Bees and ladybirds

Odd days in January I have been pleased to see both honey and bumble bees in the garden, seeking nectar from the many early flowers in bloom and on the white bungalow wall many ladybirds both British and European.

Garden flora and fauna

After weeks of snow and freezing weather, we have a change. Yesterday we awoke to a cold, snow covered day. As time passed the temperature rose somewhat, this was followed by rain, light at first then becoming a heavy torrential downpour, which lasted well into the night.

At 2:00 a.m. when I looked out , the majority of snow had melted, we were left with a white bank on the side of the garden facing the lounge --- when I arose this morning that too had vanished.

Across the orchard and fields the floods are back, in truth they never went, instead they turned into an enormous ice rink. A few days ago, a walk across to this ice showed fox prints traversing in every direction, however when I dared to walk on the frozen surface I soon discovered it was not as strong as it looked and I hastily moved off.

The continuous heavy rain, linked with yesterday's milder temperature has however brought with it a thaw, hence the flooding.

Today is again milder, there is a very strong wind, it sends the last of autumn's leaves hurrying and scurrying, hither and thither along the grass. The strong blustery wind also makes the washing on the line flap and crack alarmingly, and even worse threatens to pull the post supporting the line out of the ground at one end.

 This magical garden is still full of flowers, primroses, cyclamen, winter flowering jasmine, roses, arabis, aconites, snowdrops, the wonderfully scented pink flowered viburnum bodnantense, mahonia which is so beloved by insects and chaffinches and three types of catkins hazel, birch and the wonderful garrya ellyptica (also known as The Silk Tassel bush), the latter is an amazing sight, despite being hard pruned each year it just grows back and appears more beautiful each time it is in catkin.

The birds are very hungry and are needing extra rations, during the freeze I put water out for them, but it constantly needed redoing as it froze so quickly. The squirrel numbers have dropped to two, perhaps now the less cold weather is here we may see the missing ones. The foxes continue to feed each evening, however I haven't seen the badger recently and hope he hasn't succumbed to a fast car while crossing the lane.

Tracks in the snow, frozen ponds and badger holes

Another cold snowy day, the lawn is covered in tracks and I couldn't resist going out to look at them. There were many bird tracks and the fox had spent much time prowling around, I was able to see his entrance and exit points very easily. Here is a photograph showing both bird and fox tracks.

The poor fish are frozen into their pond and although we break the ice daily, it soon freezes over. The gold fish give us much pleasure, as we enjoy watching them. We never feed them as there is enough food in this very established pond to support them. However now we have a problem with the beautiful  local multi-coloured cat, who also enjoys them although not in the same way, we will have to decide whether or not to replace them. There is also a black and white cat who visits us, but this is just to share the fox food unlike the multi-coloured very skilled hunter, who waits and watches all and if it moves then he is very good at capturing it.

Here at last is a picture of one of the badger holes in the wire mesh of the end fence, I have tried to photograph these before , but against the snowy background it has been more successful. I believe the badger must have made the holes with his teeth and marvel at how strong they must be. The enterprising foxes soon found these holes and now use them as extra entry and exit ports to and from the garden. The hole is still not easy to see, but it is to the right of the fence and at the bottom.

A winter's day in the garden

Pleased to watch goldfinches feasting on the evening primrose seeds again, they are here every day and  until they have depleted the natural store of food in the garden we shall continue to enjoy these very pretty birds. I have heard people say English birds are not very attractive, I would beg to differ, and readers of my blog will I am sure agree that we have many eye catching birds. Here as evidence of this is a colourful little goldfinch. If you wish to see this bird or any other picture in my blog in more detail , just click on them.

The birds are feeling the cold this weather and often look very rounded out as they perch on the branches. They are also very hungry, unless we give them extra to eat many will succumb to the cold and their hunger and die. Please think twice before throwing your food scraps away, it could save a bird's life, they will eat almost any food that you care to put out. Daily I give them water soaked bread, porridge oats, suet, dried fruit, bird seed, any fruit peelings or cores, grated cheese, they will finish any fat left over and also enjoy cooked potato, if you have pasta left over that would be very welcome. Broken biscuits or crumbs are also good. Here is an immature blackbird being treated to a plum, shortly after I took this photograph he was sent on his way by a mature male blackbird who wanted the plum!

The snow has made every where look white and has settled in unexpected places. Here it settled on a cobweb and as cold as the weather is, it reminded me of a hammock swinging gently in the sunshine on a hot summer's day.

A frosty walk by the icy river

Weather cold and frosty, odd patches of snow still lingering in shady places. We were pleased to see the sun shining this afternoon and took advantage of its brightness to go and visit the river.

The grass was frost covered as were the bushes and trees. The river was very still, from its edge the bottom was clearly visible and large areas of water were still frozen. Frosty trees their bare branches silhouetted against the wintry sky were a delight to behold.

The alders looked particularly pretty, with their last autumns dark cones and this years hard immature reddish catkins. I shall enjoy watching the development of the catkins, seeing them slowly lengthen and change colour until they are almost the same shade as primroses and ultimately a darker brownish shade, still accompanied by last years cones. Ultimately the cones will gradually fall from the tree and in time be replaced by tiny new green cones. There is a small window of opportunity when it is sometimes possible to see both old and new cones and catkins all still on the same tree.

