My Love of Trees

 We are properly into summer now. The garden is full of flowers and very long grasses (we don't mow our lawn very often, we prefer to let it grow into a sort of meadow). Starlings and sparrows seem to be in the garden most of the time and we get occasional visits from a couple of goldfinches. I did see a few butterflies over the weekend. I think one was a Red Admiral, but I couldn't say for definite, they all flutter around quite quickly.

When we moved into this house, the garden was mostly lawn. Over the last two years, we have put in several raised beds for vegetables and quite a lot of trees. Planting a tree is one of my favourite things to do, especially if I'm feeling a bit miserable or stressed about anything! They are good for the environment and will eventually provide some shade in our garden. I know a lot of people don't want shady gardens, but I think it's good to have some shade, especially during heatwaves (which seem to be getting more frequent). So far, we have two rowan trees, a hawthorn, a spindle, two plum trees (one was already here when we moved in), a hazelnut, a pear and a cherry tree. We also planted a couple of holly bushes and a friend gave me a tiny oak tree he'd dug up from his garden (which I have planted, but I'm not sure it will survive, I think the roots were damaged when he dug it up). I'd like to get an apple tree at some point soon, not quite sure where we'd put it yet though.

All of the trees are still fairly small, but a few of them look like they may produce fruit and berries this year. Tiny berries have started to form on one of the rowan trees and a few cherries and plums have started to appear. I'm stupidly happy about this! Autumn is one of my favourite seasons (the other is winter), and I love seeing all the berries and fruit on trees. Plus, it provides food for all the wildlife.

Resident mouse

Last week, just as it was getting dark one evening, one of our cats was staring intently through the conservatory window on to the patio. I slowly walked over to have a look, and saw the (not so little now) mouse sitting out there. It stared at me for a few seconds, then I moved and it scampered off towards the greenhouse.

We've seen the mouse before, it was very tiny the first time we saw it run across the patio. I think it lives under our wood store. After a bit of research on the internet, I believe it's a field mouse/wood mouse. It's slightly bigger than a house mouse. In fact, this caused me a bit of drama, because it was bigger than any mice I'd previously seen (presented to us by our cat, in our old house). So I was worried it was a rat for a while. (I'm not a fan of rats, I know they shouldn't really bother me and as we live in a rural area, then the odd rat is quite likely to visit the garden and the bird-feeder, but they still make me a bit panicky.) Anyway, it has a furry tail and is much more timid than the rat who has also visited the garden and attempted to eat the bird food. Apparently, rats do not have furry tails and mice do, according to the internet. Also, it is still smaller than the rat who likes to occasionally come and pick up any food the birds drop.

I quite like having a little mouse who lives under the wood store. It has never attempted to come near the house (although, I'm sure the cats would be very excited if it did), just seems to go from the wood store, around the patio a bit and occaionally to the hedge behind the greenhouse. I'll try to get a photo of it at some point. (I'd like the rat to stay away from the garden though, ideally.)

Regular Visitors

It seems that summer has arrived here, it was quite sudden. The last few days have been very warm and pollen levels have been very high (I have been sneezing a lot).  The grass in the garden-meadow has reached waist-height. There are still plenty of birds visiting the garden, although they are not the same birds who visited us in the spring.

Back in the spring, we enjoyed watching all the regaular birds coming to the bird feeder. There were two long tailed tits who visited every day, along with the blue tits and great tit. A couple of blackbirds would hang around in the garden, as well as two (or sometimes four) robins. I assumed, wrongly, that these birds would be around for most of the year. I'd talk to them occasionally (don't judge me, I don't get out much!). I think I took it for granted that they'd always visit our garden, and come to our bird feeder.

Now we are in summer, I don't see those birds anymore, or at least not as much. Occasionally, the great tit still flits into the garden for a couple of minutes, then disappears again. However, we do see a lot of sparrows now, they are in the garden or on the bird-feeder for most of the day, and fly back and forth to the hedge. Also, there are a lot of noisy starlings around, who also like the bird-feeder. We've seen a lot of swifts flying over recently too, and occasionally a couple of goldfinches. I'm not complaining at all, I love seeing all the starlings and sparrows. The young ones are adorable, funny little creatures! The blackbirds still hang around the garden a bit, and I think two of the robins still visit regularly. I do kind of miss the other birds though. Maybe this is just what happens in summer, and this is the first year I've actually noticed? (And yes, I have started talking to the sparrows and starlings too. Would be rude not to!)

The sad tale of the Blue tits

 Earlier this year, we put up a nest box. We were quite excited when, in the early part of spring, we saw a couple of Blue tits going in and out of the nest box with all their nesting materials. I assume they laid eggs, which hatched into chicks, as later on we saw them taking food into the nest and if you stood in the garden, you would hear noises from the nest box.

Anyway, one evening last week, I saw the black and white cat (who is a regular visitor to our garden and likes to use one of the raised beds as a litter tray). The cat had managed to get on top of the workshop (which has the nest box on the side), then climb onto the top of the nest box & reach inside with a paw. At this point, I went out and shouted at the the cat to 'go away', which it did. I had a quick look around, but couldn't see any dead birds or feathers on the ground, so I'd hoped the Blue tits were ok.

The next morning, I saw one of the Blue tits leave the nest box, flap around in the garden for a while, and then fly off somwhere. It did not return. I haven't seen either of the adult Blue tits or any sign of the chicks since. I think the nest was abandoned. I'm really sad about this. A small part of me hopes that they fledged when I wasn't looking, but I am dreading the day in the autumn when we have to clean out the nest box.

Nature Writing/Blogging...maybe.

 I'm changing what I use this blog for, I think. I haven't actually used it at all for ages! Anyway, I want to start writing/blogging again. So, I think this may become more of a nature blog....so I can have a record of some kind of all the nature and wildlife we see now, mainly in our garden.

My son has become quite a keen birdwatcher, which is a lovely hobby to see and enjoy with him. We're seeing a lot of young/baby birds at the moment, along with the odd mouse and shrew, which is quite exciting! We're trying to keep the garden as wildlife-friendly as possible. One of the advantages of living somewhere slightly more rural, is that we get badgers and foxes visiting the garden sometimes. I don't think I will ever get over how amazing it is to see them (usually on a wildlife camera we put outside, but at one point I did actually wake up and watch the badger from my bedroom window).

Unfortunately, I'm not as good at identifying all the different birds and creatures as I'd like to be. I'm trying to learn as we go along. I don't know the names of all the wild flowers yet, and I can't identify birdsong. Hopefully I will be able to do these things, eventually.