What to look out for in May
Our gardens are now at their busiest, noisiest and – I think – happiest. Most garden birds are sitting on eggs or feeding chicks, bee hotels are filling up, butterflies are cavorting in borders and tadpoles are fattening up in the pond. Everywhere you look there’s new life, or the promise of it. Why not conduct a mini wildlife stocktake of your garden? Are there enough open, single flowers for pollinators? Do you grow caterpillar foodplants for butterflies and moths? Is there long grass for insects and small mammals to take shelter? Our gardens have never been more important for wildlife, so go the extra mile and add features to help your favourite species.
You may spot…
House martin
(Delichon urbicum)
Closely related to the barn swallow, the house martin has a blue-black upper body, and a white belly and rump, with a distinctive forked tail. Like the barn swallow, it’s a summer migrant, spending winter in sub-Saharan Africa. It arrives in the UK in May and uses mud to make cup-shaped nests, usually under the eaves of buildings, but occasionally inside, too. Each pair has two, sometimes three, broods of up to five chicks. House martins stay later than other summer migrants, and often still have chicks in the nest in September and you may see them as late as October.
House martins have suffered huge declines in recent years, thought to be around 65 per cent between 1967 and 2011. Aerial feeders, they eat insects such as mosquitoes and aphids on the wing. Bad weather can contribute to short-term losses but the general decline of insects globally is thought to be more of a significant contributing factor. The British Trust for Ornithology has them listed as a species of medium concern.
Also be on the lookout for…
Great tits. Breeding is well underway, with the males singing ‘tee-cher, tee-cher’ from the rooftops. Make sure your garden is well stocked with caterpillars for them to feed their chicks.
Orange-tip butterflies. Females may be laying small, orange eggs on honesty and hedge mustard, and nectaring on bluebells.
Slow-worms. This legless lizards bask beneath sunny log piles or slates to warm up before searching for food and a mate. Now’s the time you’re most likely to see them.
House martins stay later than other summer migrants, and often still have chicks in the nest in September