The great tits had been tapping on the bedroom window at half six to let me know the feeders were empty. The feeders weren't empty but as the spadgers have noticed they're being filled again the regulars are feeling the pressure. It's been a funny sort of Summer without the spadgers in feeding the youngsters. I've resumed because the parched conditions are having their effects on the small insect population even though the butterflies are enjoying it. I wonder if there'll be enough decent quality vegetation for their caterpillars but I think the holly blues should be okay.
The magpies have pretty much commandeered the rowan tree and are making inroads on the berries though the blackbirds are keeping them on their toes. I hope for their sake the rowan berries are better than the soft fruit has been: from a very promising start the heatwaves succeeded in desiccating the fruit before the sugars had developed. It's not just my garden, I've spat out more wayside blackberries than I've eaten.
I had a go at extracting some data from BirdTrack. I've been tracking the course of this year's dawn chorus and I wanted to see if the data agreed with my perceptions. Unfortunately the data I can extract doesn't include the time, which is specifically what I want as I want to map the order of the runners and riders through the season. I'll have to do it the long way, which is a pain as there's a lot of data to trawl through (my circadian rhythms were composed by Stockhausen). The dawn chorus is pretty much over now, the collared dove and woodpigeons sing and breed nearly all year round, only taking a breather late Autumn. I'll spend the time instead nibbling at that data.
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