Nature Diary #12

Square-stemmed St Johns Wort

Well, I really shouldn’t be calling this a nature diary anymore, as there has been very little Nature spotted this week but, as I can’t think of a better title, I’ll leave it for now.

I have been very busy all week – Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday I was decorating my cottage, Wednesday I had a gardening job and Friday was my volunteer day at the market garden, so all nature spotted was more or less accidental!

Mary and I did take a walk to the lake on Wednesday afternoon, with thunder rolling ominously in the background and a large black cloud lurking on the horizon! We both took brollies, as it was too hot and muggy for a jacket but, in the event, didn’t need them. We were quite startled to find a car at the lake, beyond the new padlocked gate, until we realised that it belonged to the owner who was doing a bit of bramble cutting to maintain the footpath on the far side of the lake. He seemed surprised to see us, even though he knows that Mary has been walking her dog boarders here for years, but he told us that he is going to close it off to the public and try to maintain it as a private nature reserve. We hope that he is not going to exclude us from walking around it! The only wildlife we spotted was a female roe deer in the far corner of a field, who watched us warily for a few minutes before gliding silently through the hedge and disappearing from view.

The decoration of the cottage is progressing, but far too slowly for my liking. I have had offers of help but am not used to working with other people when decorating, and also came to the realisation that I am a bit ‘precious’ about my decorating! 😀 So, I shall continue making slow but steady progress and, eventually, it will be finished and the house can go back on the market. I do find myself being distracted by the view, however, as it is fascinating watching the weather patterns and the clouds - I even saw a skein of about eight geese flying past one day.

The unkempt outside of my cottage

All tidy again!

The outside after a few hours of weeding!

On Wednesday I weeded the herbaceous border that I cleared last year and was pleased to see that all of the shrubs that I pruned rather drastically have a) survived and b) maintained their better shapes. It was all looking quite pretty, although some plants (notably the day lilies) still need some attention, but the roses are beautiful again this year. I also planted a new rose in another area of the garden, where it is designed to form a screen, with honeysuckle, on a large wire and post support. I recommended Rambling Rector, a rose that I first saw growing through a mature tree at a community in Essex, so I hope it is not going to be too rampant! It’s a lovely garden to work in and I always feel slightly disappointed when my four hours is up, although I do get pretty tired and need a sit down when I get home!

This morning, I finally got out in my garden, only to find that things had gone mad after all that rain! Even though I had netted the gooseberries, blackcurrants and redcurrants, something had managed to get in and raid one of the gooseberry bushes. The berries had all been carefully collected into a heap and then each fruit chewed open and the insides eaten, leaving the skin! I have no idea what would do this, but it’s really annoying as the fruit wasn’t properly ripe yet. It meant that I then had to set to and pick all of the remaining (unripe) fruit just so that I wouldn’t lose it all. Luckily, you can make gooseberry jam using unripe fruit. I then decided to pick everything else that was ready and ended up with quite a bumper crop!

Harvest!

I’m afraid that’s all my news this week, so I’ll write again next weekend. Have a good week everyone and enjoy the predicted heatwave!

View from my cottage - west

View from my cottage - east

Nature Diary #11

Summer grasses in flower

I haven’t got much to report on the Nature front this week, as I have not had time to go for any walks. I did a short walk to the lake this morning to see if I could find anything to write about but, as it was damp and drizzly, I was the only living thing around! I did hear some lovely birdsong though – the larks are still throwing themselves high into the sky, carolling as they go, and I heard a wren singing in the hedge. On the way back, I heard a songthrush, but he didn’t show himself and kept moving down the line of aspen trees in front of me. 

However, earlier in the week I saw two sightings of a moorhen under the bird feeder in the yard. It was quite small and sleek, so I think it must be one of ‘our’ babies that had remembered where a quick meal could be had! I can also report that Mr and Mrs Swallow have hatched some babies. Unfortunately, they have tucked their nest up into a dark apex in the covered passageway so, although I can hear multiple voices, I have no idea how many are there. Let’s hope that, when they fledge, Mum and Dad will bring them to sit on the wire outside my window so that I can count them.  

We seem to have had quite a lot of wildlife around the yard recently - possibly because Mary has had no dogs boarding since lockdown started. We always have a large contingent of jackdaws, that have now successfully reared yet another generation, mainly in the loft over my little annexe! There must be a flock of about fifty continually swooping around the yard and gathering en masse on the house roof. Mary has had to stop putting feed in the chickens' hoppers as the Jackdaws empty them in a trice and, when they're not eating us out of house and home, they are making mischief by pulling my leek plants out of the ground and trashing my pea seedlings! 

There is also a very cheeky squirrel about, who seems to be getting the bulk of my strawberries. Not content with that, he has worked out how to get into Mary's squirrel-proof bird feeder in her back garden and has started coming into her conservatory and raiding the bird seed bin! Apparently, he now waits impatiently for Mary to open up in the morning so that he can help himself to breakfast - he even brought a friend with him yesterday!  The blackbirds are stealing my loganberries and redcurrants and now I see that the Cabbage White butterflies are around my Purple Sprouting! It's a constant battle with Nature down here, I can tell you, and I think Nature is winning!