Wildlife was scarce, but we did manage to spot one lone female mallard and later on there was a small group of both male and female. I wished I had thought to bring some bread with me.

Charm of goldfinches

The garden is looking very wintry, although we have a surprising number of flowers in bloom, there is much dead brown looking growth. This is due to the fact that we leave dead heads and seed pods on as many plants as possible through the winter, not only is this a habitat for insects to overwinter in, it also provides much needed stores of food for foraging birds.

Seed heads bring in many birds, but I really enjoy pretty little goldfinches most of all. This year they have cleared the lemon balm seeds, then moved on to yellow centaurea (Centaurea macrocephala), next the large yellow daisies and now they are on the evening primrose seed heads.

An Oxfordshire visit

Visited our Grandson and his family in Oxfordshire, I was fascinated to see his praying mantis and also the crickets he is breeding. The crickets were very lively and a source of wonder to the cats.

At the bottom of their garden is a field with horses in,we watched many birds in the garden and in the field were red kites, jackdaws and  magpies.

The sunset in a nearby village was beautiful and I managed to  capture it through the car windscreen.

To Cambridge and back

My Grandson Ric's 29th birthday today. Many good wishes are speeding his way for a healthy, happy and  long life.

We are on our way to Cambridgeshire for another hospital appointment. The weather today is wonderful, although it is only seven and a half degrees today. The sky is a beautiful shade of blue, not a cloud in sight, only a few vapour trails from passing 'planes.

We pass several flooded fields of sky reflected blue water, prettily edged with green grass.

Unless they are coniferous the trees are bare, we pass elegant birches, with their tracery of fine drooping ends of branches and twigs. Hawthorns still decked with bright red berries --- why haven't the birds eaten them, I wondered. Trees in all hues of brown and some a mossy shade  of green that almost matched the nearby catkins.

I always enjoy seeing bare trees, I find their form and structure fascinating and I long to reach for my pencil to draw them.

Grass snake eggs

Amazing find today, while we were emptying the composter and spreading the compost we found a batch of grass snake eggs. They were soft shelled and white in colour and rubbery to the touch, some had been damaged by being emptied from the composter, but many were still intact with just a tiny hole where the baby snake had emerged.

Grass snakes (Natrix natrix) are the only British snake to lay eggs, they are laid in late spring or summer in compost heaps or somewhere similar, where the rotting vegetation provides the warmth needed for the eggs to hatch. Incubation takes six to eight weeks and the young are helped to exit the egg by means of an egg tooth, which soon disappears it being of no further use.

The newly hatched  are fascinating, they are so tiny, the length of my little finger only thinner and already identifiable as grass snakes.In three years the young males will be mature adult grass snakes, the young females take a year or two more to reach maturity, now they are both ready to breed.

As adults they are now ready to shed their skin, the female does this once a year just prior to egg laying, whereas the male sheds his skin twice a year. I have been lucky enough to find a shed skin in the garden.

 Every year we watch the grass snakes enjoying the garden, they bask in the sun, this is necessary for them to warm up as they are cold blooded creatures and without warmth they cannot move with ease or properly digest their food.

We find the best time and place to see them in the summer, is on a warm day, where they will be sure to be in the larger of our ponds, or basking nearby. Once warmed up grass snakes are very fast moving and unless a person is aware enough to tread slowly and carefully it will be difficult for them to watch or even catch sight of grass snakes behaving naturally.

They are said to eat fish, but we have more trouble with the herons and local cats taking them. We also have newts, toads and frogs in the garden and a very healthy population of short tailed voles, so clearly there is a good balance of wildlife here.

The weather during the winter is too cold for grass snakes to survive, so they need the shelter of piles of leaf litter, compost heaps or the all important wood piles, which are rich in insect life, a shelter for hedgehogs and also nesting places for birds.

Compost and composting

Last autumn's beautifully coloured fallen leaves have become, dull, brown and lifeless looking on the end garden, however they still contain much goodness so we will leave them to continue rotting down.

 Meanwhile we have been emptying a large composter, the earth inside is rich, black and sweet smelling, as many of you know I term this black gold and is the best treat the garden can have, so I have treated the end garden to a thick layer, partly to enrich the soil but also to help protect the plants from the frost and cold weather yet to come.

Compost is one of natures miracles, annual weeds and the leaves of perennial nuisance weeds, teabags, old vegetable peelings, orange peel, crushed egg shells, vacuum dust, torn pieces of newspaper and any other detritus which will rot down are all put together into the composter, with layers of cardboard for the worms to breed in. The lid is kept on except when we are in the garden, then it is removed so that the robin can feast on the contents.

Eventually the bin fills up and is left over a season when the magic occurs and on looking inside we find the black gold which is so useful.

I have had various comments about compost from people throughout the years, mostly of disgust or disdain, however I could never have a garden without making my own compost, it is so beneficial to the plants and such a soil enhancer. Compost properly made is a sheer joy, not only to make but also to use, and of course is free what an added bonus!

