GARDEN GROWTH SURGE

The weather in June has led to a a particularly high rate of growth of the flora in the garden.

Poppies, cauliflowers, broad beans, sunflowers and the tomato plants have all benefited from the humid and often damp conditions.

The planting out session of plants from the greenhouse has been completed and what's left inside there will hopefully have enough space to grow and produce some good crops.

Tomatoes, cauliflowers and one chilli pepper plant remain.

Bird news is mainly around the return of the great tit chicks to feed in and around the garden, mainly due to the hard work of the parents.

There is constant chirping in the tress and bushes from the little ones, and when they are joined by the house sparrows and their chicks, the noise is pretty loud.

I suspect a couple of the great tit chicks have already been lost to the local sparrowhawk, but that's nature.

The season now needs some dry weather to help the flora and fauna in producing the  next generation.

It'll also allow us humans to be outside and enjoy the constantly changing colour and noise in our gardens.

A COLD BLAST OF WINTER SHOCKS THE WILDLIFE

I’m sure the swallows are having second thoughts about coming back from a warm Africa, particularly given the cold, snowy and icy week of weather we’ve had.

The regular hailstone storms and overnight frosts have meant a battering for the flora, with at least two tulips having all their petals ripped away and left in tatters on the garden lawn.

The swallows have been witnessed gathering mud for nest building, and while the weather has helped create plenty of mud creating facilities, it’s not been helpful for the purposes of the a nest – rearing young.

Of course an update on this blog wouldn’t be complete without a comment about the cats coming into the garden.

The first, and only, lot of seeds have been planted this year, mainly indoor, but with a few directly outdoors. Poppies and parsnips have been planted outside, but the soil in which they have been planted has once again been desecrated by cats using it as a toilet.

If anyone has ideas on making these cats leave the garden alone and finding alternative toilets, please let me know.

Inside, the seeds of sunflowers, tomatoes, cauliflowers, chillies and broad beans have been planted. The cauliflowers are already showing a couple of green shoots, while the sunflowers are emerging in their pots too.

Of course the seedlings will stay indoors until the weather gets warmer, and they are a lot bigger.

Finally, the great tits have almost completed the nest, but the camera is playing up again so visual images of the inside of the nest box are still not available.

WHERE IS SPIKEY?

It’s been two weeks since we set ‘Spikey’ (Max), the male hedgehog, free in the garden and sightings of him have been rare. I say rare, but what I mean is we’ve not seen him at all.

When he was release he scuttled into the undergrowth of next door’s garden and has not been sighted since.

Neighbours have been recruited to the on ‘hedgehog watch’, but so far the search has been fruitless.

I have been leaving cat food and water out for him late at night, and while the food has gone in the morning, I have no way of knowing if it’s Spikey, one of the resident cats or another wild animal has eaten it.

I just hope he’s ok and enjoying his new surroundings. If he is seen in the near future and regularly, I’ll be looking to rehome a female and set up a new colony.

The house sparrows are doing very well and both nests have just had their second brood of the year fledge.

I’m still not getting great images through the video cameras, but I’m probably going to leave them alone this year so as many house sparrows can fledge to boost the local population.

They may be noisy chirpy little birds, but they are part of the wildlife fabric of this country and it’s lovely to hear them in the morning as part of the dawn chorus.

The flora is doing quite well too, with sunflowers, broad beans, poppies and runner beans all growing taller by the day. All but the sunflowers are flowering and providing the bees and other insects with differing types of pollen.

I’m still seeing the odd small plant being eaten by snails and slugs, but most are escaping their hungry mouths.

Next week we’re meant to be in for as heatwave, which will be good for sun worshippers and the wildlife that needs sun, but everyone must be mindful that to flourish all wildlife needs access to fresh water.

So fill up that garden drinking bath or place small low level containers out at dawn or dusk and help the wildlife flourish in your patch.

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.

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.

HOUSE SPARROWS MAKING THEMSELVES AT HOME

So the house sparrows’ mating seems to have worked as there are now three new eggs in the camera nestbox.

I’m delighted that there has now been three clutches of eggs in my camera nestbox this year, and from two different birds.

If all the current eggs hatch and the chicks fledge, then a total of 13 chicks will have entered the wildlife world thanks to my nestbox.

But that won’t be all the chicks that fledge from my garden, because in the new ‘terraced’ house sparrow nestbox that I put up in March has at least one of the three nestboxes occupied by house sparrow chicks.

As I don’t have a camera in there I can’t tell how many, but I suspect three or four judging by the sounds coming from there.

I’m pleased that so many house sparrow chicks are being brought in to the world in my garden and it is providing a good home to a declining UK species.

The flora and wildlife homes in my garden have been the culmination of five years of introducing different species to the garden and also providing a regular food source for the birds.

Talking of flora, two new flowers have emerged from this years’ seed plantations, two poppies and a sunflower (teddy bear variety).

 

They are adding more colour and scents to the garden and attracting plenty of insects, particularly bees and an increasing number of butterflies.

 

Finally with the hot weather due to end with thunderstorms and rain in the coming days, I think it can only help increase the flora in my garden and add even more colours and scents.

Perhaps after the rain we’ll have even more sun and at least two fledgings!

Oh and before I forget I took delivery of a new bird box cctv camera from SpyCameraCCTV

 , which I ‘won’ during a Facebook competition.

Thanks to the guys at SpyCameraCCTV, I’m hoping to have two nestboxes covered by cameras next year!

SUMMER STARTS IN SEPTEMBER

The weather is now showing us what summer could have been like if it had bothered turning up in May, June or July. But what does it mean for the wildlife?

Well in my garden some flowers are still blooming, including gladiola, poppies and rudbeckia, so there’s been a large number of bees and butterflies each day.

At night the slugs are in decline, while the snails are seemingly hiding too as the nights become cooler. That said the last couple have been mild.

The swallows have certainly packed their suitcases, but not all have left. Just two nights ago I saw about 80-100 flying over the house and garden, searching for evening insects for a tasty treat.

I suspect the warm day weather will keep them, but it’ll be how cool it is at night that’ll prompt the full departure.

The usual mix of birds has been in the garden, although a pair of young robins seem particularly fond of spending time there.

The harvesting has begun with tomatoes now a daily fixture and just a few carrots and potatoes left.

I’m hoping the chillies and sweet peppers, most of which are still indoor, will be ready in the next couple of weeks.

So as September means we saw goodbye to our swifts, swallows and house martins, the autumn glow brings new visitors and a different time in the cycle of the lives of wildlife everywhere.

What will the cooler months bring? Our first hedgehog? The great spotted woodpeckers and little owls returning?

Will the weather bring lots of snow and the return of -25C on our car gauges? Whatever happens the wildlife will cope in one way or another, but next breeding season is bound to see extras for plenty of those who didn’t fare too well this year.

Most importantly; will be nestbox camera be able to film a new family next summer?