Early autumn?

 We're just coming to the end of (I think) the 4th heatwave of the summer. The grass is completely dry, and some of the plants and small trees are struggling. However, some of the leaves on the bigger trees are starting to go yellow, the pumpkins on the allotment are getting big and a few have turned orange, and the garden is full of blackberries. Are these indications of early autumn, or just the result of multiple heatwaves and very little rain? Either way, really hoping this is the last heatwave of the year. 

We have had frequent badger visits recently. I think it may be a young badger, it looks quite small and is quite keen on climbing into things to find peanuts. We also had a deer wander through the garden one night, and appear in the field next to our house during the day. It's always nice to see deer wandering around.

Hopefully, now the weather is getting slightly cooler, we might actually get some rain soon. The ground is so dry at the moment, even though I've been watering everything every day, it doesn't seem to make much difference. I hope we do get an early autumn, I think myself and the garden really need some nice, cool, rainy days!

 

Another heatwave

 Currently in the midst of another heatwave. Apparently, it's going to get to about 30 degrees tomorrow. I'm watering the garden and allotment every day, early in the morning (before it gets too hot). The stuff growing on the allotment (pumpkins, squash and some fruit bushes) all seems ok, for now. But some of the small trees in the garden seem to be struggling a bit, the leaves are drying out and getting scorched by the sun. I'm really hoping they survive through the summer.

We need some rain, I think. Not just the odd, little shower now and then, which is what we've been getting for the last month or so, but a proper rainy day (or few days, ideally). Having a bit of water once a day is obviously not enough.

Optimistically, I'm hoping this is the last heatwave this year. Personally, I think anything over 23 degrees is too hot, so 30 degrees is horrendous. Too hot to do anything, too hot to sleep at night. I'm not a big fan of summer, generally. Autumn is much more comfortable.  

Little update

 Haven't written on here for so long! To be honest, I forgot all about this blog...is blogging even still relevant? Who knows. Basically, life and general chaos got in the way. Other things have taken up my time. 

Anyway, I might try to do this again, a bit more regularly. 

It's currently very warm and humid, pollen levels are very high and my allergies are being very annoying. We're basically in summer now, the Summer Solstice is actually still a few days away, but nevermind. The garden is full and probably a bit over-grown, but all the trees are doing well.

We've started to get some gooseberries, blackcurrents and raspberries ripening, also a few strawberries. Apples and pears are still tiny, but will hopefully continue to grow. All the roses seem to be doing very well this year, and the herb garden I planted recently is working out well. (I've started using the rosemary to make a sort of potion to thicken my hair a bit....it's really just rosemary and boiled water, but it seems to be helping a bit.) Actually, I should probably make some more soon, haven't got much left now.

The badgers are still visiting, occasionally. There are still lots of birds in the garden, generally being quite noisy. The rooks, jackdaws and magpies are slowly getting used to us, they will actually come down to the feeder while I am in the garden, as long as I don't get too close.

Creeping towards autumn

 I know it's still July, so essentially still the middle of summer, but it feels almost autumnal at the moment. It's chilly (I've put a cardigan on today), raining heavily and getting quite windy. The blackberries have started to appear in the hedges down the lane and in our garden, although they are still very small and green, as are the berries on the hawthorn and rowan. 

I'm not complaining about this at all, we had a heatwave a couple of weeks ago, and that was more than enough summer weather for me! Autumn is definitely my favourite season. I've vaguely started my autumn preparations...ordered some firewood (for delivery in September) in case it gets cold suddenly, making sure everyone in the house has suitable clothing and footwear for cooler, wetter weather etc. This is possibly just because I get a bit over-enthusiastic about being organised, or because I get over-excited about autumn generally.

I'm almost ceratin that we will get more hot weather over the next month or so, and I will complain about summer lasting too long, being too hot and humid etc. But at the moment I am enjoying the slow, subtle hints that autumn is coming.