Mostly people say, "but  isn't it smelly?" or "mine was all slimy" and occasionally "it brought rats into the garden".

The answers to these are simple, let's deal with them one at a time.

Firstly if the right ingredients have been added and the compost left for the correct time to rot down it will be sweet smelling, and pleasant to use. There is a school of thought that compost should be turned to aerate it, I have always made compost, but for the last 43 years it has been a more serious venture and never once in that time have I turned it or seen a need to do so.

Compost becomes slimy when too much of the wrong ingredients have been added or the compost has been allowed to get too wet. Slimy usually occurs when too many fresh grass cuttings have been added, these can be added but need to be layered with other material. I am a great believer in leaving grass cuttings on the lawn to nourish it if possible, especially in very dry weather, when it also protects the grass from drying out. The first cut when the grass is longer and other cuts, for instance if you have been unable to cut regularly and the grass is long, can be more problematical. In this case we collect the grass together in containers and layer it as we compost other things making sure there is plenty of torn newspaper added at the same time. Too much rain can also be a problem so I always keep my compost covered, it doesn't have to be with a lid I have found a piece of old carpet, covered by a board or even just on old board is fine with a brick or very large stone or rock to stop the wind lifting it.

The rat statement is more serious, and is caused by putting the wrong things on the compost heap or in the composter, never use cooked or processed food of any kind, this also goes for bones, as any of these will bring rats to your garden and should be avoided at all costs.

I always compost leaves separately in large black sacks as the compost from leaves is wonderful for sowing seeds in and bringing on plug or young plants.

Composting is a great way of recycling, easy to do and the end product is a joy.

I will be pleased to answer any questions, please use the comments section for this.

Dandelions, badgers and daffodil bulbs

Brilliant - a beautiful, bright yellow dandelion, fully open on the back lawn, its brightness was like the sun suddenly appearing on a cloudy day. So heartwarming.

I meant to photograph it, but forgot and although I didn't yet, I mean to tomorrow. [I did, and here it is.]

On a different note, a walk to the end of the garden to look at the flower and shrub border showed many daffodil bulbs, with a few inches of green top growth, strewn along the border, their bulbs half eaten. The work no doubt of the badger.

Still feeling blessed to be visited by him the bulbs were soon replanted.

Covey of Red Legged Partridges

Delighted to glance out of the back kitchen window this morning and see a covey of twelve red legged partridges. these pretty birds brighten any day that I'm lucky enough to see them. They are timid little creatures and run as soon as they catch sight of any movement, therefore it is difficult to photograph them.

New year's day and spring just around the corner

It is the first day of the new year 2013, may I wish you all A Very Happy New Year.

Today I walked round the garden and thought how it belies the fact that it is mid-winter, there are so many flowers either in bloom or in bud.

In bloom are large trusses of golden yellow mahonia, tiny black insects are to be found deep in these flowers and they are a favourite of chaffinches, who spend a great  deal of time looking for them.

The pretty mid-pink flowers of viburnum bodnantense with it's amazing perfume alerts the senses before I am even near the shrub, it is a great addition to the winter garden.

Ivy is blooming and will be such great succour for early bees, drawn out on mild winter days.

Hellebore

Bright yellow winter aconites are made more attractive by the green collar around the base of the flower, these flower under trees, in flower beds and in the lawn and are a great addition to any winter/spring garden. These plants are easily propagated by digging up their tubers as the plant is dying back and either breaking or cutting it up before immediately replanting the pieces.

There have been primroses in flower the whole of the last year, the common primula vulgaris  and for the last few weeks, I have been enchanted by a new type of primula flowering in the garden, it is Jack in the Green and is quite delightful. It has a normal looking flower which then has a green ruff of small leaves around the base of the flower. I am hoping it will seed and colonize the surrounding area. The primrose with it's pretty pale petals and delicate perfume is and has been the favourite flower of many folk, including Benjamin Disraeli who was supposed to have presented Queen Victoria with a posy of primroses.

Cyclamen in varying shades of pink stand proudly above their mound of very attractive leaves. These cyclamen leaves are so attractive that if the plant bore no flowers it would still be worth having in the garden.

Amazingly we still have roses blooming, beautiful pink ones on two different bushes.

Dropping down a wall is perennial arabis, its bright white flowers, held above the carpet of its mid-green and yellow variegated leaves.

The hazel, birch and garrya ellyptica are attractively covered in long, dangling catkins reminiscent of the decorations hanging from a Christmas tree.

In bud are dozens of hellebores, it is a shame that these hang their heads because when you gently tilt them and look into their faces it is very pleasing, they are usually speckled and so pretty. A few years ago I read that a new variety had been bred that held their heads face upward, as yet I haven't seen any though but would be interested to do so.

Clumps of snowdrops are showing fat white buds above their density of leaves. This year we will have to divide them or risk losing them as the clumps are so dense and I recently heard that they suffer from red spider mite at this stage, which kills them if they are not divided. This job should be done while the plant is in the green, in order to be sure of successful division and replanting.

Plump daffodil buds are rising from between their short three inch high sword like leaves.

The magnolias and camelias are fatly budded and together with all the above mentioned show a promise of spring not too far away.