It's been a while since I last posted here but I intend to rectify that and blog at least once a month from now on. So advance warning - this a photo heavy post.
To be honest I have been sad about some of the things that have been happening locally which have affected the wildlife here and that means less to show. My garden was once busy with birds, butterflies, insects and all sorts during the day and hedgehogs and the odd sighting of bats at night.
But one of the things that happen as you get older or maybe busy with other life things is that it can become hard to maintain a garden and changes then happen to make it easier to look after but sadly it has a knock on effect to wildlife too.
the first problem goes back to 2013 you can read about it here if you would like to see how the garden went .....from this
to this
The after photo showing the same view with the new fencing.
But last year, those shrubs and trees at the border over the fence in the neighbours garden that you can see above (and the whole border of their big garden that you cannot see here) were completely removed leaving no tall trees for the birds.
We are still trying to make our garden both easy to maintain but also have things to encourage wildlife too - an ongoing project.
These are our 2 Nispero trees (Loquat) which are now probably about 10-12 feet high and somewhere for the birds too sit and hide.
Aren't Sunflowers lovely cheerful flowers..
One Sunny afternoon I sat doing a little sketching in the garden
with my water colours and watching the birds
I wasn't pleased with my result that day ..
so another day I painted the Sunflower again.
yes... not brilliant ... but I quite like this Sunflower
and while I was sitting outside one of my friendly Woodpigeons was sitting right by me eating... he stayed for about 40 minutes.
I recognise him by his light feather on his wing
When we first moved here I had never seen so many butterflies all at once in a garden; the Buddleias were covered with them.
Over the years butterfly and bee numbers have dwindled considerably, but this year I have seen quite a lot, so hopefully that is a good sign of things getting better.
I love Tagettes/Marigolds and have them everywhere.
And there's Tomatoes over the back too.
These are my 'Rike' Tagette seeds that Rike sent me..
you can just see it says that on the label :)
Some birds still visit which makes me very happy
And there are vegetables growing everywhere
We ate our first tomato today
but have been eating lots of French beans,
courgette and chard and the rest is in the freezer.
and we discovered Tromboncini this year
The Tromboncini squash can grow up to a metre long
If you like courgettes you will love Tromboncini as
its a bit like courgette but much better.
We have ours diced and steamed and I could eat a plate full..
nice with a little grated cheese on or in a pizza we found too.
Help yourself to a slice of pizza if you like :)
all for this time..
Thanks for stopping by
Gill x