Jackdaws

I may have mentioned before that we have jackdaws living/nesting on the roof, they have been here since we moved in. A few weeks ago, I had the very upsetting experience of finding a dead one in the garden. Well, actually I found it in a bin in the garden. The bin was otherwise empty (we don't use it for anything), there was no lid on it. Why would a bird go into an empty bin? And why wouldn't it it just fly out? Did it go in there to die in peace, away from everything else? Anyway, it was horrible. I cried about it for hours, not even sure why it upset me so much, but it did.

 Since then, one jackdaw has finally ventured into our garden, occasionally. It either sits on the roof of the workshop, or sometimes actually comes to the bird feeder and has some food. It never stays for very long. Now, this maybe that it has to come to the feeder for food, as it's been so hot and dry here, that it can't find other food easily. However, it could also be that it finally feels safe/comfortable enough to come into the garden, which I hope is the case. 

 I am determined to make friends with the jackdaws. I was a bit concerned that a dead one in our garden would mean that they would hate us, but apparently not.

Baby birds

 Feels like summer at the moment, it's been sunny and warm (sometimes too hot) for a couple of weeks now. There have been a lot of baby birds in the garden, mostly (very noisy) starlings, Although we have also seen a baby robin, some young sparrows and a young blue tit. The baby starlings like to sit on top of the bird feeder and shout at their parents until they come and feed them. It's adorable, but very loud.

A very sweet family of geese visited the garden the other day, 2 adults and four babies. Our neighbour called my husband to let us know they were in our garden. We watched them for a few minutes, they wanted to get through our garden to the field at the back, but the wire fence that was put up a couple of years ago was stopping them. Poor things looked very confused, then the babies started to wander off away from the parents. So, I went out and pulled up the fence (which was not put there by us, but it's on our garden boundary), making a big gap at the bottom. Luckily, after a bit of searching for their babies, all the geese went under the fence on their way to wherever they were going. The big gap/hole shall remain in the fence...as I don't want any wildlife getting stuck in a stupid wire fence. (I'm very proud of myself for making a hole in the fence to help some geese!)

One of the baby geese

 

Also, actually saw a deer in the field at the back last night. First time we've manged to see one in there! My son spotted it, while looking out of his bedroom window.

Blossom and wildflowers

 It's been ages since I've written anything here! I've been really caught up with working through the last essays for my degree (nearly done...just need to finish the final essay), and we've just had the bedroom re-plastered, so about to start decorating in there. We are sleeping downstairs while that is all being sorted. The other night, I heard a noise outside. Looked out of the window to see three badgers rummaging around under the bird feeder. They wandered off under the fence quite quickly, as I think I surprised them by appearing at the window.

We have a fair amount of blossom on some of the little fruit trees this year, so might actually get some fruit! Although, the trees are still quite small, so maybe I'm being a bit too optimistic. Even of we do get some fruit, the liklihood is the birds will get to it all before we do.

We scattered lots of wildflower seeds around the lawn earlier this year (and last year). It looks like a few are starting to grow. There are definitely some large thistles coming up in various places around the garden, which is quite nice, I think goldfinches like thistle seeds. Not planning on mowing the lawn any time soon, so hopefully some more wildflowers will appear in the next couple of months.

Vegetable planting

 I have written on here before about how I am a fairly lazy gardener. Well, that is still the case. Finally managed to weed some of the raised beds (which were all full of grass), and plant out some vegetables. I haven't planted a lot this year, as I'm expecting that we will have another heatwave over the summer, and possibly water restrictions put in place. This is what happened last year and most of the vegetables and some plants ended up dying. So, I have only planted some garlic, a lot of onions and some potatoes. The garlic seems to be doing quite well, so far. The onions have just started to grow, but the potatoes aren't doing anything yet.

As the badgers seem to visit our garden most nights, I was a little concerned about them digging up everything we'd planted. But, apparently if you lay holly branches over any new bulbs you plant, it deters various creatures from digging them up. I tried this, so far it seems to have worked. (I don't really want to put netting or anything over the vegetables, as I'm worried about birds (or other creatures) getting tangled in it.)

The trees all seem to be doing quite well, some of them have a bit of blossom on, some have small leaves and a few still just have buds. I'm not sure we'll get any fruit off of any of them this year, as they are all still quite small. But we shall see.

