Hello there
Several of you have told me that they haven’t seen many birds about in recent weeks. Well, neither have I. There is a good reason for this, which is that birds lie low in July and August, because they moult—that is, they lose some of their feathers, which means that they can’t fly as well. They wait until their new feathers have grown before we see them again. Happily, that is about now, (mid August), so there have been a few more birds about in the last week or so.
Most of the birds in our garden at present are this year’s youngsters. We have had young tits and finches on the feeders, and young blackbirds eating the rasps. We are also lucky to have two green woodpeckers regularly coming to eat the ants in our lawn. Down at Tuck Mill, some of us saw a blue streak fly past down the Tale—yes, a kingfisher in all its glory—surely Britain’s most 
spectacular bird!. There were also swallows feeding their young on the wires.
The good weather we’ve experienced recently has brought out a lot more butterflies. There are peacocks, red admirals, small tortoiseshells, a comma, gatekeepers and hundreds of whites on the buddleia—the butterflies’ favourite food bush. I also saw a clouded yellow and a couple of garden tiger moths—real 
Summer beauties!
Alan Jones
