Sunday 15 May 2022

Our first badger

We have never had badgers in the garden before, but I was alerted by a neighbour from two doors away, who had caught sight of one on her garden camera. So we checked ours, and lo and behold, there was the rear end of a badger! By the time we'd perused the whole batch of photos, we found we had caught a blurry shot of the badger's face, proving beyond doubt that the hairy bottom did indeed belong to a badger, but we also spotted our first hedgehog since last summer. I am now worried because I had been told that badgers will kill and eat hedgehogs. I wonder if that's why we have seen so few over the last couple of years when we once had whole hedgehog families visiting the garden?








Friday 13 May 2022

Swifts are back

 I heard a shrieking in the air, looked up and saw a swirling group of swifts and knew our local group had arrived. After conversing with each other, they then flew off in different directions, and probably won't meet up again till August, when they gather to fly back to sunnier climes. Last year they arrived on May 9th. This year it was May 11th. I heard from Edward Mayer of Swift Conservation  - https://www.swift-conservation.org/ - that they had been held up by bad weather and strong winds en route. 


If I didn't live in a bungalow, I would love to erect a swift nesting box. Maybe next year, if I move...