- This squally weather has taken a almost all of the very ripe pears and lot of leaves from our trees and turned most of the rest yellow. Won't be too long before all our lovely foliage has gone (my least favourite time of year!) and the rear (rear) rear garden at present smells like perry with all the alcoholic pears on the ground!
- Bad news from the immediate Swift Half environs also, as I spotted an old fox (photo above) calmly walking through our neighbours' garden at noon today and spend a good few minutes scratching itself, pressed right up against their patio doors (they were out I guess at the time).
- The fox is covered in sarcoptic mange, which is very uncomfortable for the fox and makes it less fearful of humans (walks around at noon etc...) because it has to "keep on the move" and "keep scratching".
- I hope because it wil have to keep moving, it will move out of the area -as I'd rather not keep the hens locked up constantly - as it was today on the girls' "day off", as soon as I spotted the manky fox, I had to rush to lock them up, as they were free-ranging at the time. I've seen many foxes at Swift Half (we even have two old dens in the rear (rear) garden as some viewers to this blog might know), but I've never seen a fox in bad condition here before.
- Strange that the honeysuckle and water lily are flowering again here at Swift Half, so late in the year?
- The buff ermine moth caterpillar that I photographed the other day, has spun itself a cocoon and will remain in that state until around about May 2011. I fed it nettle leaves for about a week and it seemed to like them. If we're still around here in May (for the return of the swifts also!?) I'll update you then on our buff ermine cocoon...
- On the subject of caterpillars, I've also found what I think is a Sallow Kitten moth caterpillar - which is feeding on willow as I speak - again this should become an adult moff in May...
- 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.
- 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!
