TEENAGE CHICKS

The veg patch is under seige - the gorgeous little chicks that hatched at the beginning of July are now teenaged, but they’re still small enough to get through the fence within the hedge, where they take great delight in eating crops, scratching up seedlings and making dirt baths in the newly sown beds.  The mother hen takes no notice, in fact she encourages them in their looting.

I’m still trying not to go into the veg patch too much, as the Bullfinches that have been nesting in the tiny standard Bay tree have hatched, but are not near to fledging yet.  I tiptoed in to take some photos of them and all 5 eggs had hatched. They are ugly-cute and grumpy looking - but then they are crammed into a nest the size of a tennis ball.  Both parents are on duty and if anyone walks past the Bay tree they make a distinctive alarm call, so we try to keep out of the way.  Once the babies fledge there will be a huge abundance of seeds for them to eat around the garden, but Bullfinches also like to eat new buds on fruit bushes and Forsythias etc in spring.  I do wonder who I’m gardening for sometimes.