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.  

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.

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!

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.

Meteorological Autumn

 Today is the first day of autumn (in meteorological terms). I tend to go by this date, because it starts to feel like autumn now. When I was at school (a very long time ago), the term after the summer holiday was always known as the 'Autumn Term' (I don't think that is the case these days). The leaves are slowly starting to change colour, it's getting darker earlier and the garden is full of berries! Also, according to the forecast, the temperature is supposed to drop a bit this weekend. 

 

I cannot tell you how happy this all makes me! I love autumn. I'm so pleased that the garden has plenty of berries, I was concerned that the heatwave killed a lot of the plants. It looks like a lot of the vegetables we were growning have died off, but at least the birds and other wildlife will still get to enjoy the berries, which also make the garden look lovely and colourful.

We have managed to pick a lot of blackberries and freeze them, which means we get to have lots of crumbles and pies through the winter, so I am grateful that the brambles have manged to survive. 

In fact, picking blackberries is currently one of my son's favourite activities. There are so many in our garden and down the lane. I'm sure the birds and the horses will also be enjoying them.

The honeysuckle also seems to have some bright red berries on it. I didn't even realise honeysuckle produced berries, so what are they called....honeysuckle berries? They look really pretty.

The Rat is Back

 We're finally at the end of the heatwave. It's cooler today, but very humid, and we have warnings for thunderstorms over the next few days. The birds are a bit more active in the garden today, I think they've managed to throw some of their food from the feeder across the lawn (which is all yellow/brown). The rat (who occasionally visits the garden, usually when the grass is longer) has come back today and is eating all the seeds off of the ground.

I know I should be ok with it, and I'm really trying to be. I have a bit of an issue with rats...I'm really not keen on having one in the garden! The poor creature is probably just hungry (as most fruit and vegetables etc. haven't really grown very well because of the heat and lack of rain). If I just ignore it, maybe it will just go away once it has finished eating the seeds that the birds have spilled. As my husband keeps telling me...if we're going to live somewhere rural and insist having a wildlife-friendly garden, I'm probably going to have to accept all wildlife....including the rat.

 

Unexpected Owl

 The badgers are still visiting our garden every night. On saturday night, we were looking out of the bedroom window, watching a badger snuffle around. Then something flew passed the window, wings flapping but completely silent. It took me a few seconds to work out what it was, as it was moving quite fast, but I think it was an owl! It was quite big and looked fairly pale in colour (it was just getting dark, so I couldn't see that clearly).  My son, who was watching the badger with me, declared that it was a barn owl. He may well be right, he's much better at identifying birds than I am (and his eye sight is much better than mine).

I've never seen an owl in the wild before, so it was very exciting to see one just fly past my window. You can understand why people describe them as ghost-like, not only because of their colour but because of the weird silence. It was quite close to the window, which was open, and I couldn't hear any flapping noise from the (fairly large) wings or anything. It's really odd when you think about how big the owl is, my brain tells me that I should have heard some kind of noise as it flew past, but there was none. Obviously, it's well known that owls can fly silently, but it's strange and amazing to actually see, but not hear one in real life.

Every night now, when I look out for the badgers, I will also look out for the owl. The likelihood of seeing it again is probably minimal, but I can hope.

Hoping for rain (and foxes)

 The heatwave is over, but it has been fairly warm for the last few days and hardly any rain, just the odd shower which only lasts a few minutes. The garden is very dry. We let the grass grow quite long, but at the moment it looks like straw. Probably going to have to mow it soon, as I think it's basically just dead now. The onions I was growing really dried out too. I've pulled them all up and I think most of them will be ok to cook with, but they are all very small. Luckily, the squashes, courgettes and most of the flowers seem to have survived. We really need some rain though! Rain is one of those things that I don't really appreciate until there isn't any for a while, then I really miss it (as do all our plants). 

The badger seems to have become a regular visitor to our garden, we can look out of the window most nights at a round 10.00 and see at least one of them snuffling around. I'm really pleased, as it means that I get to watch it munching on the peanuts we leave out, and so does my son. I never saw badgers when I was a child, so I'm happy that he can. We're quite lucky, really.

Still no sign of the fox that used to visit. I'm hoping it's still around. My husband said that he could hear some foxes last night, so maybe we'll see one (or more) again at some point soon.

A visit from a badger

We are coming to the end of a heatwave. It's going to get to about 32 degrees today, but should start getting a bit cooler by the middle of this week. Windows are open, fans are on and we are trying to keep the house cool. Plenty of bowls of water have been put around the garden for any wildlife. Basically, it's far too hot and uncomfortable!

We have been putting the wildlife camera outside for the last few nights, and a bager has been visiting the garden! We used to get them in the garden several months ago, but I was a little concerned that they weren't around any more. However, it seems that at least one of them still comes into the garden and has a wander around.

I love seeing the badger so much! Before we lived here, I'd never seen a badger in the wild before. I'd seen one at a wildlife rescue place, but that was it. They are smaller than I'd imagined they were, and quieter. One morning last year, I managed to wake up at around five o'clock, had a look out of the window and saw the badger having a snuffle around the garden....it was lovely to see.

I'm still a little concerned that we haven't seen or heard the fox (who used to visit quite regularly) for quite a while, but hopefully he or she will be back again soon.

Return of the Blue tits

 We are currently in the middle of a heatwave, it's going to reach about 26 degrees again today. Personally, I struggle with this weather....I hate the heat. I'm definitely more of an autumn/winter person. We're putting out bowls of water for all the wildlife in the garden, which the sparrows seem to enjoy, and making sure the bird bath is always full. I'm trying to water all the plants and trees every day, but everything is drying out very quickly. However, in the last couple of days, the thistles and the teasels have started flowering.

A few days ago, I briefly saw a blue tit in the garden. I was so pleased to see it! We haven't seen any in the garden for months, not since the incident with a local cat (see earlier post). Then yesterday morning, there were two little blue tits on the bird feeder. Obviously, it's quite unlikely that these are the same blue tits that were nesting here before, but it's still really lovely to see some visiting the garden again. My neighbours probably think I'm insane....I think they heard me yelling, 'There's TWO blue tits!' while I was in the kitchen, making some tea.

I hope it cools down a bit soon, not sure all my trees will survive....the leaves are starting to look a bit crispy. Actually, I really hope we get a decent amount of rain soon. I think all the wildlife in the garden is struggling a bit.

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!)