Goldfinch and partridge

 Although it is basically spring, the weather is still quite winter-like. It's been really cold, and the last couple of days have been very rainy. The rest of the country seems to have had or will be getting a reasonable amount of snow, but there has been none here, disappointingly.

We've done few odd bits in the garden recently, mainly just tidying up a bit. We did plant another tree - a silver birch. We also cut all the dried teasles, and hung them around the outside of the workshop, so the birds could still eat any seeds. This morning, I saw a goldfinch fluttering from one teasle to another, pecking at the seeds...so at least our efforts have been appreciated. Saw a couple of greenfinches on the bird feeder a few days ago too.

Also managed to see a red-legged partridge wandering in the field next door, it was just on the other side of the fence. First one I've seen so far this year. The rabbits seem to be in the field, running around a bit more as well. 

I haven't managed to plant any vegetables in the garden yet, and I need to do a lot of weeding! It's just been too cold. Hopefully the weather will get a bit milder soon, so I can actually go out and get some stuff planted.

Sparrowhawk

 About a week ago, a sparrowhawk killed a starling and ate it in my garden. This happened right outside my living room window, and my son witnessed the whole thing. Obviously, he was a bit upset by it. I missed this brutal incident, and came in to find that my son had closed the blinds and turned up the volume on the TV so he couldn't hear the starling screeching. 

After I'd calmed him down a little, I opened the blind slightly to see if the bird was still there. It was quite happily sitting on the lawn, eating the remains of the starling. I managed to get a photo (don't worry, you can't see anything gross in it). Sparrowhawks are stunning birds, and as I expalined to my son, they need to eat to survive, so they need to hunt. It was just unfortunate for us (and the starling) that it chose to hunt in our garden, near the window. I suppose, in a way, it's good that the sparrowhawk felt safe enough in the garden to sit and eat. Eventually, it flew off when my husband home, taking the remains of the starling with it.

Sparrowhawk on the lawn

 

Signs of spring

 In spite of all the frost and below freezing temperatures we've had recently, there are a few signs of spring appearing in the garden. New buds are visible on most of the trees (apart from the spindle tree and the oak tree, which never recovered from the heatwave last summer). Also, daffodils have started to spring up in the lawn.

Lots of birds have been visiting the garden, and it seems like a pair of collared doves have started nesting in the giant hedge, we keep seeing them taking lots of twigs in there. Today, my son spotted a sparrow going into the nestbox. It flew straight back out again, but maybe was just having a look for potential nest sites? The blue tits and long tailed tits have also been visiting the garden a lot....mainly the bird feeder.

It's still really cold, but I think we're supposed to get some milder temperatures soon....hopefully.

Ice & frost

 We've had a few very frosty mornings this week. In fact, the frost and ice has lasted all day because the temperature hasn't got much above freezing. I love frost! I also love snow, but we haven't had much snow for the last few winters. I try to make myself go outside when it's frosty, even if it's just for a little wander around the garden. Frost and ice makes everything look so beautiful, and peaceful, all the plants and the trees look almost fairytale-like.

I feel like I have to make the most of this - the frosty, icy crystals everywhere. It doesn't usually last long. To be honest, I worry that because our winters are generally getting milder and wetter due to the warming climate, there may come a time when we don't see it anymore. It's a really upsetting thought. I worry that by the time my son is an adult, frosty mornings will be a thing of the past. I hope he has some memories of them. 

My point is, everyone should try to go out and see all the beauty when it is this cold. Maybe even take some photos, if you get a chance. Make the most of the icy crunch under your feet. Enjoy it, while it lasts.

Lazy Gardening

 Happy New Year! 

I have been making plans for our garden. I'm not really a natural gardener....in fact I prefer to leave our garden as wild as possible. However, I like to try to grow some fruit and vegetables each year (not always successfully). The heatwave last summer killed off a lot of the plants and vegetables, sadly.

I planted another tree over the weekend - an apple tree. I doubt we will get any fruit from it this year, it's still quite a small tree, but over the next few years I hope we can use some of the fruit from it. Even if we can't, it will provide a bit more shade in our garden, which is a good thing (especially if we have more very hot summers)! We also have a plum tree, a pear tree and a cherry tree, so will possibly be able to get some fruit from those too, at some point.

