Swift half news - 14th May 2010

• Carnage in the garden this afternoon as finally Malu (our male kitten, who is now off his uveitus drugs at least temporarily) raided the blackbird nest in the honeysuckle, killing three of the four hatchlings. The fourth I put back (I have no idea why to be honest) and as I type this, the hen is back on the nest, with the sole surviving chick underneath her. I give it zero chance still...
  
  
• Another buzzard overhead - mobbed by two omnipresent crows.
• Couven & Cutlery (our two hens) decide to make their new dust bath in the kittens latrine - we are a little disgusted by that (and will have to watch for parasite transfer I suppose) but hey ho, there you go.
• Still no swift eggs or damselflies in the garden.

Swift half news - 3rd May 2010

• Our swift got up very late today - maybe around 10am, and bad news - sparrows are moving nesting material into the swift roof space. Not much material granted, but there's certainly a little turf wars going on...
• Next door neighbours' vixen was out late this morning also - around 8:30am, and the girls (our hens - Couven and Cutlery) were a little twitchy. Cutlery is still having trouble producing decent eggs, but she managed a reasonable one this morning, and both girls took an extended dust bath this afternoon.
• Both (quite large) fox cubs seen in neighbours' garden at 9:15 tonight - quite bold they were...
• 5 potato plants above ground now.
• Hen blackbird still sitting on her (doomed) eggs in honeysuckle.
• Cold week ahead (northerly wind) - may put the breeding/hatching/growing back a bit.
• The mason bees in my post are really busy though - plenty of pollen brought back to the holes by the bees this morning. I think we'll have a full compliment of eggs in bricked-up holes by june at this rate - at present I have 5 holes all bricked up with pollen and egg in (to hatch next year) and twelve occupied holes (I can see the bee inside the hole) ready to be bricked up soon I hope). Wonderful stuff - my bee post is unbeelievably successful this year!

Swift half news - 10th April 2010

• Damson blossom appears on our garden trees this week
• Marsh marigold blooms appear in pond
• Cuckoo bees find honeysuckle leaves this week
• Red Mason bees investigating shed and walls
• Tadpoles have hatched, but not very active
• Robins have deserted shed nest (thanks to cats probably) and now nesting in front garden
• Heron visiting most days to be mobbed by local crows
• Potatoes planted today in rear (rear) garden
• First mow of lawn today
• First bat of year seen today at 05:30am
• Cutlery finally lays an egg with a shell after two weeks of no-shelled eggs!
• After a week of warm, sunny weather, moth trap set up for first time this year, tonight.