Wildlife in my garden…

My garden is my sanctuary where I can just sit and just be.  I don’t need to think about anything in particular but instead just watch, feel and listen to what is going on in the
garden.   The sounds are mostly the birds different songs  and swishing of the leaves in the wind or maybe splashing of birds having a bath.  The squirrels bark at each other and you can hear them leaping through the branches. Birds can be heard rustling through the dried leaves in autumn looking for creepy crawlies, frogs can be heard croaking in the spring looking for a mate.  High above are the calls of the sparrow hawk and in summer when the swifts  arrive they scream over the gardens catching a meal on the way.  I love to hear the
constant chatter of the sparrows congregating in the Cotoneaster  over next door’s garage roof.   I used to hear crickets and had fun trying to find them but sadly I haven’t seen or heard them for a few years now.  I plant lots of flowers for bees and love the differences in the deep, low buzz of the huge bumble bees to the fast , ever busy,  buzz of the smaller bees and wasps.  The buzz changes as they enter the big flowers of the foxglove.  Then there is that strange scraping noise some wasps make when scraping the wood for their
hive. The pigeons make a strange almost whistle noise with their wings when they take off.  The magpies and jackdaws can be very noisy creatures cackling away to each other as can the starlings. The colours I choose are not jarring or too bright but are the more gentle pinks and mauves with a few splashes of white or even yellow for highlights.  You will see dark purples and burgundy running through too but mostly it is green.  I am drawn towards plants with texture like ferns and grasses to run your hands over of soft plants like the feathery fennel to brush over your face.  I have made areas with different habitats: logs, grasses, sun, shade, pond, shrubs, and ground cover to entice the wildlife in and I do try not to use chemicals and if I do use any at all I make sure it is at a time that won’t harm the wildlife. I get such a buzz of excitement when I spot some new visitor  in the garden with the exception of things like New Zealand flatworms and Spanish slugs.  I do go on early morning patrols to get rid of these as I haven’t heard of any native predator that will help out. Please excuse the photos – I have a new camera and will hopefully do better in the future.
wildlife, moth,
Brimstone moths
wildlife, moth,
Lime-speck moth caterpillar
wildlife,
Larch ladybird
wildlife,
Long-horn beetle
wildlife, butterfly,
Orange tip female
Spanish slug
wildlife, mouse,
Mouse
wildlife,
Small Red damselfly
wildlife, frog,
Frogs
wildlife, frog,
Baby frog

Our feathered friends…

I have always had the notion that I would befriend the wildlife in the garden and they would become tame enough feed by hand.  Our dogs didn’t share that notion though especially our latest one.  He does not want to share the garden with any of them.
The smaller birds he tolerates but he will see off pigeons, crows and the likes.  At one point we did manage to get tame pigeons by keeping the dogs indoors at bird feeding times but that kind of back fired on us because every time I went out to the garden I was followed
around by a flock of pigeons.  So we stopped feeding them from our hands and only put the food out in bird feeders and on a small tray.  Well now, my photographs can look a bit grainy if I have taken them from behind a dirty window and they are all different sizes but hey ho I am not trying to win any photography prizes.  We have most of the usual suspects visiting the garden: tits, sparrows, thrushes, blackbirds, crows, magpies, jackdaws, wrens, robins, haw finches, bullfinches, goldfinches, chaffinches, starlings, wood pigeons, feral pigeons, collared doves, chiff-chaffs, black caps, nuthatches, tree creepers, greater spotted woodpeckers, swifts or fly catchers, tawny owls (heard only and found pellets  but have never seen one yet)  and even a gold crest, a grey wagtail, siskin, sparrowhawk, herons and pheasants.  Some of the birds go for the frogs and tadpoles.  The magpies and crows flip out the tadpoles onto the slabs then pick them off.  The robins come down to the pond when I am clearing the  weeds from the surface and pick out any creepy crawlies and any unfortunate tadpoles.  The herons sit on the garage roof where they get a great view of the pond and surrounding area and they can be seen have a wander all around the garden in search of frogs.  One poor sparrow photographed had a deformed beak but managed to eat the bird seed ok.  One or two blackbirds had partial loss of pigment (leucism)  ie. a white tail feather.   We even had a lost racing pigeon wander into the house but that was a missed photo opportunity.
birds, blue-tit, wildlife,
Chirping bluetit.
birds, sparrows,wildlife,
Lots of sparrows.
birds, sparrows, wildlife,
Sparrow with strange beak.
birds, goldcrests, wildlife,
birds, goldcrests, wildlife,
birds, doves, wildlife,
Doves with youngster.
birds, wrens, wildlife,
Wren hiding.
birds, pigeons, birdbath, wildlife,
Pigeon bathing.
birds, robins, wildlife,
Robin in snow.
birds, pigeons, wildlife,
Feeding pigeon.
birds, pigeons, wildlife,
Feeding pigeon.
birds, pheasants, wildlife,
Cock pheasant.
birds, pheasants, wildlife,
Hen pheasant.
birds, blackbirds, wildlife, birdbath,
Blackbird bathing.
birds, nuthatches, wildlife,
Nuthatch – a bit dazed after flying into window.
birds, woodpeckers, wildlife,
Woodpecker feeding youngster.
birds, herons, wildlife,
Heron.
birds, herons, wildlife,
Heron looking for frogs.
birds, herons, wildlife,
Heron on lookout.
birds, magpies, wildlife,
Magpies fishing for tadpoles.

