IN MID-JUNE, bird song begins to diminish. Mistle thrushes have already stopped singing, and their clarion calls will not be heard ringing out from the treetops again until November. Nightingale song is also beginning to falter, though a few will keep singing until the end of the month. They will go to Africa for the winter. Robin song is fading, and the birds are starting to moult. But when they are in their new feathers in August, they will all be trying to carve out their winter territories, and challenging each other with their songs again — both the old birds and the young ones. The warblers in the woods — blackcaps, willow warblers and chiffchaffs — will all going on singing for at least a month yet.
Honeysuckle, or woodbine, is in flower on its winding stems. When they first open, the flowers are white, but when they are fertilised they turn orange. Flowers of both colours can be found on the same vine. They smell sweetest in the evening, when they attract night-flying moths. Another climbing plant that is now in flower is woody nightshade, or bittersweet. It has purple stems, and small, star-shaped purple flowers, with a yellow cone in the middle.
DJM