My Wild-life Garden Chapter 20: November 22

I was advised that in the winter there would be a good deal less to say than there was in the spring. It is certainly true that there are fewer opportunities to take photos, so you may get some blog-posts which are nothing but words. Not this one though.

We were away for a week, seeing egrets on the Arno, not to mention paintings in the Uffizi. While we were away there was some notable rain, so that we came home to find another three inches or so of water in the pond. This is good news, for it could do with freshening up. The task of dredging out weed and mud and dead leaves continues. I am not planning to make a swamp, good though that might be for some creatures.

More water in the pond

The best news is that the sparrows have returned, and are chattering round the bird-feeders and in the thickets. There has been a sad decline in house sparrows over recent years, so it is particularly pleasing to be supporting them. Over the years we have seen a few interesting and exotic wandering migrants at the feeders. None so far this year, but I shall be sure to tell you if any do turn up. I get great pleasure just now from seeing coal tits, blue tits and blackbirds.

I went down the garden at lunch-time today to hear a strange crackling noise in the sweet briar. There was a grey squirrel, defying the ferocious thorns, and eating a large rose-hip. Meanwhile a pair of blackbirds were busy stripping the elder berries off the tree. I need to cut it back this winter, so I am glad I have waited till the berries are gone.

As for the hedge – the beech leaves are the most colourful red-brown. But the oak remains my special favourite. Once we get to the new year there will have to be some serious hedge-lopping, but not just yet. It is quite a good way of digesting Christmas dinner.

My Wild-life Garden Chapter 19: October 24th

I remember that maybe thirty years ago the tips for the week on “Gardeners' Question Time” included a strict injunction to clean and tidy all corners. Get rid of dead leaves and seed heads for fear they would harbour slugs. How fashions change! Now popular commentators such as Monty Don and Simon Barnes remind us of the importance of food and hiding places for invertebrates of all sorts if your plot of land is to be regarded as healthy. Slugs forsooth! Those piles of decaying matter are hosts to a myriad insects and beetles, and smaller, which I cannot identify and mostly cannot see. They do their own cleaning up; most of them prefer the compost heap to the seed bed. It is their place in the food chain that encourages amphibians, birds and hedgehogs.

Just at the moment the RSPB is conducting a big advertising campaign to get us to provide habitats for creatures. This is certainly something I have tried to do in the wild-life garden.

I have built up a pile of miscellaneous old branches and brambles and prunings in the corner between the wall and the garage. It has been going for over twenty years and does not seem to get any taller, so the base must be impenetrably compressed and matted. The idea was to provide somewhere where small birds can feel safe from cats and foxes. I have seen a wren inspecting it in the spring, but I do not think any have nested there. Goodness knows what else uses it. There is also a smaller pile deliberately kept of dry sticks and open-work construction. It may not have any “attractive” creatures, but all sorts of wood-borers must enjoy the dead wood.

Stick pile

The hedge was constructed so that there is a gully behind it, before the stone wall, which is now full of leaves and hedge trimmings. It would be a wonderful place for hedgehogs, but an area of many gardens almost entirely enclosed by houses is not easy for them to access.

An old shoe in the ivy thicket

I can't bear to throw away things which might be useful in nature. Deep in the thickets there are one or two old shoes hung up, and a cracked old planter has been stuck under a thorny bush. If I were writing an advert, or a column in a glossy magazine, I would have these used by finches or toads. So far spiders seem to be the most visible lodgers. But you never know what will turn up. My lovely little insect house (see the photo in Chapter 3 of this blog) was hanging up untenanted for three years before mason bees found it. Now they are well established.

Who lives under here?

I guess the main thing for habitat is the various unkempt thickets around the place. They will not all be left uncut, but some of them will be. It is good to know that whenever tiny frogs or newts emerge from the pond they will at once find cover.

Then there is the compost heap, of course. I rootled in it the other day and found woodlice by the hundred.

Do not expect wild creatures necessarily to follow your plans. But have lots of possible places, never use pesticides and don't be too tidy.

