There’s been a bit of rain about, including a noisy and soaking thunderstorm yesterday, so it seemed necessary to venture down the Commonwood path this afternoon to check on Ms Willie and her clutch.

She’s still there, incubating her birdie butt off and resolute as ever. No sign of hatchlings yet, but it’s all to play for — thunder and lightning may have fried our internet router, but it didn’t deter her in the slightest.

It’s noticeable that the Willie Wagtails are out in force at the moment, with several singing their hearts out within earshot. My baseless surmise is that these are the males, out foraging for food to take back to nests like ours, scattered around the landscape.

We’ll seek to answer these and other burning questions in the days to come. I’ll pop down to check on the next every few days and report back here. If you’re really lucky, on top of the Willie wisdom, there may be other revelations. Y’all come back now!