Let’s talk about squirrels…

Squirrels – do you love then or hate them?  I love seeing them but they can be quite
annoying when they dig up newly planted bulbs and plants, knock over plant
pots, eat the veg and raspberries and strawberries, and tease the dog.  They used to try the strawberries before they were ripe so I would find them pulled off the plant and just nibbled (but maybe that was the mice).  I do wish they were the red squirrels and not the big grey ones, but then I would have even more problems with them getting into the bird feeders.  I have tried quit a few so called squirrel-proof bird feeders over the years but they don’t stop the baby squirrels getting into them.  The gaps in the cages have to be big enough to let the birds in after all.  I have to site the bird feeders low enough for me to fill them up daily and as I use a wheelchair  that can’t be very high. The patio is the easiest area for me to access to enable me to feed and water them even in the frozen weather so I do have to compromise a bit where I site the feeder and how large a feeder I can use.  The smaller ones come with plastic feeder ports where the birds sit on a small peg and feed
but the young squirrels can easily get into the cage and destroy these.  Metal feeding ports would be much better but are only on the larger feeders.  The squirrels also manage to
get the tops off and get into the bird seed that way.  I even rammed a couple of bits of wood on top  to try and prevent that but as you see below that didn’t quite work. I then tried a wooden bung but that swelled too much when wet that I couldn’t get it out until it dried off again.   They even worked out that if they shoved the whole feeder up and over they could get it right off the hook and it would fall into the flower bed below scattering the seed.  On a small peanut feeder I resorted to hooking a chain from one side right over the top and into the other side to keep the lid on.  I have been told that if you mix chili powder with the bird seed the squirrels will leave it alone and it won’t harm the birds but I haven’t tried that.  The next time I need a new feeder I might try the ones that shut the feeding ports when a heavy bird or squirrel lands on it.  But they are kind of cute to watch.
squirrel, wildlife,
squirrel, wildlife,
squirrel damage
squirrel, wildlife,
squirrel damage
squirrel damage
squirrel, wildlife,
squirrel, wildlife,
squirrel, wildlife,
squirrel, wildlife,
squirrel, wildlife,
squirrel, wildlife,

Lush spring 2008

The garden in spring 2008 was looking great.  The tress and shrubs were all doing well – some a little too well and bulbs and spring flowers all blooming and looking lush.  Trouble was the Lily of the valley were beginning to run rampant and some of the shrubs had been planted too close to the wall and too close together, so for the next few years we ripped out all of the Lily of the valley and took out a few of the shrubs.  The ivy was looking great over the right arch but it was swamping the Zephrine Drouhin rose so we took the ivy out to give the rose a chance.  We took the black Elder out as it was going to get huge and there wasn’t really enough room for three large shrubs in the raised bed.  We also tried to get rid of the bluebells as they were the Spanish type and not our native ones.  This is an on going project as they keep popping up (as is the Lily of the valley).

