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 Wildlife

 

 

 

 

Click on a link to read the article. 

 

 

Our Attempts at a Biodiverse Plot and Garden. 

 

Our gardens and allotment plots offer wildlife a refuge when many wild habitats are being reduced. Read how we try to make our garden and allotment plot a wildlife friendly environment

 

Why Make a Log Pile? 

 

As we had acquired a pile of sawn off tree stumps and branches on site, we decided to create a log pile under a large evergreen shrub

 
 

Making a Solitary Bee Motel

Unlike the social honey bees and bumble bees that live in communities most bees live solitary lives. There are more than 200 species of solitary bees found in Britain. Some solitary bees nest in holes in the ground and others in hollow stems or holes in wood. This bee motel was one of several made from an ash tree log. 

 

Hedgehog Family 

 

A family of hedgehogs nesting in a pile of straw.

 

The Grey Squirrel 

 

So who has been stealing our hazel nuts?

 

 Wild Flowers on the Plot

 

Wild flowers growing on derelict allotments plots.

 

Goldfinches Visit the Plot and Garden

We hear goldfinches more often than see them. They twitter as they fly over the plot and garden or rest in the trees. 

 

 Our Encounters with Sparrowhawks

 

Seeing a bird of prey is always impressive. We have had a few close encounters with sparrowhawks.

 

Marauding Wood Pigeons 

 

This year wood pigeons have waged war on our plots by devastating our brassica plants.

 

Encouraging Blue Tits onto the Allotment or to the Garden 

 

Blue tits on the allotment or garden are helpful as they feed their young with thousands of caterpillars during the spring and summer.

 

A Partridge in the Green Manure  

 

This partridge was spotted on our plot resting among the green manure.

 

Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dogs Tails? 

 

So which are welcome garden visitors and which are not?

 

 Lucky Newt!

 

The star of our video had a lucky escape. It was spotted in the soil as my husband approached it with a rotavator.

 

Toads in the compost 

 

When we spread out our compost heap we were surprised to uncover over two dozen toads. These were carefully rehoused under a pile of straw.

 

 Slugs - enemy number 1?

 

Are all slugs bad news in the garden or on the plot?

 

 The Common Earthworm

 

Drainage improvers? In the sort of weather that we have been having earthworms will have their work cut out this year!

 

Bees in Decline? 

 

There has been much in the news recently about fears that the bee population is in serious decline. Bee keepers comment that hives often resemble the Marie Celeste. Lord Rooker a minister from DEFRA has been reported as saying that the honey bee may become extinct within the next ten years.

 

Soil Association's petition to Save the honey bee

 

Ladybirds - under threat? 

 

Our native ladybirds are under threat from foreign invaders.

 

 The Wasp

 

August is a time when many fruits are ready for the picking. This year it seems that the wasps have managed to home in on the ripe fruits before we have meaning fruits have to be gathered with extreme caution!

 

 The Life Cycle of a Large White Butterfly

 

So are all butterflies bad news on the plot?
Here's the life story of one that is!

 

Whitefly in my coffee 

 

These tiny moth like creatures arrive in their thousands every year and they seem to be everywhere!

(Not sure that wildlife is exactly the correct term for whitefly but they have to go somewhere!)

 

 Click here for links to products that support nature.