A nice drop of rain

The extreme hot weather finally left Kent on Saturday 15th and we have had some rain and some thunder.

I’m sure the birds welcome less heat and the availability of water again but I’m sure they get fed up of having soaking wet feathers as well. On Wednesday, which turned into a wet day, the pigeons were sitting on the top of the dead tree stump and having a bath, but it was noticeable that they disappeared about an hour earlier than normal in the evening, as it was dull. The picture accompanying this blog shows a couple of pigeons sitting on the stump as I’ve already mentioned.

Consumption of food has certainly gone up at the bird table and feeders in the last few days and the jackdaws and some starlings have been coming back at times. Hopefully the birds are able to find some worms, slugs and snails again now as the ground is wetter after a nice drop of rain and I have noticed, while doing some gardening, that a couple of my holly bushes are well laden with green berries ready to ripen for winter food.

In my last blog I mentioned that I’d seen a blackbird nest in a tree in the garden where I had been having some pruning work done and only saw it at the last moment. For a few days the female blackbird was still sitting in the nest at times, but she now appears to have abandoned it. The blackbird pair are still around in the garden and sometimes two males, but I think the nest is probably now too exposed, although it is still tucked up into the tree and hidden behind leaves. As I mentioned in my previous blog if I’d known it was there, I wouldn’t have asked my gardener to cut down another bush close by. I suppose the only redeeming fact is that if they were sitting on eggs, they have abandoned eggs and not youngsters. I’ve been unable to see into the nest to confirm whether there are any eggs there or not. A neighbour of mine commented that it’s a bit late in the year for them to be trying to raise another brood anyway and I suppose it is thinking about it.

I do have other wildlife in the garden as well but I’ve not seen any hedgehogs for the last 18 months or so. However, the squirrels are still busy and they are in the cobnut removing nuts with gusto. There are plenty of empty shells on the lawn and some partly chewed nuts, which I guess implies that some of them are not good enough to store and the squirrel was feeling hungry after it’s efforts. They are still taking them and storing them happily. I hope they don’t bury too many in the flowerbeds as I tend to end up with small cobnut bushes growing in various places and if they’ve been on the peanut feeder, peanuts coming up as well. The other evening one of the feral pigeons was sitting in the cobnut and was trying to take a nut from the branch, so they’ve obviously been watching the squirrels closely.

Written by Margaret Emerson