raised bed
raised bed
raised bed and garden

A few changes…


We have all heard about ‘global warming’ and the effects it is having on our weather systems – but just whose prediction will be right?  Some theories suggest we are heading
for a mini ice age across Europe (Gulf Stream conveyor belt theory) while others predict hotter, drier summers with wetter autumns and severe winters along with flooding from higher sea levels.  The earth may also be going through a magnetic flip – where the poles
actually change their magnetism.   Only time will tell which, if any, theory will be correct?
Here in the UK our weather patterns are changing and these changes are already affecting our wildlife. Spring is staring earlier and our growing season is getting longer. Some
species are adapting to these changes while others are struggling.  Already a rise in sea temperature has affected the sand eel population in Orkney and Shetland. Sand eels are the main food source for guillemots, puffins and other sea birds so a reduction in sand eels has drastically affected the sea bird population.   Similar affects can be seen in our own back yard.  Our blue tits are having trouble feeding their young as the caterpillar numbers are peaking too early.  The frogs are coming to our pond earlier to spawn, but the hard late
frosts are killing all the frogs spawn.  To help our wildlife out a bit we are putting mealworms out for the blue tits.  Live ones are best and although I had an interesting few months when I decided to breed some myself; it is a lot easier to just buy them mail order instead.  To help out the frogs we keep a bucket of spawn in the cool conservatory
during spring and once they have hatched into tadpoles we can pop them into the pond.  We lost a few plants and shrubs in some summers due to the very hot and dry conditions but most of the others have survived well needing only a bit more mulch to keep the moisture in.
Climate change however is not the main culprit for some of the changes in our back garden.  In February 2006 we acquired a new canine friend, who is in his element
the back garden.  In just his first week here he found that he could leap effortlessly over the 1.5m walls – hence the addition of trellis above all the boundary walls.  He took our neatly coiled hose for a wee jaunt around the raised bed, around a few trees then chewed and reduced its length by a few meters.  He runs full pelt up, down, across and through the garden and has already worn a muddy trail under the right hand arch.  One fine game is to
find and dig up the peanuts that the squirrels have hidden.  He has absolutely no respect for our borders – crashes his way through the tulips and Narcissi and even has a chew at the odd branch while it is still attached to the tree.

trellis

One major project in 2006 was stripping out the old pond liner and replacing it.  Poor frogs – we made them a makeshift pond; a large flat container with their old pond water, stones and a few plants, then placed it  about 2 meters from where we were working and popped our amphibious friends  into it.   Harry stripped away the old liner then added some new soft sand while I cut back the water lilies, divided the flag irises and threw away any overgrown oxygenating plants.  Meanwhile, our home sick frogs who did not appreciate our efforts at a makeshift abode, jumped straight into the sandy layer before their new home was finished. We were astonished to find that only 2 weeks later the new pond liner
had sprung a couple of leeks.   ***bleep bleep*** exclaimed Harry.  This time they were just patched with pond lining tape.  Just when he finished filling it up with the old water and plants a couple of ducks turned up!

pond 2002
ducks

In the beginning…


It was June 1990 when we first viewed the 1938 bungalow within a ¼ acre plot
with a small front rose garden, divided in two by the front path, and the back
garden absolutely crammed full of vegetables.

 

as seen 1990
as seen 1990
By the time we moved in September 1990 the back garden was no longer full of greenery, but had only a row of Sweet William, a row of cabbages, some rhubarb and a few roses left in it.  We had no idea what to do with all this space!  Beyond the back wall is Duddingston golf course with its mature ‘listed’ trees and to either side we have our neighbours’ gardens.  We actually thought that the trees in the golf course had almost reached their full height and that it would be a fairly sunny garden so, on this assumption we discussed a very basic plan that included a lawn and flowering borders.
blank canvas what to do next?
The first compromise was the size of the borders.  I of course wanted
wide borders whereas my husband Harry didn’t. 
We demolished the single
garage and in its place built a double garage with a ramp running down the side into the garden (I am a wheelchair user).  We added a conservatory
which was initially just going to be a covered entrance to the garage.  All this reduced the size of the garden a bit.  We then re-sited the greenhouse, made a
lawn, knocked a hole in the back wall (to hide compost buckets and Comfrey feed bin behind wall) and put in a fairly narrow border.  Every visit we made to friends and neighbours was an opportunity to take cuttings and receive any plants that just happened to need dividing.
lawn and border and hole in back wall
greenhouse re-situated along with veg gardens
lawn and borders


