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Good morning, Elle!
A nice dry start to the day here.
Yes, I think she was on the back of a tandem.
I suspect that was her father on the bike behind her, riding "guard".
I am not sure if I will see Sloane in the final.
I have a lot of things on just now, and shall probably just pay a fleeting visit to the forum until I have a bit more time.

A Very good morning to you, Rusty!
It's not often I log on to the computer as early as this, but it was a hot stuffy night and I was up extra early.....
Well, it's good to be busy!
It will either keep you fit or wear you out.......but it will certainly "keep you on your toes"!
Just do what you have to do and keep in touch whenever you have a spare moment........
I just hope it is something pleasant, that is going to keep you occupied?
I am away now to marshal the troops - canine - and go out for my walk!
Talk later hopefully.

Hi Elle and Rusty!

Hope everything is OK with both of you - have not seen either of
you on this thread for a while; Hope it's just because you are
busy watching sport, etc...

It is a miserable grey evening here, thunderstorms threatening all
round and unpleasantly warm. How is it with you?

Not much to report really, just wanted to say 'hello'

Hello, Pigale!
All is well at my end!
Rusty has been a bit busy over the last few days and is dealing with that.
Yes, I have been watching sport as you so rightly guessed!
The Athletics Diamond League and the Women's Final at Roland Garros yesterday......and the Men's tennis Final this afternoon.......
(in between walking the dog!)
I was glad to see Rafa win his 11th French Open Championship!
I've looked in on here from time to time......but someone has always been quicker than I in offering a crossword solution!
That was a sad business about the female barn owl being killed, wasn't it?
It was good that the Rangers stepped in to feed the owlets.

Hi Elle,

Yes, it was sad and also good that, because of circumstances, the
rangers agreed to intervene.

If you look at same webcam, they are now showing a kestrel and
her chicks - the nest appears to be a box with an open side and
there is light as well in there - the pictures are particularly clear.
Babies just lovely balls of fluff!
But as usual on that webcam, you need to refresh it or log into
it again fairly often.
Worth the effort though

Hello, Pigale!
Ah yes, I have managed to find the kestrel chicks!
Aren't they cute?
I wasn't able to access the owlet webcam for quite a while?
Then finally a notice appeared, explaining what had happened to mum and the babies.
Let us hope that the owlets will survive the home nurturing!

Hello again Elle!

I think the owls' webcam was less reliable than the kestrel one
seems to be.

I have just read right down to the beginning of the comments on the
right when they introduce the kestrel family, and apparently the
male is being shared by two females! So it makes him rather busy
to bring food to both, unless the females themselves are also
hunting?
Don't know much about kestrels, but I wonder if it is usual for one
male to have two families - is bigamy 'legal' in birdie-world?

Definitely not usual, pigale. A male having two nests with females and young seems either very rare or else unreported. It's apparently more common for there to be two males at one nest, one being more of a "helper" (bringing food) and not having breeding plumage.
There are cases of chaffinches and dunnocks having two males at one nest (!) but one of the males might be only provide food and not be in breeding plumage. Great tits have been found with 2 females and one male in the same nest (!!!)

Dunnocks have very variable behaviour regarding mates; worth looking up on Wiki.

Good morning, Pigale and Ros!
This link from The Bird Watcher's Digest is quite interesting...…
https://www.birdwatchersdigest.com/bwdsite/solve/faqs/do-birds-mate-for-life.php

Good morning Elle and Ros,

Very interesting article Elle; whether bigamy is usual or not seems
to depend on species as far as I understand?

I would surmise that our osprey family is very much a 'mate for life'
situation, and it seems from the article that Laddie has one on
'wife' - or have I misread it?

As far as the kestrels are concerned, I have not yet seen any male
bringing in food, but I only discovered the new webcam fairly
recently and, of course, do not spend 24hours a day looking in!


Another muggy day here - no rain, grey sky and 23C, but so humid!
I heard thunder in the night, but again we seemed to be on the edge - or else I did not hear it! They (the Met people) that things should
get better towards end of week onwards - Gosh, I hope so!