Bird Update

The cuckoo was last heard two weeks ago but birdsong has continued well into late June. This morning, though, it felt different and quieter. That has coincided with the arrival of warmer more settled summer weather.

Bird behaviour is easier to observe than that of mammals but there are still new things to notice. At the Wall Caff feeding station it's now chaffinches that dominate.

At other times they have been only occasional visitors; now three pairs have become regulars. Meanwhile around the car park goldfinches are in occupation but no chaffinches; the goldfinch is now much more commonly seen - waiting whenever I raise the blinds at home, yet no appearances at the Wall Caff.

Tits, great, coal and blue, are rarely absent but now in smaller numbers than in May, while dunnocks remain among the first to appear.

Blackbirds have always been a favourite and they come regularly, but here there's been a change that I've observed before. They still collect food to take off to the young, particularly the female, but do so much more secretively. In May they were more conspicuous. It's known blackbirds can raise several broods in a season so perhaps a failure due to predation has led to the second attempt being carried on more covertly. The sight this morning of a jay being chased off by the male blackbird in the bushes might be some confirmation of this.

No bird does more to endear itself to us. It's a daydream of bleak winter days to see oneself sitting in the garden at the end of June, dozing with a  glass of cool wine beside and all the time accompanied by sublimely laid back music from the blackbird perched at the top of the pine. It happened yesterday.

Whitethroats or, more likely, lesser whitethroats are regularly seen among the bilberry and heather, along with the usual pipits showing off their aerial displays. This morning one whitethroat was giving a group of crows a very hard look from the top of a stunted rowan.

But it was the warbler ensemble that was notably lacking today. They've been a major feature since they first arrived, now reduced to a few scattered soloists.