We all enjoyed the sunniest spring and driest May on record. The natural world benefitted too.

Wild flowers and blossom were so colourful while birdsong seemed to me to be the most melodious for many years.

My local blackbird begins singing at three thirty every morning and continuous with barely a break until dusk. His varied repertoire certainly is very therapeutic in these troubled times.

The hot clear May days were ideal for swifts with many greenfly and spiderlings wafting on high for them to feed on.

One afternoon I watched several swifts flying low over a lake. Every few moments one would speed over the surface and for a few seconds place his wings in a V shape above his body and skim the water with open beak drinking, creating a small furrow before zooming up into the blue again Such a magical sight.

Every bramble flower appeared to have its attendant bumblebee so numerous were they, as were white butterflies in May.

One piece of good news involved a cuckoo calling in Bushy park. Sadly though, swallows and house martins were slow to arrive because strong winds and storms in Greece and Spain in April killed thousands of birds as they travelled north to to Britain.

The hot weather did have a downside because lack of rain led to parched ground with worms diving deep causing problems for blackbirds and badgers whose diet consists largely of earthworms.

I made a point of watering my lawn regularly to ensure my local blackbirds could find enough food to feed their young and my pond was used by many birds to drink and bathe.