Gardening Funs

 So this autumn, I have got hold of some planters, two big bags of potting compost, and have planted my first ever bulbs, the first time I can say I've ever done any "proper" garden.

Of course, I have made sure they are pollinator friendly, and so have put in two planters and a pot of crocuses, and two planters and a pot of various forms of allium. I'm hoping for some vibrant colour and bees and butterflies in my gravel postage stamp of a garden next year!

In spring, I intend to try the same with some wildflower meadow seeds, as apparently that is the best time to plant them. I might even try some food plants too, I've never eaten anything I've grown. Tomatoes maybe. 

My sonetti has decided to make a valiant attempt to come back into flower, but is very slow at it in this cold weather, and I'm wondering if this first cold snap of winter will stop it dead, although we didn't get any snow here. 

The last few days I've been really lazy, especially today where I haven't left the house, so have yet to test my new monocular bought from Millets - I can't go in there without coming out with some silly gadget or other!

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 28.11.21

The Chop was Stopped

 So, after the protests I wrote about last week carried on throughout the night and into the next morning, supported by people passing in food, warm clothing and blankets to the final four who spent the night on deckchairs, a dramatic conclusion was reached the following afternoon.

The council and the landowner came to some sort of agreement, the precise detail of which has yet to be revealed, that will save the trees and the land as a public space as long as it is voted through council on November 24th. The council leader made some rather churlish comments about some of the protesters being rather abusive, which no-one else has reported. 

So I really hope that a deal has actually been reached to save the space, and the deal is voted through. Then I hope they do more with the space, perhaps put some wildflower meadows in.

Then it will have been worth it.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 21.11.21

The Golden Evening

 Yesterday we had a pretty decent day all told, so I thought I'd take myself for a longer walk than I've been used to recently, to see how my ankle would hold up and to try and bring you all some content worthy of you!

Pink footed geese have been active around town; at the park the other day I was having a cup of tea and a group of about 200 birds began to noisily circle over the park before settling somewhere near the marina. 

Their smaller size and much higher pitched honk tells them apart in the air from canadas and greylags. 

By the sound of things, there are still some amongst the geese that gather around the marina, but it was something else that caught my eye on the churned up ground just next to the fence.

It was a speckly little meadow pipit, twitching its tail in the manner of its wagtail cousins. It flew up in a jerky up and down manner showing the white edges to its tail before disappearing on the soil somewhere. 

After a turn around the park, on a day so still the wind turbines weren't moving and what is left of the leaves are being allowed to remain, just for now, on the trees, I made my way around the Blue Lake under a setting sun, where the waterfowl are starting to gather in slightly larger numbers, the gulls squabble over crudely chucked lumps of bread, and a drake pochard floated peacefully on the mirror waters.

A pochard! The first of these beautiful red-headed ducks I've seen on that lake for several years.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 16.11.21

Escalation at Stop the Chop

 Well, the protests down at the trees by the library have intensified over the last ten days or so, with the council clearly getting more and more annoyed with the intransigence of the protestors. 

It started when the council moved in, ostensibly to carry out an ecological survey on the trees, and look for bats despite the fact that disturbing roosting bats - and I haven't detected any down there while others have - is illegal.

The protestors decided that this was an attempt to start work on removing the trees and after being warned turned up en-masse to obstruct. The "ecologist" refused to give any credentials, and an attempt to remove a section of hedge to get a cherry picker in so the bat boxes could be inspected was taken as an attempt to create access for building work to begin.

Supposedly things turned quite ugly according to the local politicians, other observers say not.

After that, the protesters installed a gazebo and a tent so they were on site 24/7, and the situation stabilised apart from some verbal sabre rattling from the council. 

However, at 7am this morning, council workers turned up with the police, announced that anyone staying on site would be charged with aggravated tresspass, and erected a 6 foot fence around the site claiming that as it was private land there was no right of access, a fact they've rather ignored over the last, ooh I don't know, twenty years. 

Immediately more protesters were summoned to the stand off, although most left after being threatened with arrest. A hard core of five, including a woman in her 80s, stayed on although she was encouraged to leave as night fell and the weather began to cool.

