Monday 7 June 2010

Wet Hedgehogs, Jackdaw Juveniles, Fruit to Come

It was quite surprising to see how much Hedgehog activity there was on Saturday night as it rained on and off for hours, sometimes very heavily. I don't know where they were sheltering but every time the rain eased off there would be one visiting the feeding area.



I don't always check the recorded activity  once it has started to get light but had noticed for a while now that the Jackdaws were very early visitors. On closer examination of the video captures I could see that they were bringing their young ones to feed. It was interested to see how the adults mainly fed from the ground while the juveniles were allowed to feed from the dish of seeds.



I had a look round yesterday to see whether the heavy rain had knocked any fruit from my patio fruit trees. No. My one pear, the first the tree has produced, and several plums were still growing nicely - again the first that tree has produced.

Pear        Plum

There are lots of blackcurrants on the bushes which are swelling nicely and the raspberry flowers were being pollinated by a host of bees.

Bee

Just about ready for tasting is the first of my strawberries to ripen in the greenhouse.

Strawberry

Unfortunately the plants haven't produced much fruit but I have no doubt I will enjoy it none the less.

8 comments:

  1. Hi again John, interesting video footage yet again. Lol at the hedgehogs hiding for the rain to stop. I wonder how wet they actually get with that needle coat of theirs.

    As yet I haven’t seen any juv Jackdaws… at least I don’t think I have. Thanks for sharing this. Very interesting for you to see at your feeders indeed.

    Although not a fruit grower I fully understand the damage rain can cause on fruit. It’s good yours survived recent downpours.

    Hope you are well, wishing you a good week. Off now to pour myself some coffee and read through some of your postings I missed :-D

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  2. Hi Shirl, As Hedgehogs can swim I guess they don't get waterlogged.

    I don't see any juvenile Jackdaws during the time I am up. They just seem to come at first light.

    I guess the fine wire mesh on top of the fruit cage helped to break up the large rain drops.

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  3. Hi again, John :) That Strawberry made my mouth water! A lovely photo of the bee too.

    I was very surprised to see a Jackdaw on the roof of my bird table one day last week, I hadn't seen one in the garden for years!

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  4. Hi Jan. Awful aren't I? I adore strawberries.

    I can get up to 8 or more Jackdaws at a time now - I think they have invited all their relations for free nosh. ;)

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  5. My fruit is all at the same stage as yours John, despite being a few degrees further South. I did have my first outdoor strawberry today, they are really ripened by bright sunshine and we've had some of that. Bon appetite!

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  6. Oooo, that strawberry looks delicious. Pass the cream lol

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  7. Hello Matron. That does surprise me. Mind you my fruit has really raced recently with the hot weather so I guess it has been catching up.

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  8. Sorry Keith but it is difficult to share one strawberry ;)

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Thank you for visiting. Hope you enjoyed the pictures. Any comment, or correction to any information or identification I get wrong, is most welcome. John

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