Female and male Flycatcher



‘April is the cruellest month’ wrote TS Eliot and this seems to have been the case this April! We have experienced rain, snow, hail, high winds and low temperatures. The upside to this unsettled cool, damp weather is that the countryside is looking very green and lush. Bluebells cover the woodland floor with splashes of white Anemones, Sorrel and Stitchwort.

Our bird boxes are busy places at the moment with nesting birds incubating their eggs. Checking the boxes on the 27^th April we found Great Tits and Blue Tits with eggs, one Blue Tit was sitting on 10 eggs and a Nuthatch had 6 chicks.

High winds on the 28/29^th April brought down lots of trees including one  23 metres  tall which had a nest box attached to it. The Great Tit that was using the box unfortunately abandoned her eggs, however the box was relocated on another tree and hopefully will be used again this year.

More migrant birds have arrived including Pied Flycatchers and Willow Warblers on the 15^th April. A Cuckoo was heard on the 2^nd May and a Wood Warbler on the 8^th.

At the moment two nest boxes are being used by Pied Flycatchers. The Ospreys at the RSPB site near Dol y Moch have 3 eggs.