Garden Stuff!!

 Well as the lack of Blog posts indicates, for various reasons I haven't been out Birding for 3 weeks!!😰Obviously I have been showing signs of distress, withdrawal symptoms and the like, no sympathy at all from Margie who actually said "there's more to life than birding"!!!! 😲😱I know, mental right!! I will obviously stand by her and try to get her the help she needs, but the NHS is under strain so who knows how long it will be!! As it happens Margie, hasn't been well today, so I have been lovingly nursing her, running around like a blue-arsed fly, cooking cleaning, making cakes,(pics below) even hanging the washing out!! I knew she was feeling pretty bad because she didn't even suggest I might hang it out better!!😁

So this afternoon I decided to stakeout the garden, just to keep the camera ticking over, I had noticed we were getting a few young-uns in, we have had several Sparrows and a fair few Starlings at the start of the spring, but in the last couple of days there have been two fledgling Blackbirds, a young Dunnock and a Robin, curiously apart from the Blackbirds the adults seem to  have disappeared!! 

Blackbird Fledgling

Young Dunnock

Blue Tit, not sure if this is a youngster or not, we had 3 Blue Tits coming in all winter and there still seems to be 3 coming in, certainly earlier in the spring they seemed to be in and out as if they were feeding young so possibly these are those!!

Seems Yellowish on the face so think it is a Youngster

Juvenile Robin, this bugger kept me waiting for two hours before deigning to show up, wouldn't normally wait two hours for something rare!! Though I was watching the Tennis at the same time so not to much of a hardship

Young Starling, I missed the frenzy, typically the masses turned up half n hour after I put the camera away

There was also a lot of other activity in the garden with lots of insects, the advantage of no mow May now running into it's 3rd month!!😂Lots of Butterflies, with a Comma, Red Admiral, Speckled Wood, a couple of Whites and lots of Gatekeepers, I think I've discovered why they are so named, as every other Butterfly that arrived in the Garden was quickly harassed out of the Gate!!! There were also a couple of Holly Blues, but they went through like the clappers, no pictures possible.

Gatekeepers at least 9 in the Garden

Comma

Speckled Wood

Red Admiral

White 

Red Admiral

Other insects were present, including quite a few Bumble Bees.

Swifts are leaving the UK about now, with reports of quite substantial numbers on the south coast, this seems to gel with observations of Swifts in Hurst with just one seen from the Garden today.

Swift

I found a dead Frog in the pond a couple of weeks ago, so was nice to see a live one today!

Froggo!!

A few more pics 

Front Garden Blackbird, think it has a nest up the road, very grey not sure if it's a female or a youngish Male, do the first brood help feed the second brood?

Male House Sparrow

Female House Sparrow

Think this is the female who lost her tail which has now almost fully regrown

Collared Dove, three in the Garden this afternoon

Lots of Sparrows in the Garden at the moment, think they have had a reasonable breeding Season

So a fairly pleasant couple of hours in the Garden and considering we are quite a distance from the open countryside a good few birds, though a bit more variety would be nice! No sign of any Sparrowhawks at the moment, which I think is a relief to the Sparrows!! Though I did see a Fox in our completely enclosed patch a few evenings ago, so they need to keep their wits about em!!!! No sign of Mr White-eye our male Blackbird, hope he is alright!!

As Promised some pics of the cake below, Victoria Sponge, with Vanilla Buttercream and Loganberry Jam. Organic, Gluten Free and blooming tasty!!

A few fresh Loganberries added in as well!!