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, or a late opening of goatsbeard flowers either. It was the noticeable absence of 747s turning on their final approach into Heathrow. Only a serious change in the wind can do this. An hour later this new wind brought a wonderful gift - the swifts

Our first barbecue of the season was Sunday 3 May, so much pottering about in the garden sunshine. It's all happening out there now. Last week there were 13 newts in the pond, we couldn't move for holly blues and then the swifts were back. It

Following my find of a dead swift in the flower bed, there have been a lot of blog comments on cats, and how welcome or unwelcome they are in the garden. So I just had to share the following, because I found it so comical. It is taken from a

When the swifts first returned on May 2nd there were only three or four of them. Last year we had a huge gang of about 15, wheeling in the sky and screaming down the street at top speed, just above the lamp-posts. I always take these wonderfully

species that take advantage of Flying Ants Day, starlings, swifts and sparrows are in serious decline. According to the RSPB, swifts have declined by a third in recent years, house sparrows by almost 60% since 1979 and starlings by almost 75%. One

I have cats. Every so often I have to live with the guilt that they kill the local wildlife. It's usually one of the mice breeding in the compost heaps or a blue-tit fledgling. The main hunter is the black and white one; lovely and soft and over

on the sills for the half-tame squirrel. We duly obliged.On their return we got to chatting about gardens and wildlife, what the swifts were up to, how many stag beetles had come flying over. When talk turned to the half-tame squirrel I was told, very

the constant stream of large winged queens (and the slightly smaller males) take to the air for their mating flight. Up above, the swifts were having a bountiful harvest. I have only noticed the wingless queens this year, after they land and shed their wings

Within days, two scientific reports on Britain’s wildlife have made national news headlines because of their dire prognoses. The State of the UK’s Birds 2012, produced by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, British Trust for Ornithology

tits, coal tits, house sparrows and robins. Indeed, provision of nest boxes may even bolster declining populations of swifts, house martins, house sparrows and starlings. The key to success is to use untreated wood, as any chemicals can leach