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Hurrah, hurrah, it’s Damselfly Day!
I wandered down to the pond last weekend, to have a look at the giant tadpoles. They seem much bigger than they usually are this time of year. As I crouched down, a damselfly surprised me by landing on my leg. I looked up and saw a couple of them bobbing around the pond. It was obviously damselfly emerging day! The heat of the sun, between the showers must have tempted them out. I took a couple of photos with my phone, then went off to the house to get the ‘proper camera’. Damselfly, official name – Suborder Zygoptera. If you are in any doubt, the way to tell a…
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The Frogs have Spawned!
Well I think by now, most of you know how excited I get about frogs and wildlife in the pond! So as this week has brought, only our second ever frog spawning. You won’t be at all surprised to hear how pleased I am! Getting Frogs in the pond After creating this pond, mainly to attract frogs. The first few years were a bit of a disappointment! Driving me to take frogspawn from a friends pond. But all good things come to he/she who waits! And now we are reaping the rewards! Last year the frogs spawned on 25th February, I know this for a fact as it is a…
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When’s the most exciting time in the garden?
Just like I constantly change my mind on which is my favourite flower in the garden. Depending on which ones are flowering at that moment! Deciding when the most exciting time in the garden is, changes continuously throughout the year! Tomatoes. Is the best sowing, planting, nurturing or eating? Take right now, as I start to sow my tomato seeds. This feels like the most exciting job. Especially having done very little gardening since the autumn. I simply can’t wait for the gardening year to begin! Tapping out those tiny little seeds into your hand, and placing them carefully on the compost. It’s a lovely job that I can’t wait…
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Outdoor Wildlife Camera
Having spent eight years creating a garden to encourage wildlife, we decided to invest in an outdoor camera. We especially wanted to see who was visiting the pond, and the night time garden…. We decided on a Toguard H200 Hunting trail camera, with night vision. It was very easy to set up, just putting the batteries and a memory card in, and we were ready to go! I started off so enthusiastically, placing it in different positions around the pond. But I was quickly overwhelmed by the amount of material it was capturing, and didn’t feel I had time to look through it all. Summer is such a busy time…
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Rare White Sparrow
Although our beautiful little white sparrow is not albino, as he has dark eyes not pink. He is still a rare sight, as he has complete leucism (a hypopigmentary congenital disorder), meaning there is no pigment in his feathers. It is much more common to have partial leucism, which causes patches of white, known as ‘pied’ affect. White sparrow accepted into the flock The wonderful thing is, that the rest of the flock have accepted him, which is not always the case. Plentiful Sparrows in our Garden! Living in this part of North Wales, it is hard to imagine that house sparrow numbers are sadly plummeting countrywide. We are lucky…
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Wildlife Finds the Pond
I’ve been dreaming of a pond since I was a little girl. After my first pond dipping trip with an inspirational teacher. Reinforced in later years by watching Geoff Hamilton on Gardeners World. He was a great advocate of wildlife in your garden, and there’s no better way to encourage it, than a pond! Like Geoff I want to garden organically, especially the food production. This means tolerating imperfections and some damage to your plants. If you completely wipe out the undesirable wildlife, slugs, greenfly etc. then the desirable ones will have nothing to eat. The idea is to encourage the maximum diversity of wildlife, this way you create a…
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Dreaming of a pond
Garden transformation Part 12 – My first pond I’ve always felt incredibly grateful for the childhood I had. Growing up in Cheshire meant lots of ponds and ditches. There is a wonderful site Cheshire Wildlife Trust telling you all about ponds and wildlife in Cheshire. They do a lot of good work to try and protect Cheshire wildlife. I was a child that liked water very much. Even when my dad was washing his car, I’d be there trying to dam the water to stop it reaching the grid. My love of ponds really started though at primary school. When we were seven the wonderful teacher we had, was a…
