Feathered friends have flown and left us pondering

There's a strange quiet and certain emptiness now in our summer garden. Fortunately, we've had no hosepipe ban yet and it has a lovely, rather wild 'woodland grove' look about it, with roses, geraniums and petunias still in bloom along with wisteria and diverse flowering bushes growing abundantly.

- by Roy Edmonds

But there are no birds! Our feeders remain full and their birdbath unused, not a ripple in sight, except for those darn pigeons. The regular garden birds - blackbirds, blue-tits, sparrows, robins and even the odd wren - are nowhere to be seen. For years they've nested and reared fledglings in our great ivy hedge. We used to see the youngsters being fervently fed, then learning to fly. But no more, it seems.