Mid-Sussex garden patch

[ChrisC]

What about my medium sized garden in mid Sussex, does that count as a local patch? Well it's pretty local so why not?

Today I had the excitement of finding that the woodpigeons seemed to have returned to the nest they built several weeks ago in a privet hedge about 4 yards from the kitchen door.

Otherwise there are still a few warblers passing through, a long-staying chiffchaff, a willow warbler and a common whitethroat. They seem very attarched to the wild bit around the pond.

This year has been outstanding compared to previous years with many chiffchaffs, a few willow warblers, some whitethroats and blackcaps and single garden warbler and lesser whitethroat. I think the increasing wildness of this part of the garden has helped.

Also of note today a nuthatch. At times very regular visitors but not of late.

The vole also showed itself several times- darting from the flower border to take some seeds left out on the lawn.

[ChrisC]

Well the woodpigeons didn't stay long - just that day in fact. I wonder if they laid an egg - must take a look soon. The weather's been fairly good so I'm not sure why this is happening.

No sign of any more warblers this week, although a fair number of swallows and house martins are still passing through, although many today were flying in a northerly direction. Bad weather to the South perhaps?

Looks like the local sparrowhawk had a successful hunt during the week as there was part of a goldfinch's wing on the lawn. Never really understood why some people take against hawks. Ok it's not particularly nice to see a bird killed in your garden but it nature and I agree with the view that a sparrowhawk being present means that the local bird population is doing pretty well. In fact the only predator I'm not so keen on seeing are the neighbour's cats. Grey squirrels don't get a warm welcome either.

A single lapwing passed overhead, west to east during the afternoon. Not a common sight around these parts.

The garden robin got even more trusting today when it flew through the open back door into the kitchen. Not sure what tempted it in but fortunately it made it's way out fairly easily without crashing into the windows. Of course it left a small deposit. That's the first time a bird has come into the house.