As I type, four people remain, sleeping on deckchairs and supplied with food, blankets and other necessities over the fence, including a luxurious toilet bucket each. 

The town has made the news...

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 11.11.21

A Late Late Butterfly

 I had taken myself round town after picking my prescription up, no particular destination in mind but perhaps with a vague hope of spotting the jay that has been reported in the church gardens.

Secretive bird that it is, if it was around I didn't see it, but I've never seen so many squirrels in there, crashing through the fallen leaves, leaving food in caches, picking up food from others, and generally causing quicksilver mischief. 

It was as I left the park, going down some steps actually, a way I've never been before, where a kind chap pointed to the butterfly that was sunning itself on his wall and told me to take a picture. 

I don't know if he'd realised I was a nature spotter from the head in the air way I walked around the garden, or whether he just liked to point things out to people. But I was very grateful for him for giving me the heads up. Interesting thing to photograph are in short supply as we head into deep autumn. 

It was of course a red admiral, the species that hangs on longest into the colder months and indeed I've seen a specimen on Boxing Day one year. It was trying to warm itself up in the thin November sunshine and so was an easy subject to photograph. 

It wasn't the only insect to be sunning itself in a desperate attempt to get some warmth into its body. On one of the threatened sycamore trees by the library, there were large numbers of harlequin ladybirds sat in a low state of activity on the leaves. It appeared some of them were huddling away into wrinkles in the leaves, getting ready to hibernate. 

Blissfully unaware of the threat that tree is under. 

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 02.11.21

"Stop the Chop"

 Our local library lies adjacent to the old registery office, which was been bought, leased, resold, leased again and god only knows what else; it's a complex process.

The issue is not with the building itself, it lies with the little green space between the two buildings. Part of the leasehold agreement, indeed a contract, is that this area should be turned into a car park, a car park that the current owners of the building do not want, but if it isn't built the council face a 600K bill for breach of contract with a previous owner. 

I think that's the story; I'm probably miles wrong. It's very confusing. The upshot is that three old trees, a lime and two sycamores, are going to have to be cut down, and local people have gotten very upset. Indeed, they have already organised two daytime protests during the last couple of weekends, and tonight, they organised a third, a candlelit vigil by night. 

They say that the car park isn't needed, there is already plenty of parking space in the town, and it sends out a bad message in an age where we shouldn't be encouraging more cars onto the roads, into a town that is already gridlocked at weekends. 

I went down not long before sunset to take photographs, and told the organisers that I would return later with my bat detector; they have put a couple of bat boxes in the trees, and St George's Bat trust say the recorded 108 calls in 40 minutes a few days ago.

If there are bats roosting in the trees, then that automatically ends the threat for at least until spring. I have to say I'd been twice before and picked up nothing, but absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. 

I did return after sunset to see that a crowd of around 200 had gathered, holding lanterns and the like. I walked around with my detector, picking up no bats again while the song "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol was played while the crowd waved their lights in the air. 

I hope the bats like bands that make Coldplay sound like Motorhead. 

There was also some chanting of slogans, which was passionate although slightly...something. 

I do wish them well, and I really hope there are bats in there. I've not picked up a sausage. 

Yet.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 30.10.21

Still life on the Ivy Flowers

Deep into October, and there are still little pockets of flowers offering food to our pollinators. 

I speak mainly of  course of ivy flowers, aside from a few lavender and verbena that are still hanging on, these are the most numerous source of pollen around at the moment. 

All the bushes seem to come into flower at different times; while some have now gone over and all but transformed into berries, others have now come into bloom. 

With the colder weather, honeybees and bumblebees are no longer active, but there are still flies and wasps about, and of course ivy mining bees too, who will keep going into November providing it doesn't get too cold.

It seems strange to me that until a few weeks ago I'd never seen one in my life, and now I'm coming across lots of them when I'm out and about.

They are certainly a beautiful species, up there with female tawny mining bees in my view, with the orange-yellow stripes on the abdomen being a colour that seems so vivid without there seemingly being any reason for it being out of the ordinary. 

Goes to show, always keep an eye on the ivy!

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 23.10.21