The Last Day of Summer No - it's true, it really is...the autumn equinox is tomorrow! So it's appropriate I make this blog entry today as I look back on the mixed fortunes of our birds that I've written about in recent months. Our lonely male Swallow roosted in our workshop the night of 15 September before heading off the next day, so we wish him well and hope he returns with a new female next Spring. Our resident Great Spotted Woodpeckers have successfully raised two young, so it will be interesting to see how long they stay on territory for. The only way we know there are two youngsters is thanks to feathering differences, as shown in the photos below: Great Spotted Woodpecker chick 2016-1 Great Spotted Woodpecker chick 2016-2 Elsewhere around the patch, Red Kites have continued to be apparent so fingers crossed it won't be too long before we see their numbers grow even more. Our nearest Kestrels failed to breed this year (possibly related to t