Now that it is April, we realised time was fast running out to prepare for the return of our swifts. Apparently swifts have already been spotted coming in off the sea and we want to be completely ready should ours arrive back from their hazardous 14,000 mile round trip down to tropical Africa and back. I do so hope that they will.

We started our swift journey in 2019 when Dave made a semi detached swift box following a design on the Bristol Swifts website. We hung the box high under the eaves looking north and played loud swift calls near the box throughout the summers of 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 and, although lots of swifts were repeatedly brought in by the calls, we didn’t see any of the birds enter the box.

By then, two additional single swift boxes had gone up because there were problems with house sparrows nesting. We wanted to ensure that there was always accommodation available for the swifts should they finally decide to nest here.

Just before the swifts left in 2022, I saw one go into the right hand side of the box and stay in there for about five minutes. After all those years of trying, I actually sunk to my knees at the sight. Then, when the birds returned in early May 2023, they went straight back to that box and we presumed that they bred over the next few weeks. Certainly we saw them quietly going in and out throughout the summer until they left in late July.

We fervently hope that they will be returning this year as well, but wanted to get a camera into the box so that we can understand a bit more of what is going on:

When the roof was prised off the box, it was really interesting to see what was inside:

The camera that is going in will send its images wirelessly to the silver receiver, but it needs a hard-wired power supply. When the builders were sorting the WiFi out in our house and garage recently, we asked them to also take a power line out to the swift box for the camera. They were very tolerant of all the wildlife-related requests we put to them during their time with us, although were perhaps slightly bemused at times.

On checking the Bristol Swifts website again, Dave noticed that they had adapted the swift box plans to make a roosting space for bats at the back of the box. This involved attaching wooden batons to hold the box slightly away from the wall and glueing some thin wooden strips for the bats to grip onto:

The box is now back up in position under the eaves and our fingers are crossed as we anxiously await the return of our nesting pair.

However, this was not the only swift preparation work to be completed before the birds arrive. Our new garage has a wildlife tower which currently cannot accommodate any wildlife – it is waiting for better weather so that the builders can safely go onto the roof and make two holes in its north face:

The Kent bat box is a design originally created by the Kent Bat Group which is particularly suited for common and soprano pipistrelles with two vertical crevices for them to go up into by day. It is self cleaning, with any droppings simply falling out downwards and, by briefly shining a torch upwards into the box, we will be able to see if any bats are roosting in there.

We have just taken delivery of two Schwegler swift boxes to go into the tower once the builders have made the holes. They are designed to be incorporated within buildings with an access tunnel through to the outside:

There is a hatch in the roof of the the garage to get access to the inside of the tower and the swift boxes:

Meanwhile, in the meadows the bee-flies are out:

Hairy-footed flower bees, Anthophora plumipes, though, can retract theirs. This nearly all-black female visits a pot of shrimps-on-the-barbie pulmonaria that I have by the back door.

I have never seen a male hairy-footed flower bee and they are the ones with the hairy feet which got the species its name. I hope to see one soon.

We are not seeing many butterflies on the wing yet. This peacock was warming up on a reptile sampling square:

When I zoom in, I see that its eyes have black spots:

Under another reptile sampling square, quite a collection of slow worms is also warming up:

A female wood pigeon is treated to a fine display by her suitor:

We have a very lovely cherry tree in the garden from which we have never had a single cherry, even though some years it is loaded with fruit – such is its popularity with the wildlife:

At the moment I just have to glance in the direction of the tree for several woodpigeon to explode out of it. They are eating the buds and flowers:

Any cherries that do grow are quickly hoovered up by the starlings, jays and wasps, amongst other things.

The buzzard looking disdainfully at its magpie escort:

One late afternoon I went to find Dave who was editing the meadows – ie pulling prickly things out from where they are not wanted. I spotted him but then realised that I was not the only one watching…

This is a very handsome fellow. However, I am continuing to treat a couple of tatty foxes for mange by sprinkling arsen sulphate onto honey sandwiches each evening. I am eagerly awaited:

There must be a lot of badger setts in the heavily overgrown cliff alongside us. But a few entrances come out directly into the meadows and we have a camera on one of these:

But this is exciting – it may be a blurry photo but you can see that this badger is surely feeding cubs:

The cubs should be coming above ground before too long. I wonder how many there will be?

This morel, Morchella esculenta, was found in the meadows for the first time:

It’s quite a large thing – here is my welly for scale:

We spread a wildflower seed mix in this area back in 2015 which must have included cowslip seed. Every year more cowslips appear and we really look forward to seeing them all:

Over in the wood, a most unexpected new mammal species has been spotted:

The farm alongside the wood is being managed for wildlife and there are currently some cattle grazing on their fields. This pair dodged under the electric wire and made for the woods. I think they were quickly rounded up and returned, although our woodland neighbours’ gate was damaged in the process.

The cut flower bed is a sight to behold. Not just because of the lovely tulips themselves, but because it represents a significant victory in the battle with the rats who, the year before, had dug up and eaten all the tulip bulbs that I had planted:

Tulips do look very beautiful as cut flowers but I think they are best of all when growing in a garden setting. These tulips in our daughters garden in the North Downs are absolutely stunning, especially when set off with the burgundy leaves of the shrub:

I would love to have some of those tulips in my own garden.