The next compromise was the vegetable plot.  Harry wanted mostly potatoes and sweet corn, but I wanted to try just about every thing else, so we made ‘his’ and ‘hers’ vegetable plots! Friends used to come over to give me a hand with the veggie plot, but by now they were all having babies and babies
tend to take up a lot of time.  So we put in some paving so that I could get my wheelchair between the rows of vegetables and physically remove the caterpillars and other creatures doing the worst damage.  I had tried using a strong water jet to remove the blighters, but the caterpillars and slugs just made their way further inside the veg!  Additional paving also allowed me to harvest the peas, beans, leeks, courgettes and so on myself.  Two smaller raised beds were added for the blueberries and cranberries in order to keep these as acidic beds.  The trouble is; the more paving you have to allow access, the less area you have to plant.
By now we had decided it was going to be a wild life garden, with a large lawn for our two dogs, nephews and nieces with borders full of plants for birds and beneficial insects.  The effect I wanted to create was lush, green and relaxing with a mainly pink, mauve and purple colour palette.  What the garden now needed was a pond.  This time it wasn’t so much compromise as me getting my own way!  Harry wanted fish while I wanted frogs.  We obtained the
frog spawn from a stream running through the golf course and built a small wild life pond. Harry still gets a fright when working near the pond if a frog
suddenly plops into the water!
pond
But, I was running out of planting space and I also wanted to create a more enclosed feeling in the garden, so we had a raised bed built in 1997.
This was not to be your average raised bed for alpines but more of a raised border (three borders really as it is vaguely triangular in shape) with shrubs, bulbs, perennials and lots of ferns.  By now it had dawned on us that the golf course trees were still growing, plunging our garden into shade by late afternoon, so, we made one side of the raised bed a ‘sunny border’ and the other two ‘shady woodland borders’.
raised bed
raised bed

It didn’t take long before I needed even more space for my ‘must have’ plants so in 2000 the tear-drop bed was created.  As I spend a lot of time just sitting by the pond contemplating, what was now required was a small area for
doing just that.  Only a couple of slabs were needed so I could get my wheelchair level and enough room for a small (tree stump) table for my coffee and a book, that’s all.  Although it would be nice if this area was just out of sight of the patio for a feeling of solitude, so, the tear-drop bed was
extended to provide more cover.
garden view
tear-drop bed extended
Over the years we have both learned a lot about gardening and wild life.  We have a lot of wild visitors to the garden and we have learned to share the raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, apples and plums with the squirrels and birds.  We forgive the foxes that dig up the bulbs and pull out some plants because they are such gorgeous creatures and it is such a pleasure to see them.  We learned to sow a few extra peas in the green house just in case the mice eat a few outside, and we just cut out the bits where the slugs and snails have damaged the courgettes.  The only beasties I squash are greenfly, vine
weevils and New Zealand flatworms.  Although we love our garden with hindsight there are a few things I wish we had done differently such as;
·
Levelled the ground properly before starting – although we used a roller the grass is stillvery uneven.
·
Sand blasted the white surrounding walls – red brick walls would have looked so much softer so I am trying to cover the white walls with ivy.
·
Wider borders with more room for the shrubs – we planted the shrubs far too close to the wall and to each other not realising just how big they would grow.
·
A bigger pond with a boggy area and none of the liner showing – I would love to have dragonflies visit the garden and would have liked to plant some boggy carnivorous planst.
·
Put the green house in a more sunny area – it only catches the sun between about 10am and 1pm where it is now.
·
Used something other than boring slabs for paths; slabs look awful, but I require a nice flat surface to push my chair on.  Bark would look much better but I don’t know how that would be to clear up the leaf fall from all the golf course trees.