Towards the end of May I was thinking what an amazing May it was going to be overall with so much sunshine, but the last week changed all that and it has turned out to be just dryer than normal with 25mm of rain. May was above average in temperature with a mean of 13.4°C, last May’s average temp was 14.9°C. Last May wasn’t memorable, because it was just wet and miserable. Rainfall is very variable though – many places have had more than us.

The first five months of the year have been very dry, with only 136mm or 5.5ins of rain. We only need to go back to 2011 when there was less, when only 98mm or 4ins of rain fell in the first five months. That continued be a very dry year, with a total of only 347mm or 13.7ins of rain; the driest year since 1921 with only 12.6ins.

The dry weather has affected us, as we’ve had to irrigate two fields of millet to make sure that they germinated and irrigated a few fields of wheat. However, the rain in the last week has benefitted all our crops.

As seeds germinate, they put a shoot down and then put a shoot up, but sunflowers are different. After the seed has put a root down, the entire seed is pushed up and as it emerges, it breaks into two to form the cotyledons. It emerges as a sunflower heart and if a pigeon or any other seed eating bird should find these appearing in a field we are in trouble. They emerge over two or three days, and I believe that if one pigeon was left alone, it could clear an acre of emerging sunflowers. We fly kites and put bangers on the fields before the cotyledons start to emerge, to keep all the birds away from the field.

Wheat prices are still falling and some farmers say is hardly worth growing. If government had not closed the applications for wildlife friendly crops there would have been many more applications for the Sustainable Farming Incentive. That may open again and if wheat prices remain low, I am sure there will be a rush of applications depending of course if they alter the acreage payments for these wildlife friendly crops.

Potato prices are also falling and there are very few orders. The pre-packers feared there would be a shortage and therefore bought a lot of tonnage last autumn and put them in store; they are now using their own stocks up.

Whether we will be able to sell all of those we have in store for human consumption remains to be seen. They would be sold for cattle feed if not wanted in the shops and I expect the livestock farmers would be pleased of them now, as there is not much grass around with it having been so dry.

Lapwing

There is only one thing wrong with this time of year and that is that it is not long enough. It is so nice to hear all the birds singing and to see the fresh green leaves and various bushes coming out in flower. At the end of May things quieten down, as there aren’t so many birds singing.

The Vine House Farm garden has been a hive of activity, unfortunately dominated by Starlings but as they are a declining species, they need looking after. Starling numbers do seem to be down a bit this year, but we still have a garden full of them.

We have the usual number of Sparrows coming for mealworms and our Wildlife Garden is very busy with House Sparrows, many of them searching through the aquatic vegetation for insects. The Moorhens on our Wildlife Garden Pond produced eight young and all seem to have survived. It’s a job to know if they are all still about as I seldom see all eight out at once. The adults produced a second brood around May 25th, how many I don’t know as they are keeping safe inside the floating house.

I would think that most small birds have appreciated the dry warm weather. The Tree Sparrows I keep an eye on have certainly done well as there must have been more insects about. Last spring was cool and wet so most of them didn’t rear any young on their first brood, but this year they have averaged about 2.5 young per brood. Most of them have laid more eggs and, if the summer is reasonable, most will have a third brood, and some go on to attempt a fourth.

Lapwings have not enjoyed the dry weather; they eat invertebrates that come to the surface. As the invertebrates like to be in moist soil and so they go deeper into the soil in a dry time. Most pairs haven’t produced any young at all, but there are some about because I see Lapwings harassing the various species of birds that would find a young Lapwing a tasty morsel. These include Crows, Buzzards, Kites, Herons, Marsh Harriers, Kestrels and Sparrowhawks. We have them all, so the adult Lapwings are kept very busy.

Barn Owls are having a difficult time. I have been around all our boxes, buildings and brick towers and only half of them had an owl in and only one pair had any eggs – just three. The problem started last autumn, when most pairs had a second brood because there were so many voles around and they averaged three young on that second brood. The young stopped around and ate all the voles up and then went away looking for more food, leaving the adults in and around their nest boxes. Some of the adults could also have gone away to find a better living, as we don’t seem to have many owls around at all.

The vole population has not recovered yet, I think there are too many birds and animals looking for them. However, I believe the weather has been kind to voles, they like it dry, and we haven’t had a lot of wind. Most nights have been good for hunting and so the owls have prevented the vole population from recovering, they are small rodent specialists. All the other creatures that eat voles have a more varied diet and many of them go for road-kill and young birds.