Garden update: appearances and disappearances - the circle of life

 This is a belated post. We got a bit behind, what with busy end of year activities.

An update on the bird's nest in our garden:
- the eggs hatched
- we think the mother is a blackbird
- there were at least three eggs
- at least two of them hatched
- they grew quite quickly
- the mother bird was very busy goingf to and from the nest, delivering worms and other bugs
- the mother made many trips and always seemed nearby to keep a watch on her babies
- we were a bit concerned the night of our school garden competition, as there were many people around - and the book stall was right beside our garden - but the mother bird remained fine and well-protected by the increasing leaves of the apple tree
- then, last week, the mother and babies all disappeared - without a trace
- some people have said that the neighbouring cats were seen around - but there's no sign of attack, or dead birds
- someone could have harmed them, but there is no other damage to our garden or nest
- we are pretty sure the birds were too young to leave the nest
- it remains a mystery

This is as close as we dared to get with the camera. Can you see the baby birds in the nest?

 And then, we have had a lot of butterfly hatchings - all within a day.
Check out the amazing photos of the butterfly coming out of its chrysalis.