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Birdsong for better or for worse

As soon as you enter the garden at the moment, your ears are full of birdsong. Admittedly some are more pleasant than others, as we do get gulls regularly squawking overhead, despite being rather a way from the sea – even as the crow (or gulls) fly.

Talking of crows, we also have rather a lot of them too, Jackdaws mainly. I think it’s because of the huge old trees we have around. You really can see where the saying ‘Noisy old crow’ comes from.

And of course wood pigeons, that go on, and on, and on.

But despite the not so pleasant cries, there are plenty of sweet sounding birds around, especially from our resident little Wren. But at this time of year there’s a wonderful secondary layer of sound coming from all of the busily buzzing insects, bees in particular.

The greenhouse is buzzing

Sometimes when I go into the greenhouse, the buzzing is incomprehensibly loud, as they all very generously pollinate my tomatoes and gherkins. Of course at the end of the day there are always one or two strays that can’t seem to find their way out, including butterflies. And obviously we don’t want them trapped in there all night.

Luckily we have a marvellous contraption that catches them without doing any harm. It has a little door that opens allowing you to put the opening over them, easily if they’re on the glass, then close the door. Opening it outside the greenhouse – and they’re free…

What’s splashing in the pond

As I make my way down to the pond, there’s the sound of splashing as the frogs jump in, scared of the giant approaching. The braver ones just stay very still thinking that I can’t see them. Sometimes it does take a while to get my eye in, as they are very well camouflaged.

Super Exciting!

One lunchtime last week as I was on my way to the compost bay, I stopped to see what I could see in the pond. I was over the moon to see a dragonfly attached to the flag iris. I shot back to the house to get the proper camera.

I took some pictures and after sitting watching it for about 10 minutes with nothing happening, I came inside to download the photos. When I zoomed in I could see the tiny hole where the dragonfly had emerged from it’s larval case, I’d missed it!

Still seeing the shell, at least meant that it had been living in my pond for the last year or two, and where there’s one there must be others. I’ll keep looking.

Insect nectar paradise

I’m leaving you this week with a few photos of the many insect friendly plants in the garden with their visitors. Including probably the most popular plant of them all to the bees, which opened it’s flowers this week, Lavender. It is literally buzzing!