Some back garden birding.

Monday 13th June 2022.

House Sparrows and a pair of juvenile Starlings enjoying the dried mealworms in my garden.

This morning did not go according to plan as I awoke to a pounding headache and felt as rough as a Badgers Bum and this was about 4 am this morning! So, early this morning, I contacted my employer to say I wasn't coming into work today. Even a few hours later, I was really unsteady on my feet and my head was banging and so took it very easy this morning till I felt a bit normal again.

And again.

It was late in the afternoon that I took some photos of the Starlings and House Sparrows enjoying the mealworms I had just put out for them and it did not take long for the birds to find the bounty. Though the Starlings were juveniles and filling up their bellies, the House Sparrows looked to be adults as they gobbled up as many as their bills could carry and off, probably to feed their youngsters. I sat there enjoying a cup of coffee with my camera, taking some lovely photos of the birds in the late afternoon sunshine, proving you can stay at home to enjoy the birds as well as travelling a few miles to see them.

This Lesser Yellow Underwing was a complete surprise as I flushed it out of one of my pot plants while watering!

Other notable sightings in my garden this evening included good numbers of Marmalade Hoverflies enjoying the sun trap at the back of the garden while I was watering the garden. Buff-tailed Bumble bees were passing close to my head as they returned to their nest in the soil at the back of my garden. I regularly keep an eye on the insect life here and am always fascinated in checking out the variety of insects i get in my garden and now that my Buddleia is flowering and should attract more insects and butterflies. A real surprise this morning was my first Hummingbird Hawk-moth of the year; seen hovering about the top of the house before heading off north.

Good numbers of Marmalade Hoverfly were enjoying the last of the late afternoon sunshine at the back of my garden.

The weather is supposed to be getting hotter as the week goes on with a heat wave predicted, peaking around Friday with daytime temperatures reaching 85 degrees! Hopefully, this will bring in some large moth catches this week. My moth box is on tonight, so a very early start again tomorrow morning.