Summer silence again

Sat in the garden trying to cool off,  the sky was silent and I started to lament the leaving of the birds.  Then I was woken by a sudden  cacophony of sound as the goldfinches, house martins and swifts all erupted together with the blackbird - going through his repertoire of car alarms,   across the sky in waves of sound.  Then as quick as it arrived they were gone.  At least there is comfort in knowing they are still around for a few more days yet.

Chaffinch

It was as if they had gathered for a royal fly past just for my benefit before they left.  My heart bursts with joy when these unbidden gifts are sent.  A couple of days later and all went silent.  There were so few swifts this year will anyone notice them go?

Without any rain for over 10 weeks the insects are having a field day.  Between horseflies and now mosquitoes that can get through clothing, countryside walks are hazardous especially under trees.  The birds cannot be short of food.  

Brimstone

Green veined white

Despite the very late spring some butterflies and bee species are well up in numbers compared to 2017.  You need to be careful in predicting trends from a single year as species seem to have a natural cyclical fluctuation.  A buddlia bush checked that had  little butterfly presence last year was overflowing with a large variety  this year including : Green veined white, Large white, Peacock, Ringlet, Copper, Brimstone, Meadow Brown and Skipper.

 ITS RAINED.......all afternoon at last. Not enough to undo all the harm but enough to show the world still works, even if erratically at times.  Hopefully we have a few days of this.
This evening all the slugs and snails all came out for an outing in the garden for the first time in weeks.

For many of the juvenile birds it will be their first experience of rain.  It would be interesting to know what they think.

Lesser Spotted Beluga