hell hath no fury ...

Juvenile little owl

There has been rain, with a lot more forecast this week - and the garden has shown its' appreciation. Perennials in the prairie beds are now thick and strong. The fragrant garden shrubs are beginning to give an idea of what this area will look like when mature. Pompoms of pink chive flowers are irresistible to bumbles.

Strawberries are now cropping - we have the jam sugar in readiness.The haulm of the potatoes in the vegetable garden is upright and vigorous. 'Colleen' is in flower and burgundy-coloured 'Red Duke of York' is following on. Our salad leaves currently include various red and green lettuce, rocket leaves, pea shoots, coriander, dill, spring onions and radish. Fresh, crisp sweet.

Over 20kg of produce taken from the garden during the 'quiet months' since March.

Another mowing of the lawn with grass cuttings incorporated into compost. The temperature quickly accelerates to 70 C and has held this for several days. This temperature could scald, if the skin were exposed to it for half a second. No wonder it kills soil pathogens, weed seeds and the roots of perennial plants. All done naturally and organically by microbes. My aim is to have 70 wheelbarrow loads ready for mulching by late autumn.

At night, the creamy blackcurrant scent of elderflowers. Big plates of flowers, a few collected and used for elderflower cordial: the queen of soft drinks. The first honeysuckle flowers are beginning to open, adding their distinct summer sweetness to the air.

Elderflowers steep in syrup and citrus

Everything points to this being a good year for small mammals as measured by the brood sizes of owls and kestrels. Our tawnies no longer squeak throughout the night. We hope they've moved on to their next stage of development and are now feathered and strong. Rich ringed five healthy young kestrels on the farm. Kestrels nest each year in a cleavage in an old oak. Only one successful barn owl nest so far - three youngsters too young to ring requiring special 'Schedule 1' authority. We hope to ring them in a couple of weeks. And five young little owls - the second successful year using that box and that special satisfaction of birds breeding in boxes one has made and sited oneself.

An emboldened red fox crosses the lawn, head down, purposeful. Both mum and I see it. At night, their eerie bark/ scream close by as I go to close the hens house. Cubs frequently seen. Hens grumble in their run.

Juvenile kestrel

And a badger. The first we've recorded. A short snatch on the trail cam. Yesterday, up by the boundary hawthorn hedge next to my sisters hen run is a badger snuffle. It looks as though it had smelled a vole nest and rooted through the turf finding it. Both the Head Gardener and the Chief Apiarist carry studied expressions. Badgers numbers are on the rise. Their huge paws can cause devastation to a garden. Or a hive.

The short period of quiet that the bird feeders enjoyed is at an end. Juvenile birds queue up. Blue and great tits, goldfinches, greenfinches, a baby red-capped great spotted woodpecker. And a juvenile starling. The squirrels have completely trashed the bird table - I must make another.

Our house sparrows have occupied two compartments of the colony box. One room contains three eggs and next door has three young and an egg. Perhaps the hen is building up her next clutch so that the male may take over the young birds when she is brooding? Perhaps the first clutch failed and the young are the result of a second clutch? The young were too small to ring. Hopefully we'll get to them before they fledge.
The male bird nibbles away at the fat balls. The female visits the bowl of live mealworms, taking frequent wriggling meals back to the nest.

Amongst the successes, failure. This week saw International Swift Day. A meagre three birds seen in the sky above the garden so far this year where once there would have been dozens. None of their characteristic screaming - the air empty. Are our swifts set to be another species that has been driven to local extinction....?

There's domestic unrest. That's it. On no more occasions will live mealworms be found on the counter in the utility room. Do you understand? No more.
Hell hath no fury like a woman wormed.