My friendly robin

Whilst doing my stint at the market garden this week, I was again joined by my friendly robin. This time I managed to get a quick photo of him/her. It is looking quite moth-eaten so is obviously still busy feeding babies and not having much time to care for itself! Liam also called me over to look at a caterpillar he had found on the underside of a wheelbarrow. I thought, because of its size, that it was some type of hawkmoth caterpillar, so I took a couple of photos for identification purposes. When I got home I looked it up on the internet and found out that it was the caterpillar of the Drinker Moth – a new one on me. It was very striking and about 3” (7cm) long! 

Drinker Moth caterpillar

For the last two weeks my major focus has been on re-decorating my cottage at Draycott, as my long-term tenant moved out in mid-May and the place looks very tired and shabby. Unfortunately, every room needs re-doing, so I shall be busy for a while longer, yet. I need to get it back on the market by early July and just hope that it sells this time. I may post some photos next week although, as usual, I failed to take any ‘before’ pictures! 

The Mullein coming into flower

Nature Diary #10

Flowering dogwood

I’m sorry for the lack of a blog last week – I blame it on the hot weather! I did go out for a couple of walks but it was so hot that all of ‘nature’ was being sensible and keeping a low profile! I went on one longer walk and the only bird I saw was a lone buzzard spiralling slowly above the sun-baked fields. I was trialling my new walking boots, which seem to be quite comfortable, but will need a bit more ‘breaking in’ before I feel confident of doing a long walk in them – I had worn through the soles of my old ones!

Last week, whilst weeding in the greenhouse at the organic market garden, I disturbed a vole’s nest. It was a little cup of grasses set in a slight hollow on an overgrown path that I was clearing, and I hadn’t realised what it was until I’d picked it up. Luckily, the babies all looked to be semi-independent as their eyes were open and they were covered in fur, but they were only about two inches long and scuttled away into a more overgrown bit, so I hope their mum found them again. I hate disturbing any nests like this, even if the occupants will grow up to be a nuisance (such as rats), as I worry that they will starve to death if the mum doesn’t come back. ☹

On a more positive note, I was planting out runner beans for one of my gardening clients, and lightly digging in a top dressing of farmyard manure, when I came across a glorious blue oil beetle. I was particularly excited as you only tend to find them in areas that have been organically cultivated and this client always used to use a lot of chemicals on his plot. Over the last four years that I’ve been gardening for him I’ve managed to wean him off most of them and it has obviously paid off. The only other place that I have seen them is on an organic farm in Cornwall (where I took the photo).

Blue Oil Beetle (about 2" long!)

My walk early the other morning was very interesting: I walked out to the lake at about 6.30 and, on the outward journey I didn’t see much of interest apart from a hare running at top speed away from me! Once at the lake I walked as quietly as I could, stopping frequently, and was rewarded by the sight of the female mallard and her offspring. There are four of them (I must have missed one last time I saw them) and they are now nearly the same size as mum but lacking the markings on her wings. Further along, I heard a bird song that I was completely unfamiliar with – I think I heard it once last year in the same place, at the far end of the lake where the reeds grow quite densely. I took a video, which is very boring to look at, but gives you the song and then, after a bit of a grapple with technology, I sent it to my daughter who has a bird song identifier app on her phone, and found out that it’s a reed warbler! https://youtu.be/yhAgnyRm98c

I then walked along the field edge on the far side of the lake and came across five hares playing, so took a video of that, too! It’s at full zoom so it shows up my unsteady hold of the camera! https://youtu.be/Cehv9k6vaJg

Deceased mole

Sadly, on my way back home I came across a dead mole, which wasn’t there on my way out. This is the second dead mole that I’ve seen in a week, which is a bit strange. Apparently, the young moles disperse overground at this time of year and, I’m guessing, perhaps with the hard, dry ground they have been unable to dig new runs and/or find food. I find them quite fascinating, even though they are the scourge of farmers and gardeners alike!

There are a few new goings on in the hedgerows with the dogwood in full bloom, this year’s crop of sloes beginning to show themselves and a mullein beginning to poke it’s spire towards the sky – I’ll try to remember to photograph this again when it reaches its full height.

Mullein

Potential sloe gin!

Yesterday, when I was again weeding the greenhouse at the market garden (it's a bit like the Forth Bridge, being a never-ending occupation!) I was joined all day by a very tame robin who would dart in to the space I had just weeded and pick up any tasty grubs that I'd uncovered. It must have still been feeding young as it made frequent flights out of the greenhouse carrying beaksful of wriggling grubs! Today I am making soup out of the remains of last week's veg box to make way for the new veg box that I 'earned' yesterday - I shall be so healthy with all this fresh, organic produce!

We have suffered another poultry fatality which is quite a blow, coming fast on the heels of Mrs Speckles’ demise. Bandit, my beautiful, young Copper Blue Maran cockerel was found dead yesterday morning! He had been ill a few weeks ago with an upper respiratory infection which had been treated successfully (we thought) with antibiotics. He was almost back to full health, taking an interest in his girls, eating well, but still lacking his crow and then he just died. He was barely a year old and I never even took a photo of him to share with you. We are now down to just 4 hens, only two of which lay eggs on a regular basis. Time to re-stock or give up?