleja has ended (or died!?) and even the damson trees look like they're about to shed their leaves - and this after June gave us at least average (above average to be fair) rain.
• I'm pretty sure that with everything starting a month early this year - it might well end a month early also....
• Pond life has changed a little recently also - gone is the dominance of my palmate newts (a month ago and I would count two dozen without trying - now its an effort to count half a dozen at night) and the frogs have returned (we have at least four now). Its no great shakes that the newts have become harder to see - once they have ensured they have bred, they often leave their breeding grounds, like many amphibians - and become fully terretstrial again.
• Our largest sunflower has started to produce its flower - I think it'll be an eight-footer again (EASILY winning the neighbourhood sunflower competition -of which I've seen none even go close to peeping over any fence)!
• We have at least one wren's nest in the front garden, which at least for now, the spostles (cats) have not located...
• Our cornflowers are doing well though - 15 flowers so far and counting....