Glancing out of the kitchen window early this morning, I smiled to see three juvenile robins sitting on the side lawn. They were round balls of brown fluff, with beautiful golden speckles on their breasts. I think their nest is in the greenhouse, we have robins nesting in there each year, although they could be the robins nesting in the garage.
When we moved here twenty-seven years ago somebody gave us an old tennis net, which we rolled up and put in the garage, the following spring we discovered robins nesting inside it and felt we couldn't disturb them. This has continued year on year, and for a couple of years we also had a pair nesting in an old basket suspended from the roof. We have been lucky with robins, another pair nest in an old colander hidden inside a yew tree and yet more nest inside a hollow log down the garden. This does from time to time cause territorial problems, but these are helped by spreading food far and wide.
The lawn is attended at present by four beautiful red cheeked goldfinches, they are of course feasting on the dandelion seeds, which are so abundant at present. Meanwhile huge clumps of Geranium phaeum or mourning geranium as it is commonly known, are currently in flower, it is their favourite autumn food and will be rich in seeds to both fill and fatten them ready for the winter months.
This plant is a welcome addition to wildlife gardens, it is perennial and seeds well to fill empty spaces. It has green leaves each with a large central blotch of purplish black, the flowers which are black from a distance are in fact when seen at close range or in sunlight an attractive deep red, and are carried high above the rosette of leaves and have several heads on the end of each flower stalk.
Geranium phaeum is a plant which not only has attractive leaves and pretty flowers but also and this is the best part, attracts flocks of goldfinches to the garden by its valuable food source, which of course are its seeds.
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