Swift half news - 6th June 2010

• Today is the day that Anna guessed our swiftlets might hatch - but I'm not sure this has occurred today. My guess is still the 10th, but every time I look at the nest space on the webcam, both incubated eggs are still being covered by a swift - so I can't really tell if either egg did hatch today after all!
• EDIT - I SEE A BROKEN EGG AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SCREEN! HAS AT LEAST ONE OF THE SWIFLETS HATCHED ON THE DAY ANNA SAID THEY WOULD? YOU TELL ME?!
• The woodpeckers (especially the male) is visiting the woodpecker feeder every few minutes at present, and flying away with mouthfuls of my bait - to a tree about 800yards away. I'm certain they have at least one chick that they are feeding as much as they can - and would suggest that the chick (or fledgling) will fly the nest this week - and we may seem it (or them) in the garden like last year. Whether the adult male is then chased away by the adult female like last year, remains to be seen. That would seem a tad harsh after all the work he's put in over the last few weeks...
  
  
• The third beautiful demoiselle in the garden over the last few days tempted me to take a photo of this unusual visitor to our garden. Unusual because generally these very vivid large damseflies prefer rivers - not 6 foot square ponds - and there were none in the garden all last year... I have never seen this insect before, let alone in the garden!
  
  
• After 5 days of hot, sunny weather, at tea time today, the weather finally broke with a short sharp downpour. Only lasted a few minutes, but already the air feels much fresher...