Saturday 28 September 2013

SUMMER HOLDING AUTUMN AT BAY

The ‘Indian Summer’ continues and the insects and plants are making the most of the warm and sunny weather.

I’ve seen huge numbers of butterflies, bees and other insects benefiting from the plants and flowers that are producing more flowers in this weather.

Although the chills of autumn are now far away, it’s great to enjoy this weather and look at how the wildlife is doing so too.

One thing that has changed recently has been the garden birds spending less time in the garden because of the natural food in the surrounding countryside.

The weather has been helpful in the harvesting of my garden, with endless amounts of tomatoes, runner beans, carrots and potatoes.

I’ll have to wait for the parsnips, but the hard work of the planting season is now reaping a reward and most it very tasty.

It’s unusual to see me watering the garden in late September, but I have to because of the warmth and growing flora.

One day, probably soon, I’ll be watching the garden being flooded by heavy rain so for now I’ll enjoy the weather.

Perhaps next week I’ll be talking about rain rather than sun, although I’m sure the fauna and myself will be hoping not!

Sunday 22 September 2013

TIME LAPSE HANGING BASKETS

This week I thought I'd share a series of images from the hanging baskets, taken through June, July and August.

Although the images are exactly aligned like a professional time lapse photography sequence, you can still get an idea on how the garden has grown during the three months of summer.

It must be said that the insects and birds have flocked to the flowers with butterfly and bee numbers massively up on last summer.
































Sunday 15 September 2013

AND SO AUTUMN OFFICIALLY ARRIVES

I write this as the first autumn storm grips most of the UK, and we now know that summer is long gone.

The biggest thing I’ve noticed this week is the return of the small birds to the garden – including the robin who hasn’t been seen in my garden since July.

The extended house sparrow family, along with the blue tits and great tits are making the most of the fast snacks on offer.

A number of dunnocks are also devouring the garden food, although there are still plenty of insects on the flowering plants.

With a flurry of ripe tomatoes along with runner beans, potatoes and carrots the hard work of earlier in the year is now starting to pay off.

I’m most looking forward to the parsnips which should be ready in November.

One final note for this week is the final departures of the swallows. I’d noticed many this week gathering at various places, mainly in wet weather.

I imagine they were saying to each other, ‘let’s sod off to somewhere warmer’, as they chattered to each other.

And with this autumn storm gripping the country I doubt I’ll see any more this year.

So let’s prepare for the colder weather with the thoughts of when the swallows return and the sun will help breath life back into the countryside.

Sunday 8 September 2013

THE START OF AUTUMN?

The summer and the lovely weather came to a dramatic end this week, with typical autumnal conditions.

I think the worst of the wind and rain missed my garden, although it still had a good soaking!

The biggest thing I’ve noticed in the last 36 hours, since the autumn weather began, is the amount of small birds visiting the garden – I even saw a robin yesterday, a bird I’d not seen for over a month in the garden.

I’ve stocked up on bird food so they all have a back-up supply should conditions get any worse.

That said, the sun has been out today, although with not as much warmth as last week. Although the trees are still all green I suspect the yellows, browns and reds will soon adorn the branches, before carpeting the surrounding floor.

In the coming months lots of flora and fauna will prepare for winter by effectively shutting down, or in some cases simply flying to warmer climes.

The swallows are few and far between now, as they follow the swifts to Africa. The dawn chorus rarely has their beautiful song and the evening singing has been swallow-free for a couple of days.

 
In the garden my sunflowers are out in force and they’ll soon provide the birds with a plentiful supply of autumn seeds – although I’ll be keeping a few myself for next year!

 
The harvesting is still continuing with tomatoes, carrots, potatoes and runner beans all being in good supply.  The parsnips will be last, but should be ok for roasting at Christmas – oh no I mentioned the C word in September!

 
Right that’s it for this week, I wonder my post next week will see more information about birds coming back in to the garden for food.