It is no coincidence that baby birds hatch just as there is an insect explosion. From the noise that comes from the nest box, our resident blue tit parents have been busy feeding a brood of hungry young. In the beginning they were scouring the nearby apple tree for mini bugs, caterpillars, and grubs. Having exhausted the apple tree they have now been flying further afield with great haste as the chicks get bigger and more hungry The parent birds are looking slightly tatty as it is an exhausting time for them.

Judging from the noise coming from the nest box I expect them to fledge any day now. June 8th as this is written.  When they both come back at the same time they flutter their wings to each other and enter the box in turn.

The female Wolf spiders have also been busy; there are a great many of them all carrying a precious parcel of silk, containing eggs, which are secured to the underside of their bodies as they scurry about. This also is a trying time for them as the white parcel makes them more visible to prey, mostly birds.

I saw some spiderlings that had just hatched. A strand of silk went from the roof of the car port down to the bonnet of the car. They had used this strand of silk as a way of escape and the spiderlings, which looked like yellow dots, were scattered all over the bonnet of the car.

During  my gardening  I have come across a green shield bug on a nettle just as its name suggests it looks like a heraldic shield and the green colour camouflages it well.

The Banded Demoisele Damselflies are much in evidence along the riverside, but occasionally stray into our garden where they are seen flying over the pond.  The males are blue in colour whereas the females are a metallic green.

The most common butterflies to be seen at the moment are the Whites both the Small White and the Large White. The Large white has more black markings.

Looking across to the middle of the field we spotted a pair of twitching ears sticking above the long grass.  Eventually the owner of the ears, (a roebuck) realised that he was being watched and spent some time staring back before eventually getting up and trotting away from us uttering a hoarse bark sounding much like a barking dog. While I was mowing the field on another day, I realised that a pair of ears and two wide eyes were pointing in my direction. This time it was a doe but she had none of the courage shown by the buck and sprinted away as soon as I got to the distant end of the field. One or the other of them seemed to regain their courage because a few days later we found the strawberries (leaves and fruit) had been trimmed up along with some of the roses and some other plants.

Stop Press:  The bluetit chicks fledged on the 9^th June and the nest is now disconcertingly quiet without their constant cries.