Fledgelings, Foxes & Fast Fashion

As I write this, the world's most annoying male sparrow is chirping outside my office. It has been enthusiastically chirping since 7o'clock this morning [and it's now 11am] so the charms of the morning chorus are currently somewhat diminished. I can't work out whether he's a youngster [he's surprisingly fluffy] calling for his mother or a more mature adult [as he has the full facial markings] trying to encourage his offspring out of the nest. He's perched on the cherry tree and chirruping away with the irritating irregularity of faulty fire alarm.

I witnessed some really unusual sparrow behaviour this morning. A female had just emerged from the office nest and flew down to the cherry tree [careful to avoid mr annoying sparrow], whereupon it deposisted a small quantity of [what I can only assume to be] faecal matter from its beak. She proceeded to wipe her beak on the branch before flying back into the nest. I've read about house martins doing this very behaviour - effectively cleaning the nest [removing the chance of disease] one beakful at a time. I admire their diligence and dedication.

We started seeing sparrow fledgelings from about the 11th May this year. It seems a bit early but as the weather has been so uncharacteristically warm, it's really knocked nature out of kilter! The youngsters have been confidently exploring the back garden, they've really been enjoying the dandelions - munching on the flowers as well as the 'clock' seeds.

We've been experimenting with some new video technology - using essentially a motion-activated Ring camera to record the comings and goings in the back garden. It's definately quicker and easier than the trail camera...but the wildlife are still getting used to it and it's not the best for identifying long-range hedgehogs. We've been getting two foxes visiting lately. One is a large [slightly chunky] female; while the other is practically a bag of bones. It is painfully thin and extremely nervous. It does seem to have caught something in this video...not sure whether its a bird or a chicken leg!

In the process of experiementing with camera placement...came across this little chap embarking on an abseilling adventure...

Hedgehogs are super hyper - not so fussed on food, but practicing some speed dating techniques - it is getting on for the breeding season. We've been trying to wean them off the peanuts again - as per last year, there's one which is definately more health conscious and like the tinned and crunchy kibble options; but the other is a fast-food nut and will not be deterred away from the the peanut feeder - see above!

Fashion fever gripped the street last week when Sassy appeared wearing an improvised feathered loin-cloth one afternoon. She must have been in someone's attic/shed/garage collecting soft nesting material as she'd got her back end stuck in a piece of fleecy fabric. Cue much anguished scheming as to how to help her 'undress' via the aide of nets, boxes and a thick pair of BBQing gloves. Much cursing of the SSPCA as they wouldn't have untangled her without putting her down. Fortunately the following morning she reappeared without her petticoat tails, apparently none the worse for her experience.

I watched in silent horror as a wood pigeon descended upon the barrel-pond and proceeded to sit its plump behind on the floating pond pump. Apparently this was the perfect place to bathe one's feathers after a tiring day of parading around with an air of righteous indignation. Impressively, the pond pump continued to spout a fountain of water right up the bird's backside whenever it shifted sufficiently off the solar panel. Presumably this was part of the desired experience.

There's been lots of interesting beasties appearing in the sunshine including these [below]:

Plant-wise, I finally removed the last of the cistus/rock rose bush from the back garden - and this means there's now loads of space for more wildflowers! I've planted a jasmine which will hopefully climb up the wall and add some more favourable perfumes to the garden - a change from 'eau de fox'. Spot the difference!

Somewhat surprisingly given the 5 weeks of almost perpetual sunshine and no rain, the garden plants remained pretty healthy [the bonus of using native plant species with longer roots, rather than the shorter rooted grass which looked parched after about two weeks].

Flowers which have been blooming this month include [clockwise from top left]: Blue lupin, some sort of thistle, aquilegias, red clover, sweet williams, dog rose, elderflower, geums and broom. The front wild section is getting to the point [again] where I've pretty much forgotten how much random wildflower seeds I've put down, so the odds of me being able to [easily] identify them is pretty low - particularly if they're not officially 'native'. I hold to the belief it doesn't really matter what they are so long as the pollinators are happy and they are vaguely colourful. Any flower is better than no flower! [Unless its a double flowered variety - as these don't produce any pollen].