25th.  Phew what a scorcher....and a bank holiday weekend at that. It has been a quite lovely weekend with the sun showing up from Saturday afternoon until today at 13:00. The hottest day of the year so far was reached today with the temp scale touching 20.5°C. I have of course made the most of this with several bit's of gardening jobs being undertaken and a few outside of the garden even though they have also been bird related. The news that is most exciting is the fact that we have again managed to get the Great Tits to feed from our hands which is always quite touching. A shot here is of Mandy tempting her with mealworm.

I am a little late to the computer tonight so i am just filling a few details in but I hope to put a few more updates together over the next few days although the start of the Springwatch series on BBC2 which will run for the next three weeks always has my attention at this time of year.

10th.  I have not had chance to do much updating of late as every moment seems to be given over to tasks within the home. I must admit that my recent weight loss of 2 stone has given me a bit more zest for doing things which led me to erect a new satellite dish with a quad LNB in readiness for my next new gadget, as I am tired of the heavy subscription sky places on a PVR and HD. I am going to buy the new Humax Foxsat HDR which after the initial cost of the box is absorbed subscription is then FREE! You get BBC & ITV in HD along with other major channels. I managed to align the dish toward Astra 2 and after finding the correct elevation and skew we were locked on and the sky box is now holding on by the skin of it's teeth as I have yet to order the new box. A new lick of stain on the front door followed by new kitchen mixer tap had me enough brownie points to have a day off today!

The wet weather has pretty much carried on with the odd bright spell between the rain showers and constant drizzle! This has not dampened the young birds that have now started visiting the garden with the first young of the season being that of the Mistle Thrushes which were first seen back on the 4th. Two young birds are being fed in our, and next doors gardens. The next door garden has quite a large open expanse of lawn so it has been ideal to search out a few worms which is a definite favourite. They venture into our garden with the adult handing out the sultanas which are also readily received. The other young birds belong to the Robin with the first sightings on the 8th. They too are being fed around the garden as the mealworm count, and cost goes up! I managed a few distant shots from upstairs as the constant drizzle is not camera friendly.

Mum here feeding her young with the sultanas as the other sibling watches from the garden fence whilst this shot below is a couple of days later which shows mum and both young together as they wait for a huge worm to be passed on

The Robin below is also watching out for Mum as she collects mealworms

I shall try to get a better image of both these beauties as the better weather is supposed to happen tomorrow afternoon! The hog count has gone up to three individuals although two are more than friendly toward each other as a short attempt at mating was seen early the other night....how they manage this I will never know but after plenty of snorting and shuffling it seemed to all come to nothing. The hog food I put out is well received and I can guarantee their presence as the light starts to fade. The other nightime regular at the moment is at least 3 Tawny Owls that are seen flying over the house to a wooded hillside leading to the local res. They are very vocal at the moment as I am sure mating is also at the top of their objectives.