How lovely to have these night time visitors Steve - do you regularly feed them, if so how do you prevent the cats, or worse the rats, from eating the food?
I never thought of mealworms - are they the dried variety that you buy as bird food Steve? We have fed hedgehogs in the past but are always weary of encouraging rodents - and of course we want the hedgehogs to eat the many slugs and other pests that seem to like our garden.
They LOVE dried mealworms! That is the ground bird feeder they are eating from. We put them out twice daily for the birds (dayshift) and hedgepigs (night shift)!
Gosh you are well organised Steve - and justifiably rewarded for your efforts with such remarkable pictures - thanks for passing on your feeding tips. Our hedgehogs are going to be having a feast just as soon as we get organized in the mealworm department.
Flowerlover - that rose and clematis - I sigh at such chic. Brilliant.
Delighted this year to see a reasonable number of bees in this little garden, there are usually only a few. A few unnaturally hot days (for here!) and the bees are loving the Ceanothis (Concha) which is amazing this year. They are all over the Cotoneaster and Nepeta.
The Primula Beesiana are looking promising - although I can't remember if they are Beesiana or the longer name which is Bees.... something else!
Two starling broods screech at each other like banshees most of the day but one little fellow seems to be a bit disoriented and apart from the crowd. It seems to have something wrong with its balance, whether injury, sight problem or something else. It fell off the birdpole yesterday right down into my Cirsium 'Mount Etna' with the huge thistle like prickly leaves - don't know if it feels the prickles or not. It struggled like mad to get out of it and then flew straight into a little section of wire fencing I'd tied to the real fence to keep cats out. It got its head stuck in the fencing then seemed to calm itself and get its head out - and then it stuck its head into another bit all over again. It eventually struggled free but I notice the last few days when about 10 other starlings come together to the birdpole - it seems to come along on its own when they are gone and it hangs about with a blackbird and a couple of wood pidgeons. I look out for it every day now trying to work out what it's weakness is..
Our resident magpies had aerial combat with two in-coming magpies a day or two ago. Much screeching and swooping all over the place. All the other birds flew to the rooftops and watched it all for about an hour. It all stopped when a jackdaw arrived - magpies even flew off at that. Glad to say the jackdaw hasn't appeared again. It was becoming a war zone.
But then in a quiet little corner I discovered that the tiny little Helianthemum 'Wisley Primrose' had started to bloom - but I'd put it in such a stupid place that I fell over in the excitement of trying to get a photo of it. I had thought it was dying because it just seemed to flop but it is blooming. Although - I only have the one and it looks tiny and lonely in the 'experiment' corner!!!! But a lovely little thing so must try and get more. Not sure if it winters well though. Does anyone have any advice on that score?
Oops! And up top that would be CeonoTHUS. I can never pronounce it nor spell it. Ho hum!
Fif2 - thanks for the compliment but it took about 30 blurs before I found a blighter which settled for a few seconds. I've been trying to photograph beasties and horrible things but believe me, I can take 20 shots at it to get one decent one - and usually it's by accident. I have a problem with shaky hands and trying to photograph tiny things in macro is frustratingly difficult - and I trip over a lot not watching where I put my feet. Fun exercise though.
Steve tGV: your hedgehogs are great. Just seeing them in real life and knowing they are in your garden is very special and a story in itself and it's great that you've shared them. I'm new to the DSLR 'thing' - and I have to delete loads of stuff and just keep a few. I'd rather have live hedgehogs in my life!
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How lovely to have these night time visitors Steve - do you regularly feed them, if so how do you prevent the cats, or worse the rats, from eating the food?
We feed mealworms every night, cats aren't interested in them and never seen a rat.
I never thought of mealworms - are they the dried variety that you buy as bird food Steve? We have fed hedgehogs in the past but are always weary of encouraging rodents - and of course we want the hedgehogs to eat the many slugs and other pests that seem to like our garden.
They LOVE dried mealworms! That is the ground bird feeder they are eating from. We put them out twice daily for the birds (dayshift) and hedgepigs (night shift)!
Gosh you are well organised Steve - and justifiably rewarded for your efforts with such remarkable pictures - thanks for passing on your feeding tips. Our hedgehogs are going to be having a feast just as soon as we get organized in the mealworm department.
Flowerlover - that rose and clematis - I sigh at such chic. Brilliant.
Delighted this year to see a reasonable number of bees in this little garden, there are usually only a few. A few unnaturally hot days (for here!) and the bees are loving the Ceanothis (Concha) which is amazing this year. They are all over the Cotoneaster and Nepeta.
The Primula Beesiana are looking promising - although I can't remember if they are Beesiana or the longer name which is Bees.... something else!
Two starling broods screech at each other like banshees most of the day but one little fellow seems to be a bit disoriented and apart from the crowd. It seems to have something wrong with its balance, whether injury, sight problem or something else. It fell off the birdpole yesterday right down into my Cirsium 'Mount Etna' with the huge thistle like prickly leaves - don't know if it feels the prickles or not. It struggled like mad to get out of it and then flew straight into a little section of wire fencing I'd tied to the real fence to keep cats out. It got its head stuck in the fencing then seemed to calm itself and get its head out - and then it stuck its head into another bit all over again. It eventually struggled free but I notice the last few days when about 10 other starlings come together to the birdpole - it seems to come along on its own when they are gone and it hangs about with a blackbird and a couple of wood pidgeons. I look out for it every day now trying to work out what it's weakness is..
Our resident magpies had aerial combat with two in-coming magpies a day or two ago. Much screeching and swooping all over the place. All the other birds flew to the rooftops and watched it all for about an hour. It all stopped when a jackdaw arrived - magpies even flew off at that. Glad to say the jackdaw hasn't appeared again. It was becoming a war zone.
But then in a quiet little corner I discovered that the tiny little Helianthemum 'Wisley Primrose' had started to bloom - but I'd put it in such a stupid place that I fell over in the excitement of trying to get a photo of it. I had thought it was dying because it just seemed to flop but it is blooming. Although - I only have the one and it looks tiny and lonely in the 'experiment' corner!!!! But a lovely little thing so must try and get more. Not sure if it winters well though. Does anyone have any advice on that score?
Oops! And up top that would be CeonoTHUS. I can never pronounce it nor spell it. Ho hum!
Last edited: 10 June 2016 23:03:42
yarrow2, that is a fantastic photo of the bee.
I wish I'd gone and got the SLR to take the hedgepig pic and not used my mobile now!
Fif2 - thanks for the compliment but it took about 30 blurs before I found a blighter which settled for a few seconds. I've been trying to photograph beasties and horrible things but believe me, I can take 20 shots at it to get one decent one - and usually it's by accident. I have a problem with shaky hands and trying to photograph tiny things in macro is frustratingly difficult - and I trip over a lot not watching where I put my feet. Fun exercise though.
Steve tGV: your hedgehogs are great. Just seeing them in real life and knowing they are in your garden is very special and a story in itself and it's great that you've shared them. I'm new to the DSLR 'thing' - and I have to delete loads of stuff and just keep a few. I'd rather have live hedgehogs in my life!
Fif2 - get yourself a monopod, use a really wide aperture and bump your iso up a bit as it will give you a fast shutter speed.