I ended up putting net over my seedlings for a week or two just to let them establish. How they survived I don't know. They must have been in and out half a dozen times. There's acres of shabby for the birds to dig up here and it's funny watching them; they really go at. They dig for insects as well so I suspect that's when the proper earth moving starts. You can tell by the pointy beak.
Forget begonias and welcome the blackbirds Kate - much more pleasant to have in the garden
ppauper - I spotted a painted lady the other day - first I've seen in this new garden. They're quite like a tortoiseshell, but the black and white markings are arranged differently. Across the 'corners' of the wings (like Red Admirals' markings but paler) and right round the perimeter.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
KH someone had a right good go at my bags of leaf mould. I assumed it was magpies but now I'm wondering. I ended up tipping the whole lot into the compost bin and mixing it in with a stick!
Ppauper - I just had a google too in case I'd seen something else and not a PL. It seems we now get Commas up here and it's possible it could have been that. I didn't see it closely either - just enough to see the paler orange and I made an assumption. I thought it was early to be seeing any of the usual suspects but it has been warmer here than normal. I'd be really excited if it was a Comma
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Although our garden is quite 'neat and tidy' we always make sure there are big woodpiles and leaf piles around the back of and the side of the summerhouse.
I saw a hedgehogs nest in the ferns this year as the ferns are very thickly planted, there are slow worms, frogs, dragonflies, butterflies, numerous birds (my cats have never been interested in birds - too lazy) mice, a hawk that likes to eat pigeons, I often see a circle of pigeon feathers on the lawn.
We live right on the edge of the South Downs so the garden is quite busy and they have natural habitat outside too.
Kate Harrison - the bird on your fountain is a cock sparrow (housesparrow).
We have frogs, newts, toads, water snails, a visiting grass snake, hedgehogs, woodmice, nesting bluetits and robins plus lots of other birds visiting the feeders, and more insect life than you can shake a stick at ... and visiting bats from the SSSI in a chalk mine across the road.
It's a fairly small garden, but it's teeming with life
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
We are an oasis of organic garden surrounded by arable fields and pasture which get agri-chems in varying degrees according to crop - usually potatoes, sugar beet or winter wheat - and season. There is a nearby stream with woods on the other side and we have a pond and a mix of trees, shrubs, hedges, wild patches, ornamental garden and veggie plot.
In the pond we have newts, frogs and toads and a nesting pair of mallards this year plus occasional visiting coots and herons.
We get lots of visiting birds but not a lot are resident in the garden itself as we are quite exposed and they have better shelter in the woods. There is a colony of sparrows in our eaves and assorted blue and great tits in the eaves and hedges. Visitors to the bird feeders and garden include wrens, robins, chaffinches, warblers, other tits, siskins, other small brown jobs, blackbirds, starlings, field fares, crows, jackdaws, jays, woodpeckers both spotted and green, pheasants, mallards, sparrowhawks.
There are buzzards which wheel and mew overhead and Canadian and Egyptian geese in the paddocks who occasionally inspect our garden but don't stay - thank goodness cos it's bad enough with the two dogs rolling in the duck poo this year! We hear and sometimes see tawny and barn owls but haven't seen the little owls for years.
There are also assorted small mammals - shrews, field mice, moles in the garden plus rats which live in the field margins around the garden. We used to have a lot of pipistrelles that visited at dusk but I only ever see one at a time now. No idea why as my garden is full of flying insects to feed them and all the house martins that swoop by day.
I have lots of nectar and pollen rich plants and thus loads of insects - 4 kinds of bee on one sedum head is not unusual but we have had very few butterflies for the last few years. Again - no idea why as I don't spray.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
Posts
Thanks P.P
Is such an annoyance is'nt it? Mine don't get a chance to root, they are the baby Begonias and look lovely all summer/Autumn if left alone.
There was such a large amount of soil on the path I felt sure it was a cat.
