1st
Swallow over Swan Bottom & first Swallow of the year over Sly Corner, our
Robins fledged today, Stewart has a Wheatear at Potter Row; Chesham UTD beat MK
Dons in Bucks & Berks Cup Final at Stadium MK (MOO CAMP) 4-3 on penalties;
3rd strong heady scent coming
up from the Bluebells early morning, 6 House Martins over Swan Bottom; 5th
Small White, Holly Blue & Orange
Tip, butterflies in the garden, the latter feeding on Dandelions & Herb
Robert, 4 House Martins above the house, Bugle in flower; 6th pair
of Garden Warblers at St Leonards, 2 pairs of Linnets, Whitethroat, 3 Yellow
Hammers, Blackcaps & Chiffchaffs at Arrewig Farm, Speckled Wood also noted
here, much earlier than they normally occur in the garden; 7th Whitethroats
are back from wintering in Africa &
the males are singing their scratchy little song in their usually summer
territories along the country lanes & hedgerows, a very obliging Roe Deer
stag out early this morning; 8th Linnets over Graham & Ruth’s
garden at Swan Bottom; 9th Cuckoo Flower just coming into bloom; 10th
the government shows it’s commitment to the environment again with proposals to
remove protection from 43,000 wildlife sites & one of its options for the
Oxford – Cambridge Expressway is through Otmoor RSPB reserve, one of the
remotest areas of central England…. The Futures Bleak, The Futures Concrete; 11th
pair of Goldfinches repeatedly returning to a tuft of Alpaca hair impaled on
barbed wire fencing, one bird gathering a beak full of hair as the other kept
watch & escorting it back to nest site in nearby Horse Chestnut; 13th
Green Woodpecker bathing in pond, a well concealed adult & juvenile Tawny
Owl calling from nearby tree at 8-15pm, Bush Vetch in flower; 15th
pair of Bullfinch in front garden; 16th House Martins have been busy
with the house work on their return from Africa, judging by the dusty dead
chick from last year’s brood laying on the lawn; 18th pair of
Bullfinches in Graham & Ruth’s garden, Purple Flag Iris in bloom; 19th
3 Starlings continually returning to the lawn early morning & ravenously
gathering Leather Jackets, with up to 4 at a time hanging from their beaks; 20th
a 3-30am start was rewarded with close up views of 2 Cranes in the county,
Sprawky is seen bathing in the pond for the first time this summer, in what
will be his third summer with us, first appearing as a Juvenile back in 2016,
12 Newts in the pond; 21st Ox-eye Daisies in bloom; 22nd
Birds Foot Trefoil also beginning to bloom, another brood of Blackbirds has
hatched judging by the broken eggshell I found this morning; 23rd a
pair of Great Tits have not read the manual & are nesting quite happily in
an open front nest box in Frances garden instead of using the standard Tit box
with a hole, Tawny Owl sat atop the flag pole at 9-15pm; 24th Green
Woodpecker feeding on the lawn, Yellow Iris now flowering in the pond, Tom
found a pair of Hoverflies mating, (thanks to Neil Fletcher for ID help),
Buttercup meadows looking stunning in the evening sunshine at Lower Bassibones
Farm (everyone raves about the Blue Bells, these are equally as good); 26th a Heron visits the pond & finds a tasty
Frog on the menu, later in the day a female Blackbird repeatedly visits the
pond edges gathering nesting material; 31st as I trimmed the
Blackberry stems in the garden boundary hedge with a pair of shears a Dunnock
flew from it’s nest from within, luckily for it I didn’t use a petrol cutter, I
wonder how many young perish in the nest at this time of year due to hedges
being cut to early? farmers face a fine for such actions. After talking with
our new neighbours Martin & Sophie it seems the Starlings that were
frequenting our lawn bred successfully on their property, as have a pair of
Robins & Blackbirds, more interestingly House Martins have been prospecting
around their roof eaves, the pair of Orange Tips remained around the lawn
throughout the month. Remember… “If it’s alive, let it live,” everything has a
reason for being in the GRAND SCHEME of THINGS!!
