One forages in our garden from time to time.
On another note, the kestrels have taken up residence in our wall again which is pretty cool. It means that I can lose the guilty feeling that I havenāt restarted the pointing yet since I clearly couldnāt disturb their nesting.
The hoopoes have been making racket here for some weeks and then when the storms started, they disappeared out. of the wind like all the other birds and animals. Expect the cicadas will be along any time now the heat is back again.
Just heard our first cuckoo of the year (here in Seine Maritime)
Snap but in the Yonne 89
We heard our first one yesterday - about two weeks later than normal but always good to hear.
Probably not the same oneā¦
Weāre happy chappies at the moment. Weāve lifted all the winter bulbs, labelled and stored them ready for next year. The troughs where most of them were sited have been replenished with terreau and are now awaiting the dahlia tubers stored from last year. So weāre on schedule and have used the dry weather to do lots of chores that have been hanging around including mowing, strimming and weeding. We see that Lidl have geraniums on promo next Thursday so we will buy some to replace the ones that didnāt make it through this winter. All in all - a very good couple of days with lots of things completed.
Oh and Stuart washed all the bird feeders and they are being stored until the beginning of November. We read on the BBC website about NOT feeding birds in the summer months. Most of you are probably aware of this but this is just a reminder for those who maybe have forgotten (like us! )
The birds have voluntarily stopped feeding as usual at this time of year - the food is just left and thereās very little if any interest in the past 10 days. So Iām stopping feeding now too - Iāll just leave whatās there then get around to tidying up for the summer later.
Birds really appreciate a birdbath in summer though even though they need topping up in really hot weather and sometimes need cleaning depending which naughty birdās been using it. Iāve not got one but I know Iāll have a guilty conscience if thereās a drought this summer.
Iāve found the last couple of years the birds started looking for food end September early October which is earlier than previous years. But they were right - winter came early the last two years.
My daughter has put her hummingbird feeders out with the honey water in them and has been inundated this past week or so. They also use the bird bath along with the bluebirds and make a spectacular sight until Mr. Hawk makes a visit
In France??
We get hummingbird moths in Dordogne, but not the birds
Surely if a feeder is a place to spread disease, wonāt a birdbath be equally bad?
Has to be somewhere in southern USA.
Thats where @shibas daughter lives.
An old school pal of mine has a place in the Caribbean and he has the most beautiful humming birds which visit there.
No, Nashville sorry but still of interest at what different bird species do and eat. She has a troupe of 13 wild turkeys keep flying over the fence too. Hummingbird hawk moths are very prevalent in France, we used to get a lot of them in Brittany and down here, I get them but the geckos always seem to be on the lookout for tasty morsels from the insect world
Yes Nashville Tennessee
yes, we get those big, Hummingbird-hawk moths but there are lots of other Hummingbird Bird moths tooā¦ in varying sizes.
Absolutely fascinating to watch them all go about their business
Iāve seen them in Jamaica, all over the place. The national bird of Jamaica is a humming bird.
They absolutely love our big buddleia. Itās covered all of July and August.
Thereās a good reason why the Buddleia is know as ābutterfly bushā (at least it is to me and my family) 
and to get into the Cheerful News themeā¦ by our house, the lilac trees are in full bloom at the moment and being thoroughly enjoyed by all insect life including the early butterfliesā¦ 
the buddleia will bloom laterā¦