Feathery Friend

 I've recently noticed that I've got a new resident blackbird around my garden.

I think it's a first winter male; his feathers are not totally black yet, and his beak is still a slightly dirty orange colour, rather than the gleaming sunset colour of a mature male. 

He seems to have a girlfriend, but potentially also a love rival who I've seen in the trees over the back wall, and who also is a mean songster too at sunset. 

We've had a little rain recently, and rain has collected in a couple of little seedling containers I haven't found a use for yet. This week I noticed the young male blackbird came down into my little garden for a drink, and a quick if rather inefficient bath. Sadly it was twilight, so not a great photo. 

He's a very confiding bird, and doesn't seem to spook at me easily; I've often seen him sat on my wall when I open the door. 

I've resolved to see if I can find a suitable bird bath for him!

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 18.02.23

Latest Garden Funs

 Well, I'm determined to do more posting again, now that the cricket season is coming to an end and I won't be too sore and battered to go walking and cycling. 

It has taken a long time for some of my pots and planters to get going, but there's a fair bit of, er, action going on now if plants growing very slowly counts as action.

After an eternity, the alysia has come in to flower, after a period during which I thought I'd killed them all and had to thin them. They are great for pollinators apparently, but the flowers look very teeny tiny for that. 

Also after a long old time, there's flowers blooming in one of my seed bomb planters, various little pink, white and purpley things. Not a clue what they are of course.

I have a second, and rather more impressive sunflower in flower, pretty much the sole survivor in its planter. It looks beautiful. And in front of that, I have two planters of nasturtiums on the go, hopefully I'll see flower heads soon, else I might have to thin them. 

I've had a second flush from my coreopsis. and that looks rather nice. Most of the rest of my pots I got earlier in the summer have gone to seed more or less, apart from the geraniums. 

My first season as an incompetent gardener and I've enjoyed it. Some things haven't worked, others have. It's a very middle aged thing to be doing, it feels like, but hey I'm nearly 50. 

The sense of reward when something grows and blooms in the way it should is very gratifiying, and also very helpful from the old mental health point of view. 

Let's see what happens in September.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 31.08.22

Garden Update

 After a slow period, where nothing much seemed to be happening, we now seem to have had a bit of mini flowering of various bits and pieces.

The last couple of allium appear to be developing clusters of red flowers, not yet open. Flower heads area appearing in the poppy tub, there's a feeble blue showing from the very few cornflowers in the tin bucket that have survived.

The wildflower seeded tubs have got things going on, with pink and red spiny poppies, sweet allison and what appears to be honesty, with other plants appearing to be just about ready to bloom too.

The clematis type shrub on the back wall has gone mad, and lots of white flowers have emerged there, which the bees love, and it also provides cover for the sparrow families nesting round and about, including in a hole in a fire escape stair rod. 

Nasturtiums have sprouted in the mini greenhouse, as have the antirhynus. 

I did feel there was rather a lot of green however, so I caved in and bought some marigolds and geranium, which are brightening the place up and offering pollinators feeding opportunities; tiny bees like the french marigolds by the look of things. 

Most of it planted by me in the end though, a first time gardener.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 08.07.22

Something Else Growing in the Garden

 In recent days, i'd noticed that the local blackbird pair, nesting somewhere over my back wall, had been getting very agitated again.

There was a constant stream of scolding "chakks" coming from the trees, with the resident house sparrows on the receiving end of aggression from the male, which didn't seem to bother them one iota.

Another blackbird with the temerity to enter the territory was brutally chased off by both male and female.

It didn't take an Einstein to work out that they'd raised a second brood, and sure enough the other morning, I went out into my little garden to find another fledgling sat there in the usual dumbfounded state when it noticed I was there, it's gape in the beak giving it a puzzled expression. 

The male parent dropped in to give it a bit of snail, but mummy bird with a worm was put off by my presence, and took it away to feed the other juveniles. 

It didn't have the flying strength to get out of the tangle of clematis on my back wall, so I decided to try and get my bike sorted and off to work as soon as possible. 

It wasn't there when I got home, so happily it found its way out at some point. 

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 30.07.22

More Weeding and Wondering

Managed to get out for 90 minutes to carry on digging the weeds out of the herb garden area at work - sheesh, dandelions are sods. Their roots seem to go down about 6 feet! And when you get rid of them, there's plenty of small, easy to remove but ultimately just as back breaking little plants with feathery root systems.

Found a cockchafer larva yesterday, ugh, what a horrible thing. Like what the evil bioscience company owner in "The Fly 2" ends up looking like.

I'm surprised no robins have come over to watch me dig, I am unearthing quite a few grubs and worms and ants nests. The best bird visitors I have are dunnocks who come and visit the other half of the garden, eating spillage from the feeders from the ground.

No kestrels hovering today!

Weeding going much faster now I'm using a spade, which I admit is a bit clodhopping but I've got nothing else. Been offered use of a fork tomorrow by an engineer however, that might help a lot.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 16.08.17

I'm not Very Good at Weeding

Took an hour to work in my herb garden today, noticing how bloody weed choked the whole thing is.

I don't actually have any tools to do this, so went out there with a pair of work issue gloves, and found myself rummaging in the wet, claggy soil trying to dig out dandelion roots which seemed to go on forever into the dirt, and wrapping my hands round thistles out of that thing we call stupidity.

I possess much of it.

Anyway, I managed to clean out a small area before the rain came, and I headed inside.

Today was a good day. I sorted out important cycling matters related to the Tour of Britain. I spoke to people miles above me as an equal. This was important.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 03.08.17

Our Natural Campus

At work, 200 odd metres of verge is still unmowed, and things have changed. The two species of orchid, the forget me nots, the gentian, the wintercress, the self heal, well that's all gone although the self heal is still visible in its gone-to-seed form.

What we have now on our campus is rosebay willow herb and teasel flowers in enormous quantities. The burnet moths that loved the teasel have died, but there's lots of bees visiting and small and green veined white butterflies.

The main field is a yellow mass of ragwort, with meadow browns and ringlets down in the long grass.

I've even seen a single silver y moth!

We've given the local wildlife a bit of a help at work.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 21.07.17

Nature at Work

I managed to get out with a little compact camera at lunchtime at work, to survey my nature empire.

We have got the on site gardeners to leave a large swathe of grassland unmowed which has worked a treat because my colleague in our nature plan found bee orchids today. Over in another area, we've dug two 10x2 metre beds out to act as wildflower mini meadows, and we are going to transplant some buddleia in and plant some wild cherry.

So, it was good to have a little trot about and see what I could find. The answer, well, quite a lot!

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 02.06.17