I have to pass under my willow tree to get to my vegetable patch, which I have been doing several times a day recently to conduct caterpillar hunts on in an attempt to save my cabbages. Note to self for next year, protect them from the butterflies with a netting frame.Anyway, I passed this way just before lunch and spotted a broken egg on the ground. It wasn't there earlier in the day.

There are two nests right next to each other, one largish one which I think belonged to Mr. and Mrs Blackbird, as I have seen at least three lots of baby blackbirds fledgeing in the tree, and a much smaller one which I am assuming belogs to a sparrow family. But look who is sitting in the smaller nest.  

Mrs, Ringed Dove.

She wasn't there earlier.

But why is she there now, surely it's too late in the season to be laying more eggs?

And why pick the smaller nest when there's a perfectly good bigger one right next to it?

It was really windy, how does she stay in such a tiny nest? She looks as though she has been glued in!

When I checked the wormery yesterday morning my worms were trying to escape, luckily they had mostly gone down through the holes ithe bottom into the basement chamber. A few had made their way past the newspaper on top but had not made it as far as the holes i  the lid. Hoping it was because it was too light for them although I had used opaque buckets ,I found a black material bag and popped the wormery into it after rounding up the escapees. I checked again in the evening and all was quiet, although whether this was because they'd all escaped or died I wasn't sure. A further check this morning and caught a glimpse of someone slithering quickly back under cover so I'm assuming all is well now and they are happy in their darkened home.

My worms came today for my wormery.

First I found two buckets.

Then I drilled holes in the base of one, and the lid.

I covered the bottom with a circle of cardboard to stop the worms escaping through the holes.

Then I put in a layer of damp newspaper.

Next came a layer of compost.

Now for the worms, 

Next some vegetable peelings for them to eat.

A layer of newspaper to keep them cosy and stop them climbing out of the holes in the lid.

Now the lid goes on, and this bucket is placed over the other one so any liquid draining out can be collected and used as plant food. It will be quite strong so must be diluted 1part liquid to 10 parts water.

I placed my little wormery under a chair in the shade so it doesn't overheat or get rainwater in through the holes in the lid.

I hope my little Tiger worms are happy in their new home and make me lots                                                                 of compost