Battered butterfly

 I saw this Peacock butterfly on the clothes line cover today. As you can see, its wings are very tattered and I was surprised it could fly at all. But, after it had warmed up, it flew off to my post of purple erysimums. I think it must have hibernated in the garage. We usually find a few in there. 

The local swifts arrived on the 8th May, though not in as great numbers as previous years. I have only seen a group of five. It's a bit worrying. I hope this spell of fine weather will bring a few more our way. 

Earliest ever Hillingdon swifts!

 Last year, I posted on May 7th that the swifts had arrived in the Uxbridge area earlier than ever before. But today I saw them flying over my street and it's only May 2nd. That really is the earliest ever! I wonder if our spell of warm weather has invited them here? I have certainly seen plenty of flying insects in the garden. 

The earliest Hillingdon swifts yet!

 I saw my first swifts on May 2nd. I heard my first on the 3rd. Today is the 7th and the sky is full of the joyful sound of shrieking swifts. Summer is definitely on its way.

It's a blue sky, puffy white clouds afternoon, following a drab grey morning, and a pair of red kites is soaring high, too far for my rather feeble camera to photograph. I just spotted a red damsel fly on the pond netting and earlier, saw a pair mating in midair. 

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?

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... 

They're back!

 I was out on my daily walk when I heard a familiar sound that I hadn't heard for many months and looking up, I saw swifts! The sight made me feel so happy that I just stood on the pavement with a silly grin on my face. 

    It's a cloudy, breezy day today and it did cross my mind that, as the weather in the South-East has been so awful lately with heavy showers and gales and temperatures way below the norm for May, they might delay their arrival, but they're bang on target. 

    I just hope that, with clearer skies due to the lack of flights, and fewer humans milling around, the insect life might have recovered over the lockdown periods. I shall keep my fingers crossed and hope the swifts will have a good feeding and breeding season in the UK in 2021. 

A swirl of swifts

Following a disappointing start where the swifts were late arriving and there only seemed to be two of them, there were at least 50 high in the sky over the fields and gardens late yesterday afternoon.

And today, when I walked down the street, there were about ten swifts flying low, darting between the houses, circling and passing me at shoulder height, so I could see every feather and look into their eyes and boy, they are much bigger close up than the tiny eyebrow-shaped arcs you see in the sky! It was a magical experience.

I felt privileged to be so close to these speedy, beautiful and increasingly rare birds.

The swifts have arrived - hooray!

I had been getting very worried, especially as the red kites are swooping majestically over our local patch in ever increasing numbers. The latest the swifts have arrived since I have been logging them has been May 11th. But I have just spotted two today, the 13th and my spirits have lifted. It's wonderful to have them back.

Swifts 2019 - none yet!

It's now May 11th and I have not seen a single swift. The weather has been showery and blustery and the temperature is low for the time of year. Could this have put them off arriving? I shall keep my eyes glued to the skies in order to note the first local viewing. A friend in West Hampstead got 'his' swifts back a few days ago. As there is plenty of countryside round here on the Western fringes of London, I should have thought they would be here by now.

I apologise for the dearth of posts. Quite honestly, I have been so depressed about the dwindling numbers of the local wildlife that I haven't felt like putting finger to keyboard. But... we do have hedgehogs. Two of them, in fact. I hope to see the numbers increase.

Sparrow numbers are definitely down. I have planted bird pockets, e.g. mini nests that you can buy from many wild bird seed websites, in the privet hedge - what's left of it. New neighbours on both sides have torn down their side of the hedging and replaced it with fences. They have also cut down all the beautiful trees, thus robbing the birds of nesting sites and cover. The outlook from the back of our house looks far less verdant than it used to.

In previous years, I have seen a lot of peacock butterflies, sometimes as early as March. This year, the score is 1 so far. A couple of blues, one orange tip, and that's it.

We are visited by a limping vixen who scouts around the garden in broad daylight, no doubt trying to feed hungry cubs that are stashed in a den amongst the oak trees in the field beyond our garden. At least we have made sure that wildlife can get in and out via the bottom of the garden - or The Wild Bottom, as I call it! I promise to write some Tales from the Wild Bottom this year!

The perfect plant to keep bees happy

I have a mauve Erisymum. Two years ago it was a tiny twig and just look at it now! It has bloomed throughout the winter and is a magnet for butterflies and bees. I actually counted seven different types of bumble bee on it, including a coal black species which I still haven't been able to identify, plus the honey-bee.

And as for butterflies, I have seen commas, peacocks, cabbage whites, painted ladies and orange-tips adorning its blossoms. Every garden should have one!

SWIFT ARRIVAL!

I was away for a couple of days and as I was plodding up the street with my bags, I heard a welcome screeching above my head. They are back - the acrobats of the sky, bringing summer with them.

