Unfortunately, the Spotted Flycatchers didn't seem to breed successfully on our patch, though I did get the nice photo
above of one trying to catch a moth behind a summerhouse window. Two pairs of swallows have bred this year (only one last year),
in our garage and the log shed. The garage pair have fledged theirs; last year they had 2 broods, so that's possible this year as well.
In the last few days, the log shed swallows have been 'mobbing' a red squirrel which has started coming regularly again;
I guess a squirrel could easy attack a nest:
In the field, some planted Ragged Robin has been flowering again, and in the house a cactus flowered.
I've recently made a new pond for wildlife using a liner obtained for free on Freegle, along with some plants.
I obtained some plants and 'seed' water (hopefully containing lots of nice wee beasties) from nearby Wendy's pond - thanks!
Some tadpoles snuck in as well - hopefully they'll grow into frogs.
It's been very dry here for the last 2 months. A walk late in June on the High Street hills showed how much
Haweswater has gone down, though not by as much as previous drought years says Dave.
Nice cotton grass blowing in the wind.
I saw 5 Mountain Ringlet butterflies on High Raise, at the top of the area where a survey happens each year by the RSPB;
a survey had been planned for a few days later, but the weather finally turned so it was called off;
there's still time this year (another couple of weeks).
We also have a small trough pond - a toad dropped by briefly for a soak when it was parched all around.
We've had a good rhubarb season - and I made some delish rhubarb and ginger jam. And we've had a good batch of strawberries. The gooseberries etc may be suffering due to lack of rain. So far the apple, plum and damson fruit trees seem to be producing a good amount of fruit; no "June drop" or "Pocket Plum" so far; I wonder if it was the very cold winter or the very dry spring?
My yearly wrestle with the petrol lawnmower has continued, though I just got it working well at the end of the month, having dismantled it a few times...
The linked table below shows the maximum count of each bird species seen, along with best breeding code, primarily in our back garden near Bampton Cumbria in NY51 VC69 (and in our surrounding 1km square) in the period from November 2007 until June 2010, with a total count of 49 species, 28 this month.
Full Lake View Monthly Max Bird Count Seen table
| Species | Jun-10 |
| Blackbird | 2 FF |
| Blue tit | 3 FL |
| Brambling | |
| Bullfinch | |
| Buzzard | 1 |
| Carrion crow | |
| Chaffinch | 6 FF |
| Coal tit | 1 |
| Collared dove | |
| Curlew | |
| Dunnock | 4 FL |
| Fieldfare | |
| Garden Warbler | |
| Goldcrest | 1 S |
| Goldfinch | 5 |
| Great spotted woodpecker | 3 FL |
| Great tit | 5 FL |
| Greenfinch | 3 |
| Grey heron | |
| Jackdaw | 8 NY |
| Jay | |
| Kestrel | |
| Lapwing | |
| Linnet | 2 S |
| Long-tailed tit | |
| Magpie | |
| Mistle thrush | 1 S |
| Nuthatch | |
| Pheasant | 6 FL |
| Pied wagtail | 2 |
| Raven | 2 F |
| Redstart | 2 FL |
| Redwing | |
| Reed bunting | |
| Robin | 2 FL |
| Siskin | 2 S |
| Skylark | |
| Song thrush | 1 S |
| Sparrowhawk | |
| Spotted flycatcher | 2 |
| Starling | 8 FL |
| Stock dove | 1 |
| Swallow | 8 NY |
| Swift | 9 |
| Tawny owl | |
| Willow warbler | 2 FF |
| Woodpigeon | 3 S |
| Wren | |
| Yellowhammer | |
| Total: 49 | 28 |
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