IS AUTUMN ON ITS WAY?

Another quiet week in the garden, with only updates coming from the flora – mainly the sunflowers.

There are now nine sunflowers that are over 6ft tall and in the coming days I expect that number to increase.

I’ve already started collecting some tomatoes and runner beans from this years’ crop, and with potatoes, carrots and parsnips, along with plenty more tomatoes and runner beans, it could be one of my best years for crops.

There are three different varieties of tomatoes, Italian Roma, Gardener’s Delight and Cherry, in my garden and I’m going to choose the best tasting one for growing next year.

I’ve already started collecting seeds from this year’s blooms – poppy, sunflower and sweet pea – so next year I can grow without the extra help from packet mixes.

The summer looked like turning into autumn at the end of this week, but looking at the weather forecast it looks like we could be in for at least a few more days of lovely summer weather.

Only one concern for me, and probably many others, is the lack of rainfall. The ground is drying very quickly and I’m watering the plants almost every night – which is obviously working.

The visits from the birds have been rare this week, with only a fleeting glimpse of a female blackbird.

I’ve not seen any robins for at least a month and the blue tits and great tits must be among the birds having a great time in the surrounding countryside.

The swallows have been swarming most evenings, but I get the feeling that it’s mainly the young from this year and that most of the adults have headed off back to Africa.

The swallow is probably my favourite bird and I always get very excited by its arrival in spring/summer. It’s one of my favourite sights and sounds of nature and my heart always sinks when I know they’re heading south and I won’t see them for seven or eight months.

One day I’ll have a house with a barn or similar type building that will attract swallows and I can watch them more closely again, just like in my childhood. One day!

SUMMER RAIN FAILS TO DAMPEN GARDEN SPIRITS

The recent rain has been tempered by warm temperatures as summer turns out the traditional British weather for August.

I’m not sure what affect it’s had on the bees and butterflies that have frequented my garden recently, but I imagine they have not been exactly enjoying themselves.

That said, there are still plenty of flowers and with that plenty of nectar in my garden, which should help them through the wet days.

The birds are still spending most of their time away from the garden, with only fleeting glimpses or sounds from a few.

They are coming around because the feeders are emptying, but are seemingly shy; perhaps because of the parents’ moulting.

The swallows are still thronging the telephone wires and roof tops, singing their beautiful tune when the sun is shining.

I’m hoping they stay around for a few more weeks, as the swifts seem to have already left for their winter retreats.

I’ve not seen much of the sparrowhawk that swooped and almost landed on my head recently, but with a seemingly high number of young birds arriving this year, I think she’ll be back.

With autumn on the way soon, it’s time to start thinking of making sure we have enough feeders and food ready for when the weather turns cold and the natural supply of food becomes scarce.

I know that if the long tail tits come calling to the garden, the natural food supplies in the countryside are running out and the food supplied in my garden becomes vital to them.

Finally I’m still waiting to hear from a few rescue centres about re-homing a hedgehog. I’m hoping to be able to help one or more out soon and provide them with a lovely new home.

IS THIS AUTUMN OR SUMMER?

Not the most exciting week in my garden, as autumn seemed to show its intent while summer still exists in the calendar.

The wind and rain we’ve experienced recently hasn’t been the weather we all wanted for the second half of summer, especially considering the lovely weather of July.

But it appears to have not been too negative for the wildlife.

The spring rain and early summer heat has combined to deliver plants and flowers with an inexhaustible supply of nectar and pollen, along with shelter for insects and invertebrates to breed; with many producing lots of young.

The bees and butterflies have been seen in much bigger numbers this year and have mainly been seen on the buddleia and the sunflowers.

I’ve not counted the different types of bee species in my garden, but there have been at least five different types, while a similar number of butterflies have been feeding on the buddleia.

The bird life has been fairly quiet this week with the odd sighting of a female blackbird and chatterings of house sparrows, some of which I presume used the nestboxes in my garden.

One thing that has been lovely to see, has been the amount of young blue tits – at one count six chicks – while a smaller number of great tit chicks have also been regular this week.

So with autumn weather set to continue, how will that affect the wildlife sightings in my garden?

FLORA IN MY GARDEN

This week I’m looking at the flora in my garden, as the flowers, fruit and veg start to really take over.

The birds have been very scarce this week, with only a few visits from a female blackbird and the odd young blue or great tit.

There was one exciting moment when I could hear the alarm calls of about 100 swallows and turned to see a female sparrowhawk swoop across my garden and perch in a small tree, about a foot right above my head.

It then proceeded to try and flush one of a few small birds in the trees and bushes out, but appeared to fly off without any kill.

A very heart stopping moment for me and I’m pretty sure the sparrowhawk didn’t even see me.

On to the flora and the poppies are still flowering, but have been taken over by the sunflowers. I’ve got five varieties this year, but only the Russian Giant, Red Sun and Teddy Bear ones have so far flowered.

 

I’ve grown sunflowers for the last five years, all from seed, and they are brilliant flowers for attracting insects and birds.

 

The insects take to them first (as you can see with the bees on a couple of the images), before the birds take the seeds towards autumn time.

 

I’ve also had a beautiful lily flower, but I’m not sure of the variety as it was in a mixed bag that I planted at various places in the garden.

 

All three varieties of tomatoes are growing well, although none are ripe enough to pick, while the potatoes and carrots could soon be harvested.

I’m going to leave the swedes until autumn or earlier winter, so we can enjoy them on the darker nights, with maybe a few potatoes and carrots.

When the colder weather comes I love making a roasted vegetable and meat dinner. One day I’ll have a big enough garden to have a much bigger supply of vegetables and make more dinners from things grown myself.

So onwards with the flora, while the fauna explores the wider area to see which areas it will have successful foraging trips when the cold weather sets in.

A SAD END TO THE NESTBOX BREEDING SEASON

A week of mixed emotions for the wildlife in my garden, with nature showing its cruel and kind sides.

The house sparrow family in the new triple nestbox successfully fledged earlier this week, after much encouragement from the adults.

I don’t know the exact number of chicks but it was at least three, possibly four, so a good level of fledglings from the nest.

The pleasing thing is this nestbox was only put up in March, so it shows the poor weather in early spring must have delayed the nesting instincts and hence why the box looked so good once those instincts kicked in again.

The cruel side of nature showed itself on my camera nestbox, as the third brood of the year failed.

It had two house sparrow eggs, not three as previously thought, and one hatched on the same day the other house sparrows fledged from the other nest.

The chick was being fed and brooded by the female as she tried to hatch the other egg. After just three days of life I saw the chick wasn’t moving yesterday morning (see below image) and wondered if it was just resting.

 

My fears increased when I couldn’t see or hear the parent birds and by the evening I realised the chick had died and the other egg had failed.

I could see flies on the chick so decided to remove the nest from the nestbox and clear it out. The fascinating thing was seeing how the house sparrow nest was built on top of the blue tit nest, but just looked like it was one nest.

 

 

 

 

The camera nestbox is now empty and it’s sad to see after such a good spring and summer for breeding.

 

Overall I’m pleased that two birds have used it for the first time in the same year and they both managed to fledge youngsters.

Speaking of which there has been lots of young blue and great tits visiting the garden in the last few days. I’m hoping some will have been raised in the camera nestbox, and that their parents, or even one of them, will return to it next spring and raise another generation of tits.