It is definitely a sparrowhawk. Looks like the female as it seems browner in colour and larger but it could just be the pic. Males are smaller and bluer in colour. I get quite a few in my garden, they are breaktakingly beautiful but quicker than a speeding bullet, they're a blur when they're coming in for a take. If they sit still long enough you can appreciate just how beautiful they are. A female sparrowhawk took off from the ground in my garden the other day and flew off very slowly just above my head (if they're not attacking they're very graceful birds) but that was a little scary I have to say, you realise just how long and large their talons are!
Star at the minute is this viticella clematis Purpurea Plena Elegans - I cut this one completely down to the ground every year. All of those dahlias were grown from seed this year - lovely cheery things.
A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
What a lovely picture - my kind of garden. Will be trying dahlias from seed myself next year - seems a better bet than fiddling round with storing tubers
I'll lift the red one, Verdun, but the others will have to take their chances - 50/50 judging by previous years (providing I keep the slugs off, otherwise it's zero!)
Chicky, I find them easy from seed but do raise them in the conservatory as the seedlings are very sensitive to cold and snuff it even at the mere mention of frost! I grow them on to be quite large plants (12" tall in 5" pots) before planting out.
Thanks for the kind comments - late clematis, dahlias, cosmos and geranium wallichainum are the mainstays in my garden for colour from now to the frosts.
A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
Photo taken a couple of weeks ago so lillies have now almost finished but the begonias still look the same. I have moved the brush & bucket since! Hope this photo works I haven't done this before.
Posts
It is definitely a sparrowhawk. Looks like the female as it seems browner in colour and larger but it could just be the pic. Males are smaller and bluer in colour. I get quite a few in my garden, they are breaktakingly beautiful but quicker than a speeding bullet, they're a blur when they're coming in for a take. If they sit still long enough you can appreciate just how beautiful they are. A female sparrowhawk took off from the ground in my garden the other day and flew off very slowly just above my head (if they're not attacking they're very graceful birds) but that was a little scary I have to say, you realise just how long and large their talons are!
Star at the minute is this viticella clematis Purpurea Plena Elegans - I cut this one completely down to the ground every year. All of those dahlias were grown from seed this year - lovely cheery things.
What a lovely picture - my kind of garden
. Will be trying dahlias from seed myself next year - seems a better bet than fiddling round with storing tubers
I'll lift the red one, Verdun, but the others will have to take their chances - 50/50 judging by previous years (providing I keep the slugs off, otherwise it's zero!)
Chicky, I find them easy from seed but do raise them in the conservatory as the seedlings are very sensitive to cold and snuff it even at the mere mention of frost! I grow them on to be quite large plants (12" tall in 5" pots) before planting out.
Thanks for the kind comments - late clematis, dahlias, cosmos and geranium wallichainum are the mainstays in my garden for colour from now to the frosts.
Photo taken a couple of weeks ago so lillies have now almost finished but the begonias still look the same. I have moved the brush & bucket since! Hope this photo works I haven't done this before.
.
More begonias this time in the ground
Worked beautifully, Christine 28. Lovely show from your begonias.
Beautiful bob.
lovely Christine, my neighbour has orange begonias and said they were very difficult to grow, she lost one of the baskets, the other is great.