Dear Readers, for the past few nights we have been visited by not one but two adolescent fox cubs. They are such skinny, gangly little things! Apologies for the quality of the photos, but it was dusk and I was very excited.

They are quietly wrecking the place, but to be honest I Don’t Care. They are lurking somewhere down at the back of the garden, and sometimes sit on the bench. By the way, don’t ever position a bench under a large tree frequented by lots of birds. I only washed this down a week ago, and look at the state of it…

In other news, since we’ve followed the RSPB bird feeding advice, and stopped providing seeds, the garden has been absolutely mobbed with parakeets, magpies, jackdaws, and even a jay. I suppose everybody has youngsters to feed, and all the birds mentioned are omnivorous to some extent. The magpie has even been hanging off of the bird feeder, so it must be desperate. Meantime, the great tits are on their second brood in the sparrow nest box, so at least somebody is using it. I don’t remember such a busy spring – maybe it’s the combination of rain/sun/rain, but I do hope all the youngsters are coping with the wet weather and the fall in temperature. There’s always something to worry about!