30 Days Wild diary: Week 3

By David Philips

Guest blogger

As we approach the height of summer the natural world brings with it constant signs of re-birth and renewal. Everywhere there are signs of new life - with gardens full of gawky fledglings demanding food from exhausted parents, freshly emerged butterflies are on the wing and young mammals are in evidence. 

Walking the Downs above Folkington this week I was royally entertained by a squadron of screaming Swifts, numbering at least 25 and hawking insects in the sunshine; barrelling backwards and forwards along the scarp slope. These somewhat mysterious birds are a true herald of summer, and I anxiously await their arrival each May before their departure all too soon afterwards in August. Swallows though seem less in evidence this year and indeed Swifts, Swallows and House Martins all appear to be in sharp decline and really need our help through the erection of nesting boxes and more sustained efforts to help our insect populations upon which they depend for food. 

Other new young life abounds, from ubiquitously popular fluffy ducklings and goslings, through to the rather scruffy looking young of Coot and Moorhen and the leggy precocial chicks of Avocet who are literally "on their own" from the first day of hatching when it comes to finding food. Our recent warm, still evenings have seen the arrival of another reminder of summer, Hummingbird Hawk-moths, which will frequent our gardens seeking the nectar rich flowers of Honeysuckle and Red Valerian. These same quiet evenings have given me yet more examples of this season of renewal in the natural world - in the sightings of adorable Fox cubs.

I have been interested in the natural world from a very young age - experiencing immense delight and excitement upon discovering a new species for me or eventually tracking down some "special" bird. Nature has never let me down. Witnessing my two-year-old grandson's recent unbridled delight at getting close to a Blackbird was heart-warming and bodes well for his future. Nature repays us in so many ways and over the last few weeks I have enjoyed building a close bond of trust with a vixen who has been regularly visiting us and whom we have been helping feed her growing family. Nature rewards us all in so many different ways.