What's buzzing or flying near you 2024 ?

I think that's why I avoid netting @DiggersJo . The pigeons keep having a go at the berries forming on the Amelanchier, but it's still a young tree, and last year they broke several lighter branches. I've just chased Bob off it again.
He keeps trampling around in the clematis which mingles with the cotoneaster on a fence, trying to get the berries which are forming on that. Talk about desperate- considering he gets fed regularly!
He looks at the flowers as though he's wondering why the berries look a bit odd....




Can't beat a soggy siskin @strongylodon! We don't get many siskins in the garden, but there are plenty around. Lovely wee birds.
Sparrows are very busy - using the pond and the feeders. Lovely.

 

Yes @fairygirl the netting might well be consigned to the shed. It's odd because we used it often used it to deter cats from the grass by pegging it 20-30cm above it. This worked, but took weeks/months and not once did we get a bird trapped in it.

 

I used it when I made a lawn here @DiggersJo , but I pegged it so that there was a gap of about 6 inches. The birds were able to go back and forth underneath it, but it wasn't attractive enough for cats to try - fortunately. It worked well, and the grass grew quite quickly so I wa sable to take it off after a few weeks. I always worry about birds getting trapped.
Young female blackbird has been visiting recently, and I was lucky to get a few pix today. The males have been singing away all over the place, but I haven't seen them in the garden to get a pic.


She had a nice dip in the pond

 

Excellent. I sometimes see sparrows and blue tits picking box caterpillars off hedges.

Where there is a plentiful resource garden birds will learn to use it.

 

Its strange we are also missing butterflies this year ,no Red Admiral’s ,last year we were inundated with them ,this year so far ……none.

 

@roders and so it continues. We have wild areas in our garden and orchard with grass and wildflowers and the number of butterflies we can count on one hand.

 

Too early for Red Admirals here - they're usually later on in July and August.
Not really seen any, other than a few whites and some early peacocks whch is quite normal, but we'd normally get peacocks through later May and June, and I haven't seen any since the bedraggled, over wintering ones earlier.
The small torties which are common have been completely absent, unless they're doing a 'KitKat panda' routine and waiting till I go inside!

 

Weather is too bad for them all, less hover and drone flies about. Out today where a little verge covered in flowers 200-300m of it and not one flying insect on them.

 

The weather here hasn't really been worse than in most years, so it's not that for us. We often have poorer temps and rain/wind through June and July, so there's something else causing it. June was actually quite dry here, and May was hotter and drier in the first 3 weeks, after a very mild winter, so lots of plants started growing earlier than usual.
It's just that people have got used to those above average conditions and heatwaves in the last few years!
Perhaps plants/flowers have been a bit out of synch. I don't know enough about it to know all the reasons though.

 

I think it is definitely down to the weather here, which has in the main been a lot cooler than recent years. Today has been a great example whereby later in the day the sun paid a visit, even had to take the fleece off! Woe and behold I spotted a few hover flies in and about the plants as we were in the garden. This evening numerous house martins and swifts have also turned out (missing all morning). I’m sure it’s the lack of heat and/or sunshine. At least we had no rain today and once the sun arrived it was a pleasant enough temperature to be pottering in the garden without being too hot.

 

The weather was good here too during May but has been dismal since with very little sun. I think the lack of insects is due to the lack of temperature since May. It's rarely got above 14C/57F and from tomorrow will be back down to single figures for a few days. That can be accepted overnight but during the day and now in July, it's not good.

 

Was very happy to see lots of Meadow Brown Butterflies and one Red Admiral today on my walk with the dog. Have been worried about the numbers this year. Also although we have had lots of bees on the foxgloves here in Cornwall, today I was waiting in the traffic lights, right hand lane, dual carriage way and the verges which have been wildflower seeded (thanks to Truro City Council) was absolutely covered in bees. Small pleasures in life.

 

We've had no shortage of bees here @smallkernowgarden , from quite early in the year, but not as many hoverflies as usual.
June wasn't terribly sunny, but it was warm and quite dry [for here anyway] so I don't know why that would mean fewer chances of butterflies.
Hopefully it'll improve. It's supposed to be warmer again from next week, for us. The usual rubbish for daughter's birthday tomorrow though! Having a fleece, or an extra layer on is fairly standard for us @DiggersJo

 

And talking of blackbirds, has anybody heard of this?

Blackbird numbers plummet in south of England amid potential spread of virus

 

Thankfully at the moment the blackbirds are in abundance here in our garden. They have taken all the cherries and red currants so obviously feel at home.