While I'm talking about trees...I think the little oak tree we planted last year (the one I thought had died), might still be alive! I think it has tiny buds starting to form. I may be wrong. We shall see.

Also, we decided that the patio section of our garden was too big. So I've pulled up several paving slabs and will use the space as another grassy area, and let the daisies and dandelions grow.

I'm not going to attempt to grow too many vegetables this year, maybe just garlic, onions and possibly kholrabi. My idea of growing vegetables is to essentially plant them and water them. I don't do anything else....no covers or nets or things added to the soil (apart from peat-free compost). If it all grows, then great. If it all gets eaten by animals/insects, then fine. I'm a very lazy gardener.

 

 

Busy night in the garden

 Despite the ice and heavy frost we've had for the last few days (no snow yet though), the wildlife has been very busy in our garden. Last night, I shone a torch out of our window, as I wanted to see if there was any sign of snow (there was not). However, I did see the little mouse running out from under the hedge and on to the lawn. It stopped for a couple of seconds and stood very still, the ran back under the hedge. Obviously, the icy ground was a bit too cold to stand around on for too long. 

About five minutes later, I looked out of the window again to see a fox, with a very bushy tail, go under our fence and run across the field. It was carrying a reasonably large, dead creature in it's mouth. It was too dark to see what the dead thing was, which I'm sort of glad about. I'm not sure I want to know what the fox had just killed. It's good to know that the fox is still around though, and that it still comes into our garden.

Shortly after that, two badgers arrived and snuffled around on the lawn for a while, just outside the window. I think it's the same two that come back to the garden quite often.

(Slightly blurry badger picture, as it was taken on the phone!)

The mouse made a few more brief appearances in various places around the garden, but I failed to get a photo of it. It's far to quick!

Two badgers and a mouse

 Despite the fact that it's freezing at the moment, and yesterday was quite foggy all day (still is this morning), the garden is still quite popular with the local wildlife. So many birds come to the bird feeder during the day now, mainly sparrows, starlings and robins. But we've also seen a wren hopping around, a thrush appears occasionally and the blue tit and great tit briefly stop for something to eat.

Last night, had a quick look out of the window (at about 9.30) to see a very fluffy badger snuffling around. It looked much bigger that it used to be, which is probably a good thing as it will help it survive through the winter (which seems likely to be very cold this year). As it was searching for a quick snack, another badger appeared, also looking quite large and fluffy. I'm glad they are still coming to our garden, I'm hoping it means they see it as a reliable source of food (and safety?). It worries me that people stll see them as distructive & a nuisance....seems they have a bad reputation. I mean, they dig up our lawn slightly, but it's not too bad, and grass always grows back. Poor creatures are just trying to survive, like everything else!

Not only were there two fluffy badgers wandering around, but also a tiny mouse came out from under the hedge and jumped around a bit in the grass. I think it was a field mouse, but I wasn't close enough to see properly (and I wasn't wearing my glasses). It's really nice to see that the garden is just as busy at night.

Feeling wintery

 I haven't written anything on here for a while, mainly because I thought there wasn't much wildlife around to talk about, However, I may have been wrong.  It's starting to feel quite wintery now (ignoring the last couple of days, which have been unseasonably mild), there is a chill in the air and most of the trees in my garden have lost their leaves or only have a few left, it's still dark when I get up in the mornings.

There is still wildlife around though. A couple of weeks ago, I took lots of photos of fungus....which I find fascinating, it's all so weird and different. I'm still rubbish at identifying all the different types (I need to work on that). A friend informed me that the first photo is Parasol mushrooms (they were quite big). No idea what type is in the second photo! Please feel free to tell me, if you know.

 

 

The garden birds (mostly starlings and sparrows) are still very much enjoying the food we put out for them. They are getting through it all very quickly, I'm having to re-fill the bird feeders at least twice a day. 

For the last few eveinings, we have been able to hear a fox barking. I think it's probably in the field behind our house, so not close enough for us to see (plus, it's dark when we hear it), but it's nice to know it's there.

