My Wild-life Garden Chapter 11: August 4th

In my last post I commented on the lack of small birds. I am glad to say that the very next day there were goldfinches of one of the bird-feeders and sparrows on the other. The following day there was one of the occasional treats: a flock of long-tailed tits passed through, inspecting the leaves of bushes for food.

It has been a wet summer there is no doubt. The rainfall in Scotland has even made the national news. Apparently it is the wettest July since I can’t remember when, and farmers’ crops, and feed for livestock, are badly affected. I have always liked John Ruskin’s saying: “There is no such thing as bad weather; only different types of good weather.” But he did not try to make his living by farming. Mind you he did have a superb garden at Brantwood. It is well worth a visit – and includes many wild patches.

Rain drops

I was expecting two more flowers to bloom as soon as we got to August, and I was not disappointed. One is Dipsacus fullonum, Wild teasel. I bought some seeds of this maybe twenty years ago and it is still appearing. It is a biennial, so you have to remember to leave some of the rather unprepossessing one-year old plants when weeding, and I find it is worth staking it in the second year, when it shoots up. The heads are loved by bees.

Teasel

So are the flowers of Centaurea nigra, Common knapweed. My plant of this just turned up one year on the edge of the long-grass meadow, and it now has a score of dark purple heads. I do hope we get some butterflies to write about before summer is over. I associate knapweed with childhood summer holidays.     

Knapweed

Perhaps that is one reason I like Campanula rotundifolia, Harebell, so much. They are still appearing all over the place – including some that have obviously self-seeded. I can all the more easily pretend I am in the country. Many of the flowers mentioned in previous blogs are still blooming, and the prolific green growth is dotted with white, red, yellow, purple and blue.

Self-seeded harebell

Summer holidays in the mountains were a time for Sorbus aucuparia, Rowan. I knew I wanted one as soon as I had the idea for a hedge and the one I bought has survived despite a poor position. But, twenty-five years old, it is starting to flourish. It now has abundant red berries.

Rowan

I would love to have photos of exotic creatures for you you. But one of the effects of a simple wild garden is to increase one's appreciation of the ordinary.

This frog in the baby-bath pond was very welcome.