{"id":3395,"date":"2017-07-09T14:25:24","date_gmt":"2017-07-09T13:25:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hlbphotography.com\/blog\/?p=3395"},"modified":"2017-07-09T14:40:53","modified_gmt":"2017-07-09T13:40:53","slug":"my-patch-may-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.hlbphotography.com\/blog\/2017\/07\/my-patch-may-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"My Patch – May 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"

An early start for work on May 6th<\/sup> meant I heard my first Cuckoo! I drive past my patch to get to work and often stop for a few minutes if I have time.  I have now heard the Cuckoo a few times and it appears to have got closer but I\u2019m not convinced its actually in my patch yet!<\/p>\n

I have concentrated more on the residential (my friends house and garden) part of my patch this month, the crop has now got quite tall and I am unable to walk amongst it.<\/p>\n

May 9th I spotted a Collard Dove that looked a little odd, on closer inspection I discovered that it has a broken beak.  It seemed to be feeding but took longer to pick up food than the other birds.  I’ll be be keeping an eye on it to see how it does as I’m not sure there is anything I can do for it.<\/p>\n

\"\"On May 10th<\/sup> I wanted to get some images of the Starlings taking food into the roof space.  They were visiting fairly frequently and also removing faecal sacs.  Then their behaviour changed, at first I wondered if it was my presence but I had stood and watched them before with no effect.  One of the adults was taking food to the nest entrance, calling and then flying to the top of the roof calling again, this pattern continued for the next 20mins I continued to watch.  Once it was getting dark I left but apparently the calling continued, I believe they were trying to call their young out of the nest.<\/p>\n

May 15th<\/sup> I believed the Starlings to have fledged, although I hadn\u2019t seen any! The adults seemed to be collecting nesting material again so I am guessing they are aiming for a second brood \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

\"\"I have also now noticed that there\u2019s a Blue Tit nest under one of the tiles of the porch.  The parents perch on the telephone wire before darting in to feed the chicks \ud83d\ude42 While watching the Blue Tits I heard a lot of bees. Looking up I noticed a slightly broken fascia board and realised the bees were going inside \u2013 Tree bumblebee\u2019s.  I did mention it to my friend, he doesn’t mind bees so is letting them stay as long as they don’t cause any trouble! <\/p>\n

The end of May and the Starlings have definitely fledged – 14 in total!<\/p>\n

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