Kitchen Garden Forum

I think you may be right!

We never get cuckoos around here not even down the plot , about four years ago I made a strawberry barrel out of a 35 gallon drum I placed it about 4 feet or 1200 mm from were I sat when having my morning drink I covered the top with plastic mesh to stop the birds eating the strawberries I left a very small hole in the mesh by accident which a wren found and built a nest ,it was funny watching her feeding her chicks she would fly out then return with a mouthful of food she would perch on one of the cages and glare at me then fly in to her nest this went on for around three weeks if not more I was just as bad as her as my wife had told all the kids on the plots about it they all came running to have a look but I stopped them I told them they could all sit quietly and watch but no account go near then one morning I went down and they had fledged all finished but I didn’t tell the kids they still came and sat waiting for the wren to come ,when I was a kid we used to play on some old golf links watching sky larks and listening to their calls I’ve never heard one for near 40 years the old golf links are now new golf links and only members allowed on them

I hear skylarks regularly where I walk my dog past rough grazing. I put it down to getting hearing aids rather than the skylarks returning.

My mum and dad named their house...Lark Rise..it was never a formally accepted name, so with the exception of one Christmas card that arrives with the name in the address..we are but a number. Larks are still be heard though above the back field, lovely to hear

C.

First cuckoo heard on Embsay Crag, just outside Skipton, yesterday morning, very much in line with previous arrival dates. So glad it's back!

The Cuckoo seems to have moved on but, we now have the Swallows back, so not all is lost...

No cuckoo again this spring, and for the first time no frogspawn either.

No Frogspawn in any of the little ponds here either, Primrose...down to the Herons, i'm afraid to say.

Swallow numbers at my work location have now today reached 2....but no cuckoo heard yet....

I am reliably informed though that the cuckoo is calling out at Gibraltar Point and has been for a few weeks..

C.

First swift seen in the village today.
I do feel for all those insect eating birds (and bats), because the temperatures are so low. and the wind so cold.

Not seen a swallow around here but we do get a lot of them down the plot ,when we used to spend time in our place in Spain one of the jobs I had to do was strim the field the weeds are not like over here they usually grow to 6 feet tall and anything up to an inch in diameter the strimmer had a head on it that would take 5 mm nylon you needed it as the going was tough we have around 4 acres I used to cut I noticed one day I was getting swifts and swallows dive bombing me as I was working ,I stopped one day and sat sideways on the quad having a rest I counted over 50 swallows and swift’s circling me waiting for me to start again I come to the decision they were diving on the flies that my strimming was sending up

That's interesting Robo. Certainly unintended consequences. Sounds rather like the gulls who always follow the tractors when fields are being freshly ploughed.the only overhead activity we seem to have here in an increase in aircraft noise.
It,s going to feel pretty unbearable again shortly when overseas travel is loosened up again. Frankly I,d rather have the screeching swift's and swallows who arrives in our village every year but haven,t spotted any of them yet. Maybe they,re still having to do their compulsory quarantine in an airport hotel rooftop somewhere!

On the front of our place in Spain I built a fly free area it’s the full width of the bungalow and stands out 5 meters the roof is done in anti sun Coragated plastic sheets the two sides and front is divided up into what normally would be glass windows but in our case I used mosquito netting with a door each side ,where we are there are black flies these are a mutation between fruit flies and mosquitoes they bite like buggery my wife used to swell up were she’d been bit but they don’t seem to have the same effect on me the last time I was there I was sitting sipping brandy it was late afternoon I was watching the swift’s flying side ways down the length of our fly free it’s about 8 meters long I could not believe what I was seeing they were skimming the knetting side ways on around 3 inches from it then they would rejoin the flock and wait their turn for the next foray ,I couldn’t under stand what they were doing until I caught site of a fly bouncing off the netting the minute it bounced backwards after hitting the netting it was gobbled up by a swift it was amazing I sat there till dark watching the ariel flying display

What a lovely arial show. Pity you couldn't have videod it but watching these things in real life is better,

Still no cuckoo heard around here....but did see a painted lady butterfly yesterday lunchtime and recorded it online.

C.