Not having seen either on the farm for quite a while it was good to have both Whinchat and Willow tit present last week. Would be nice if the Willow tit decided the area around one of the ponds and the river was where it would like to be.
As the berries are ripening now the Mistle thrushes are appearing and counted 38 on Sunday although this is less than the 60 or so we had last year. The Linnet numbers are up to about 30 but how many are home-bred and how many from elsewhere I am not so sure. Spotted flycatchers are down to one family this year but Stonechats have done very well with at least two broods being achieved.
Our Swallows arrived and went straight into the shed but then deserted it so we did not have any breeding Swallows this year. This did happen a few years ago and the culprit turned out to be the Tawny owl entering through the opening we have at the back of the shed for when it is locked . Perhaps a similar thing happened this year. Similarly the House martins kept returning to the eaves but did not build and this is the fourth year they have done the same thing- have no idea why.
All the other migrants arrived on time and appeared to have bred except for the Whitethroat as we did not have a singing male until 9th June, sang for about 4 weeks and then gave up.
The first Snipe of the autumn arrived on 31st August now we just have to wait for the rest.
Thanks Michele! What an example of farming with wildlife!
ReplyDelete