First swift of 2017

I happened to glance up at just the right time yesterday lunchtime, and saw a swift flying over the house. Usually they arrive in this area between 7-9 May so this one was a bit early. I hope the rest of the group that nest locally won't be far behind - and I hope their nesting sites will still be there and not destroyed due to house renovation or new building.

Young blackbird or young song thrush?

It's often difficult to identify a fledgling because they can look so very different from the adult bird. Take starlings, for instance. The adults have dark plumage which gleams purple and blue when the light catches it, and they are covered with speckles. The adolescent birds, on the other hand, are pale and look more like thrushes.

You can see the spots quite clearly, and the bluish tinge on the breast of the adult bird on the second left of the picture.

This youngster, above, is a pale buff and its speckles are only just starting to show. With its chestnut wings, it looks like a different species altogether.


We are all familiar with the blackbird, the male with its egg-yolk-yellow beak and the browner female. When I saw this chestnut brown bird on the lawn, I thought it was a song thrush at first. Then I saw the dark flight feathers coming through on its tail and realised it was a young blackbird, though, with its speckly breast, it does resemble a suntanned thrush! What a handsome bird.

And here is its dad, who I have just this minute spotted on the lawn and managed to grab this shot before he flew off into next door's apple tree.

The chiffchaff and other boring birds!

I have heard a chiffchaff in the garden for the first time in 19 years. No prizes for guessing how it got its name. It's completely onomatopoeic: all it says is 'chiff-chaff' over and over again. It certainly wouldn't be top of the garden birdsong charts.

The great tit has an equally boring song. My name for it is 'the creaky gate bird' because it sounds exactly like a gate with squeaky hinges swinging in the breeze.

My mother's least favourite bird, as far as voices are concerned, was the collared dove. She cursed the woman from three doors down who had a bird table and encouraged the doves, which then sat in the surrounding trees, making their three-note booming call.

Unlike Mum, I find their song quite interesting. In fact, there was one that I christened 'Bastard Bird' because it sounded as if it was shouting, "You bastard!" over and over again. And that's the thing about collared doves; they do go on... and on... and on. They must bore themselves to sleep!

From time to time, various bird organisations ask us to pick our favourite songbird. The nightingale, song thrush, blackbird and robin are often mentioned but I have never seen the wren featured on the lists. I don't know why, because it has an amazing song. Piping, piercing, melodic, and syncopated with a regular chirring sound. And then there is the sweet piping of the goldfinch, like someone plinking on a faery xylophone.

It's about time someone launched a competition to find Britain's Most Boring Bird! I'd vote for the chiffchaff. Sorry, mate!

We have swifts!

The swifts are back. I noticed a group of five yesterday, wheeling and screaming over Marlborough Road in Hillingdon - always a good place to spot them.

I don't know why they like this particular area but my partner tells me that there used to be an old farm there, before they built the council houses, so swifts have probably been nesting there for centuries.What a shame that planners didn't realise this, and build swift nesting places into the roofs of the houses.

I have seen swifts flying into what must be a ventilation space in the loft of one of the houses. Who knows, perhaps a barn that was a good swift home used to stand on that very spot.

Bug Box

We've bought a bug box. There was a bit of a disagreement about where it should be put. "At ground level," I said, 'so that things can crawl in."

"At eye-level," said my partner, "so things can fly in."

He won. It's now on the wall of his workshop, beside the window. And he had the last word, too, with, "Anyway, the crawling ones can crawl up the wall and get in that way."

We shall see. Nothing has taken up residence yet but I will report on the first arrivals.

Kite v Crow

Once, the sight of a red kite above our streets was a rare occurrence. Now we see them on an almost daily basis and this morning there were three!

Yesterday, I witnessed a crow mobbing two kites, trying to drive them away. One kite took the hint and flew off but the other was determined not to be deterred and the two of them wheeled and tumbled through the sky, the kite trying to shake off the pursuing crow. In the end the crow triumphed and flew back to its perch on the biggest oak tree, from which it cawed and... well, crowed! It was if it was proclaiming, "Aren't I the brave, clever boy!"

These photos aren't very good as the birds were way up in the sky, but they give some idea of the crow's tenacity and persistence.

Blue tit population explosion!

Blue tits have been popping out all over the place! In the last few days, I have seen far greater numbers on the feeders than I've seen all year and I'm wondering if, due to the mild weather, late broods have been raised. They seem to be everywhere, mobbing each other to get onto the peanuts, queuing up at the suet ball feeder.

Last year, there seemed to be fewer than in previous years, so it's great to see their numbers increasing again.

Great Spotted Woodpecker

I took this photo from a good 60 ft away and was rather pleased that the woodpecker was visible when I zoomed in! He just about polished off all the peanuts, as you can see!

Small White should be called Small Yellow!

 It really has been a miserable year for our butterflies and moths. I thought this was a Brimstone when I saw it in the distance, but now I realise it's a Small White as they have pale yellow undersides to their wings.