Finally change in the weather and a little relief from the constant scorching hot temperature , we have even experienced a little rain ! ( possibly less than 1mm but it all counts ) I think its fair to say we are all feeling a little relieved , it’s been a long hot summer already….

Good News

In the garden , last week Anne rescued a poorly hedgehog. It had been wandering around the garden in the sun , obviously not in a good state suffering from heatstroke. We put her in a cage in our kitchen with a fan on her to gently cool her down . She was picked up by a friend and taken to a local Hedgehog rescue centre to fully recover . And a couple of days later she gave birth to seven little baby hedgehogs .Mum and the little hogs are all doing well and will be returning to the garden in a few weeks

Mum and some of her hoglets at the rescue centre. We think we have another expectant mother in the garden as well !

Meet the Gang

Just for a change i’m going to start with some of the smaller visitors to the hide and in particular the White-tailed bumblebee , Bombus lucorum . A very common bumble bee that emerges early in the spring and can be seen feeding on flowers right through to the autumn. It can be found in gardens, farmland, woodland edges, hedgerows and heathland: anywhere there are flowers to feed on, and also in our little meadow !

Another visitor is the Common Hawker Dragonfly , Aeshna juncea which has been darting back and forth around the ponds. It’s a species I don’t know a lot about , time for some research i think.

Anyway moving back to my comfort zone and the mammals. The Weasel is still hanging around the wood pile by the ponds. It is a challenging mammal to get good images of , it doesn’t stay still for a second , always moving around. Surprisingly given the weasels attention the Bank vole’s are still here and continue to entertain. Then we have the Grey Squirrel gang , the Rat pack and a pair of Rabbits.

Moving on to the birds , and starting with another recent arrival at the meadow , the Yellowhammer. The Yellowhammer is a sparrow sized member of the Bunting family of birds. The male is mostly yellow with brown upperparts that have darker streaking. The rump is chestnut brown. The cleft tail has white towards the tips of the outer tail feathers. The bill is grey and the legs pale brown. The female is duller and can be rather brown looking. Juveniles are darker and less yellow looking than females.

Then we have the usual small birds , Robins , Blue tits , Great tit’s , Dunnock , Wren and Chaffinch . Add in the Magpie , Jay , Wood pigeon and Blackbird. The overhead the Red kite. Completing todays list we have a pair of pheasants.

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