Woodpecker & fox poo

 First of all, a sad (but not unexpected) update: We cleaned out the nest box that the bluetits were using last spring...well, my husband did. I couldn't face doing it. There were dead chicks in there, as we suspected. I had a bit of a cry. But, at least now it's all cleaned out and ready for them to use next spring, if they wish.

In better news, while we were doing some tidying up in the garden over the weekend, we definitely heard a woodpecker! It sounded fairly close by, maybe in the very tall trees at the end of the field behind our house. Anyway, it cheered me up a bit after the sadness of cleaning out the nest box.

Also, while we were outside we found a fox poo on the front lawn. Admittedly, finding animal poo is not everyone's idea of excitement, but it means the fox is still around and still visiting our garden, which I'm very pleased about. (Be grateful I did not include a photo!) I was a little concerned, as we haven't seen the fox for ages. It's good to know it's ok.

Owl (probably) and robins

 I haven't been out much recently. We've been having some work done on the house (solar panels being fitted), so have been at home a lot. It's cold now, so been using the wood burner quite a lot to try to warm the house up a bit. But, now the solar panels have been done, might try to have the heating on occasionally.

I had to get up at about 3.00 this morning, our cats have decided that now it is colder, they need an extra meal in the early hours. It was very chilly, but I think that I heard an owl hooting ouside, which was quite exciting! I can't be sure, as I was half asleep and may have imagined it. But if it was an owl, then at least it was a tiny benefit of being awake at such a ridiculous time. I was tempted to wake the rest of my family up so they could hear it too, but decided that they probably wouldn't appreciate that.

The robins in the garden are tolerating me being outside now. While I was hanging out the washing this morning, the two of them were taking it in turns to fly over to the bird feeder and watch me for a few seconds, before going to sit under the hedge. I'm not sure if they were curious about what I was doing, or just trying to protect their breakfast. The larger (fluffier?) one of the two seems to be the bravest or most curious, was quite happy to watch me and flutter around nearby. The smaller one seems quite timid and a bit more wary, would not venture out from under the hedge for too long and flew off to hide whenever I moved.

Grey Wagtails and a Friendly Jackdaw

Last weekend, we had a day out to Corfe Castle. I'd forgotten how much I love going to castles.  On the walk up to the castle, there is a really pretty stream with lots of rocks which is surrounded by trees and brambles etc. There were a couple of small birds hopping about on the rocks, I tried several times to get a photo of them, but they were moving around too much and all the pictures were very blurry. Anyway, it turns out that they were grey wagtails. Their name suggests a boring, grey bird, but they have a patch of bright yellow on them. I think that's what caught me eye.

There was also a friendly jackdaw wandering around the little picnic area, where we had some lunch.  It seemed bit wary, as there were children running around, but it kept looking over to the table we were sitting around. I did share a bit of my sandwich with it, as it looked hungry. I think it was grateful for the snack. I get the impression that a lot of people aren't keen on corvids, but I believe you should always try to be kind to them. They are notoriously intelligent birds, and allegedly they can recognise and remember people's faces. (I'm pretty sure I've read that somewhere!) So, I like to think I made a little friend.

It's getting chilly!

 We've had a lot of rain over the last couple of weeks, and a few storms. The lawn is green again, the berries on the pyracanthas are starting to slowly turn orange, and more snowberries are appearing on the bushes. It's been a bit chilly today. In fact, the last few mornings have been a bit cooler. According to the weather forecast, it will actually feel cold this weekend (well...what I consider to be cold). I might actually wear a jumper! I love wearing jumpers.

I'm determined to go out more over the autumn, and enjoy the chilly weather, the colour changes, the wildlife....all of it! Autumn never seems to last very long, so I'm going to make the most of it.

The pheasants seem to be visiting the field next to us again. I've seen them a couple of times recently. They are really beautiful birds. When we first moved here, I got so excited about seeing pheasants and partridges (I hadn't really seen them much before). To be honest, I still get excited about seeing them. I'm not sure why I feel like pheasants are an autumnal sight...but in my mind, they are.