Nature Blog by Jenny Bourne

Rain at last for ‘flaming June’! So very welcome to replenish our water sources and provide our crops and flowers with much needed water.

Matt has reported that that yet again birds have successfully nested and fledged young in his shed, this year a pair of robins – it’s evidently the des res ‘go to’ location for our allotment songbirds!

It’s swarm season and the RPA beekeepers have been busy responding to calls about swarms alighting on plots. Elsewhere in the countryside similar action is occurring…

Jane snapped this thickly covered bee at her plot, more pollen than bee…whatever the flower it was foraging in, the pollen was prolific!

The RSPB has recently produced new advice on feeding birds in response to a disease that can be spread when birds congregate, for example around bird feeders: “Research has shown a worrying decline in some of our much-loved garden birds due to a disease called trichomonosis.