Cambridgeshire nature notes: Everyday extraordinary: May 2020

Weather-wise, this month has definitely been a month of two halves - cool and windy to start with, but the last couple of weeks have been warm, dry and sunny, to the point that everywhere is now tinder dry and a fire risk. We've had no significant rain for a while, and there's not much forecast for the couple of weeks ahead either. We're filling up the water bowls in the garden every day, and in the evening to make sure the hedgehogs and other night-time visitors have access to water.

We're still in lockdown but the restrictions are due to ease from the start of June. Not sure this is entirely wise, but we will see. I'm pessimistically expecting that a second peak of infection is inevitable...

But as always, the natural world continues in its rhythms. As we reach the end of May fledgling birds are starting to appear - we have blue tits and starlings in the garden, and I watched (and listened to!) a great spotted woodpecker youngster following its parent around yesterday. But a real treat for me came at the start of the month - a mistle thrush with youngsters! I usually see these birds in the autumn and winter, feeding on the berries in the rowan tree, so this was a special sighting that went into the journal!

By the middle of the month most of the summer migrants had arrived. Out running around the local lanes, I found that the hedgerows were suddenly filled with singing whitethroats, and swallows and housemartins were about too. I'd heard reports of local swift sightings from the start of May, but it was the 16th before I spotted any. I think they are my favourite summer visitor.

For the second half of the month the weather has been warm (very warm on occasions!) and dry. Towards the end of the month I started seeing damselflies in the garden, and dragonflies when out for a walk, along the ditches at the edges of fields. Summer has arrived.

My original plan for this year, for drawing, was to get out and about and visit the Raptor Foundation, and maybe a local zoo too, to practise drawing birds and animals from life. Obviously this has been scuppered, so I've continued to follow a couple of peregrine falcon nest cams, drawing from the live feed. Three chicks are thriving in the Leamington nest, and one egg of three has hatched at Nottingham. The Leamington nestlings are now getting quite mobile!