WHAT A MISERABLE SUMMER SO FAR

With all this rain it seems like autumn, or more likely, April. However it’s just July, which is meant to be a chance for people and wildlife to enjoy the warm weather before cooler and colder conditions follow in the coming months.

The ducks don’t seem to be enjoying this July weather either, although the snails and slugs appear to be revelling in the conditions.

One thing that has dropped off recently is the visits from birds in the garden. It’s been very noticeable in the last week or so, that very few are seen.

The young magpies are seen, and more often heard, but most other birds have simply vanished.

Of course most will have shepherded their youngsters to less populated areas so the adults can moult; they will soon be back.

The broad beans are already producing a small crop and there’s potential for the tomatoes to start showing small fruit soon too.

One chilli pepper plant has produced a single edible offering, while others are clearly showing signs of soon being able to offer the same.

The rain and cooler weather has meant a lot of wildlife has simply hunkered down, including the crane flies.

While the buddleia has had few visits from the endless butterflies that have been sampling its nectar in recent sunny days.

Perhaps August will see a burst of long-lasting sunshine, warmer conditions and the return of bird song in the garden!

WARMER WEATHER ON THE WAY?

Is the weather playing mind tricks with us? The wet weather over the last few days came after some glorious days with plenty of warmth and sunshine.

The swallows made the most of the warm and dry days, and were often joined by local swifts in the early evening swooping low over the hedges and small trees in and around the garden, feasting on a seemingly endless supply of small insects.

Both groups of birds were calling throughout the feeding frenzy, the swallows with their dance-like tunes, while the swifts shrieked with delight at the abundance of insects lifted above the treeline by the warm air.

It’s possible that the swallows are already on their second brood, and if weather conditions continue then a third might just be squeezed in.

The other birds are infrequently visiting the garden, with the young blue tits being recently spotted again, this time without any parents nearby.

A couple of great tits have also been seen, along with recently fledged robin chicks.

The crane fly hatching continues at a fast pace, although many falling foul of the house and seemingly dying before being able to mate.

One pair was caught mating in the house, so were gently moved outside to continue their rituals in privacy – well as much privacy as outside in the garden can give!

Growth of the garden plants has been good, with the tomatoes and broad beans already flowering and producing a few early fruit, while the sunflowers are all getting taller by the day.

Whatever the rest of July brings, a good harvest of broad beans is hopefully on the cards.

The sunshine did bring out plenty of butterflies – orange tip, red admiral, small tortoiseshell, painted lady and green-veined white.

They were mainly attracted by the buddleia flowers and with both buddleia plants growing rapidly, this summer could be great for seeing the beautiful butterflies in the garden.

THERE'S A WREN IN MY KITCHEN...

This week has been hot again, although it looks like next week could bring normal summer conditions and a little better conditions for sleeping in for many. 

By regularly watering the plants and vegetables, they have grown very well in the hot climate, particularly the sunflowers and poppies.

Both of these had debilitating starts when a number of young plants were lost to slugs and snails, which were a by-product of a warm winter.

Luckily I managed to put a stop to most of the snails and slugs – leaving some to keep the balance of nature – and the plants have responded magnificently.

Here are two pictures of the sunflowers, one showing just how many seeds it will be producing later in the summer and autumn, which the small gardens will thoroughly enjoy.

 

 

The poppies have been great and I’ve grown an Icelandic Poppy for the first time, this is the orange one below.

 

 

The buddleia is attracting endless numbers of butterflies and look like doing so for a few weeks yet.

 

Finally for this week there was a shock visitor that entered the kitchen from the garden, a fledgling wren.

After a few minutes the little fella was outside, but looking very miserable and with low survival hopes from me.

 

Fortunately after about ten minutes the fledgling had perked up enough to be climbing around the rose bush, calling and looking very much better.

 

A good end to the week.

SUMMER THUNDERSTORMS BRING RELIEF TO THE HEATWAVE

This week must be all about the summer weather, in particular the thunderstorms that swept the country and delivered much needed rain to many places, along with flashes of excitement.

In the garden the thunderstorms arrived in the early hours and while the thunder and lightning had left by 9am, the rain continued all morning and led to flooding down the lane that leads to the house.

But it was all over fairly quickly and the sun soon returned to dry up most of the water and provide the flora and fauna with some energy with which to continue growing.

I managed to take some images of the lightning, although not exactly very successfully. It only lasted for a couple of hours and trying to predict where the next flash would be turned out harder than I imagined.

The three flashes I did manage to capture show the garden and beyond lit up like it was daylight, but I can assure you it was pitch black at the time.

 

 

 

In other news the third tree and house sparrow broods are close to fledging and a number of blue tit chicks have been frequenting the garden, although I’m not sure if they fledged nearby or are simply visitors from the area who have happened on the garden.

The sunflowers are growing rapidly and at least four are as tall as me, with one over 10ft tall. More about them and the buddleia flowering which is attracting numerous butterflies next week, which means the diary of images about the garden growing will start in August.

 

 

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?