On the 5th July I discovered a mother Hedgehog in my Chicken House with young hoglets, about 4 days old. Have a look here
So today I was chuffed, to say the least, to see one of the young hoglets, now almost grown up , foraging in the garden. On the face of it this is a good thing but thinking about it I am a little bit concerned. Hedgehogs hibernate and it is a bad sign to see them foraging during the day. Obviously this youngster needs to get himself well fattened up for his long sleep and he feels the need to be out and about during the day.
Elsewhere in the garden we have had numerous Drone Flies feeding on the Ivy flowers. This is a good source of food for insects at this time of year and insects, including Butterflies, love Ivy flowers. One good bit of advice to attract insects into the garden is to leave your Ivy well in to Autumn before you cut it back because this really is a good source of food. Butterflies have included Red Admiral and Speckled Wood today.
Blue Tits have been in and around the garden. No Coal Tits so far but by this time last year we had them regularly.
Out at the AlphinBrook, no photos of Kingfisher today but I saw him on three different occasions. I was pretty sure he would come and perch in the prepared photo area but it wasn’t to be today. I did have a great view of him though as he flew down the brook weaving past the vegetation. I saw him for about 50 yards with his really bright rump flashing in the sun. At one time I could here him really loudly calling from just behind the hide and then I heard the tell-tale plop as he dived for a fish.