I ended up putting net over my seedlings for a week or two just to let them establish. How they survived I don't know. They must have been in and out half a dozen times. There's acres of shabby for the birds to dig up here and it's funny watching them; they really go at. They dig for insects as well so I suspect that's when the proper earth moving starts. You can tell by the pointy beak.
Forget begonias and welcome the blackbirds Kate - much more pleasant to have in the garden
ppauper - I spotted a painted lady the other day - first I've seen in this new garden. They're quite like a tortoiseshell, but the black and white markings are arranged differently. Across the 'corners' of the wings (like Red Admirals' markings but paler) and right round the perimeter.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Fairygirl; I love birds, mainly the Wrens, Robins, Goldfinch.
I am also very much a flower person and believe there is space for both.
Thanks P.P that net idea funnily enough I was thinking of a short while ago whist making my breakfast...great minds think alike.
I have a place where the birds could dig,its where I put my finished compost.
Oh gawd. It wouldn't sit still for me to see.
Just checked the pics of tortoiseshell. Definitely a painted lady. The pattern was across the corner of the wings. Thanks FG.
KH someone had a right good go at my bags of leaf mould. I assumed it was magpies but now I'm wondering. I ended up tipping the whole lot into the compost bin and mixing it in with a stick!
Ppauper - I just had a google too in case I'd seen something else and not a PL. It seems we now get Commas up here and it's possible it could have been that. I didn't see it closely either - just enough to see the paler orange and I made an assumption. I thought it was early to be seeing any of the usual suspects but it has been warmer here than normal. I'd be really excited if it was a Comma
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Although our garden is quite 'neat and tidy' we always make sure there are big woodpiles and leaf piles around the back of and the side of the summerhouse.
I saw a hedgehogs nest in the ferns this year as the ferns are very thickly planted, there are slow worms, frogs, dragonflies, butterflies, numerous birds (my cats have never been interested in birds - too lazy) mice, a hawk that likes to eat pigeons, I often see a circle of pigeon feathers on the lawn.
We live right on the edge of the South Downs so the garden is quite busy and they have natural habitat outside too.
Kate Harrison - the bird on your fountain is a cock sparrow (housesparrow).
We have frogs, newts, toads, water snails, a visiting grass snake, hedgehogs, woodmice, nesting bluetits and robins plus lots of other birds visiting the feeders, and more insect life than you can shake a stick at ... and visiting bats from the SSSI in a chalk mine across the road.
It's a fairly small garden, but it's teeming with life
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
We are an oasis of organic garden surrounded by arable fields and pasture which get agri-chems in varying degrees according to crop - usually potatoes, sugar beet or winter wheat - and season. There is a nearby stream with woods on the other side and we have a pond and a mix of trees, shrubs, hedges, wild patches, ornamental garden and veggie plot.
In the pond we have newts, frogs and toads and a nesting pair of mallards this year plus occasional visiting coots and herons.
We get lots of visiting birds but not a lot are resident in the garden itself as we are quite exposed and they have better shelter in the woods. There is a colony of sparrows in our eaves and assorted blue and great tits in the eaves and hedges. Visitors to the bird feeders and garden include wrens, robins, chaffinches, warblers, other tits, siskins, other small brown jobs, blackbirds, starlings, field fares, crows, jackdaws, jays, woodpeckers both spotted and green, pheasants, mallards, sparrowhawks.
There are buzzards which wheel and mew overhead and Canadian and Egyptian geese in the paddocks who occasionally inspect our garden but don't stay - thank goodness cos it's bad enough with the two dogs rolling in the duck poo this year! We hear and sometimes see tawny and barn owls but haven't seen the little owls for years.
There are also assorted small mammals - shrews, field mice, moles in the garden plus rats which live in the field margins around the garden. We used to have a lot of pipistrelles that visited at dusk but I only ever see one at a time now. No idea why as my garden is full of flying insects to feed them and all the house martins that swoop by day.
I have lots of nectar and pollen rich plants and thus loads of insects - 4 kinds of bee on one sedum head is not unusual but we have had very few butterflies for the last few years. Again - no idea why as I don't spray.