A little unfair but the flurry of growth that marks the spring has died down into quieter times in June. Many of the birds are fledged and the young are  making their own way in the world. My bird-table has became a focus point for downy feathered blue tits, great tits, robins, great spotted woodpeckers, jackdaws, wood pigeons, goldfinch and starlings; a jay has taken to visiting, no doubt availing himself of tasty small bird’s eggs. The moorhens on Larkfield Pond are now nearly as big as their mother and ducklings at Plough Farm are just about able to fend for themselves. The hedgerows are full of the sound of hungry chicks calling and there is constant traffic between nest and forage by the parents. Predators have also been busy, buzzards, no doubt meeting the demands of their own broods, circle ominously high in the skies; foxes and owls add sinister calls to the soundscape of the night.

The month of June opened with hot, sunny days, temperatures reaching into the high twenty degrees centigrade.  It was a good time to go for a walk, especially as the weather forecasted  change.