Last month's wildlife in the garden

April this year must have been one of the driest I can remember for some time, and it has had its consequences.  Two nests in our boxes (robin and great tit) appeared to be abandoned and small chicks dead, possibly because the dry conditions here meant that insect food was hard to find.  Towards the end of the month even the grass was brown and dry and the garden looked more like it does in the summer, with plants wilting in the nectar borders as temperatures reached into the 70s F.

 Many things were in flower early and there was an abundance of insects about, particularly bumblebees.  Other problems were caused however by the dry conditions.  Very few annuals were geminating in both the vegetable garden and around the nectar borders.

However the arrival of warmer sunny weather brought some welcome visitors to the garden.  Holly blues were much in evidence, orange tips were out feeding on the honesty flowers, and speckled woods appeared in the orchard and near the hedgerows.  Our first swallow was seen on the 4th – always an exciting event.  The month progressed with some hard night frosts (devastating the peach blossom) but as the migrant birds continued to arrive (whitethroat, chiffchaff, willow warbler and blackcap) it really felt like spring.  30 species of bird were recorded in the garden in the 3rd week of the month.