Jackdaws

We waited so so long for the spring to arrive and after a blast of blossom it has quickly flurried  into summer.   What a short energetic month May has been.  The trees are starting to cast their seeds and relax  down  into conserving energy towards the autumn.    Desperately wishing for rain for the garden, the cold early spring is  a faint if not unreal distant memory.   It is nearly always very hot and dry in the summer after an extreme late winter. So much so  it constantly amazes how inaccurate the BBC weather predictions are.  Paraphrasing Eric Morcambe they get the right weather but not necessarily at the right time.

Moorhen chick with Mallard

Blackheaded Gull chicks

Great as the programme  Springwatch is, I can no longer watch because of the relentless
litany   of species decline.  What a depressing time it is  to be a nature lover.  As I  cannot cope with whole instead  I have decided to hunker down and concentrate on the joys of my own patch and do the best I can to support those that live in it.

Chaffinch

This evening I was fortunate to witness a local gathering of familial jackdaws.  Each announcing its individual name signature call as it joined the group.  Jackdaws are extremely social and have a large vocabulary of calls rather than songs which they exchange with other members of the social group.  There is a noticeable  leader that directs the group and calls them together when it is time to move on and do they come, from all  point's of the compass.  The group follow the leader to a new location,  then again  disperse until time to move on again. When it is time to move they are called back together and this is what I witnessed tonight prior to their moving on to their roost.

Tonight the gathering was swelled with  young jackdaws  that have just fledged. From a small family group the number must now be 40+ at least,  wheeling and dancing together in the evening sky.

Avocet

Blackbirds and Thrushes are now well into their second broods.  Our bluetits after a very slow start are now fledged and have all left safely.  Bluetits very rarely have second broods.  I did a quick check of the nest box for old eggs and bodies etc but all was clean and tidy as is usual.

Cinnabar Moth

I have  been  engaged in a comprehensive Bioblitz at Ness Gardens this  June.  This is a dedicated day for surveyors to see how many species can be discovered in one place on one day.  It will be very interesting to make comparisons against the previous one in 2014.  Visually as a team with our different specialisms we can see a decline in everything over the past intervening  years.

 

Ending on a more positive note it  has been many many years since my childhood and remembering going to bed early on a summers evening to the sound of a blackbird and thrush singing together,  respectfully taking turns.  For the last 10+ years there has been a total absence of song thrushes completely, but for some unknown but wonderful reason song thrushes are singing everywhere this year, in some places 3 or 4 in the same area.

Both bluetit parents and juveniles have been back to the garden for a visit..........