Drizzle

Today the garden has been drenched by much-needed rainfall after the unusual dryness of April. From memory, this is at least the third exceptionally dry spring in succession, which follows another relatively dry winter. The blackbird pair that visit the garden regularly are grateful; they are clearly feeding a nest of young in a nearby garden, as they are back and forth all day gathering worms, today’s rain making their job much easier as the ground has softened and their prey has risen nearer to the surface. I watch the female tug a very long worm from the ground, but before she takes it with her, she breaks it up into pieces, making it easier for her young ones to swallow.

I take a walk down the local farm tracks; in just the last couple of days, larger numbers of swallows have arrived, a little later than normal. They zigzag over the fields, collecting the insects that bother the young cattle grazing there and zipping across the paths at head-height as I’m walking along the field verges. There is a flurry of activity from other small birds too; goldfinches twitter from their perches on top of shrubs and brambles; dunnocks shoot back and forth from hedgerows; a great tit calls loudly for ‘teacher’ from the top of a tree. I also spot some stonechats, which I don’t see so often on this route – a male and a female, likely also with a nest somewhere. A song thrush is singing, and high up above, a kestrel soars and then stops to hover for a few moments, but then moves on again.

On my way home I skirt the edges of the construction site, and am crestfallen to see that more scrub has been cleared – now, in the peak nesting season. With some forward planning, this could have been done in winter so as to minimise disruption to nature. As the drizzle rains down, a soggy-looking buzzard sits hunched on the fence nearby, perhaps having scavenged on the contents of any nests that have been displaced.

Swallows