Today for #30dayswild we went down to the magic pond and tried to light the bubbles. Sadly it didn’t work all that well – not as well as last time when we collected the gas in a bucket.
But on the way back through the grasses a bird flew up from a bramble bush right in front of us. That’s always strong clue…
And sure enough there was a nest full of babies just in view down a sort of tunnel in the brambles and rushes. Lovely! We’re not sure what they are – it was such a fleeting glimpse of the adult. But maybe a pippit (meadow or tree pipit?). It’s the right sort of habitat for tree pippits and we know they’re about. There are masses of nests around at the moment – we have a chaffinch nesting above our back door, a blackbird in the Wisteria, there’s a family of blue tits nesting in the roof of Beech Lodge and the nuthatches have been using the box between Honeysuckle and Nuthatch Lodges. But we are a bit low on swallows – slightly worried about that. There are lots around, but they’re not nesting in the barn or workshop so far. In previous years we’d be seeing them settling down by now.