My Wild-life Garden Chapter 18: October 12th

Every year I am surprised and delighted by the new seasons. There is so much variety. Even the earlier darkness makes it easier to go out at night with a torch. There is always something to see. Last week I crossed the path of a fat yellow frog, with black markings.

Autumn leaves hardly need a mention, but that does not make them any less splendid to enjoy. Every day they are a little different. At the moment green predominates, but all softened with red and brown and yellow. They are starting to fall too, which does make a problem for the wild pond. At the moment it is too surrounded with growth to be netable, but I do not want it filled with rotting leaves. As usual there will be some sort of compromise, involving too little too late.

First leaf-fall; hawthorn

This afternoon the sun shone. Once again there was plethora of flies, hovering and darting amongst the seed -heads in search of the last nectar. Some flowers that I mentioned way back in the summer are still producing blooms – Leucanthemum vulgare, the Ox-eye daisy, for example; also Fuschia magellicana, Fuschia. One plant of Campanula rotundifolia, Harebell, is still flowering despite being self-seeded in a most inhospitable-looking masonry crack. This is all good news for insects. So is Hedera helix, Ivy. You may not think of ivy as a flower, but mature growths do have flowers in autumn of the palest green; and very welcome they are for all those autumn insects.

Ivy flowers

There are lots of berries around too. In addition to the hips and haws already mentioned there is a fine crop on Sambucus nigra, Elder. This is self-seeded behind the hedge and is about due to be cut back; but I will leave it till birds have had their fill. Small birds are still fairly rare visitors to the feeders, I hope because there is such abundance of seeds and berries and insects to be had wild. A robin has appeared, which is nice. I believe they go in for short-distance migration, so this one may have spent the summer miles away. I saw the sparrow-hawk again, and there were about fifty geese, high up and cackling.

In the sun there are trails of gossamer glinting all over the place, and all sorts of spider's webs. I was especially pleased to see, in a crack in the wall, a hunting spider of some sort. It might be Misumena vatia, one of the crab spiders. They do not catch prey in nests but pounce on passers by.

Crab spider

I am pleased to give another book a plug once again. This time it is “The Moth Snowstorm: Nature and Joy” by Michael McCarthy.

It is certainly a book to make you think. Here are so many sad tales of destruction and extinction. But if the magic of rivers, or wonder in the wings of a butterfly, or the buzz of bees, or the colours of autumn fills you with joy, you are in good company.

My Wild-life Garden Chapter 17: September 28th

Yesterday we had a service at church for blessing “pets and animals”. Some of my friends took dogs. I think I was the only person to take animals that were not pets. In a small pail I had a few woodlice, three small slugs, three garden snails and one small snail. There was also a handful of leaf litter and a tuft of grass, with earth-covered roots, so goodness knows how many thousands of microscopic creatures there were.

The creatures were selected for their ability to live in a bucket for a morning without distress, and because they were sufficiently slow-moving not to escape. In fact the snails were pretty lively, and I had to keep detaching them from the rim and putting them back among the leaf litter. Most people seemed to think I was doing it as a joke. Far from it. The forms of life that are to humans insignificant, or even a nuisance, are as much part of the nature that we must cherish as are the furry creatures with big brown eyes that we find so appealing. It was nice to meet some children who found the snails things of fascination and beauty.

It was so hot at lunch-time that, mini-beasts restored to their homes, I lazed on a chair in the shade. It has been a lovely September in Edinburgh – call it late summer or early autumn as you wish. The combination of mellow sun and of touches of yellow among the leaves give the garden a golden aura which I am not clever enough to catch on camera, but which is very special. There are some lines by Dylan Thomas: “…and green and golden, I was huntsman and herdsman…” Green and golden is a very attractive mixture.

The main work is, and will continue to be, cutting back. I have let too much grow too freely in the last twelve months or so and there is a lot to do. One of the dilemmas for a wild gardener is to decide what to cut and what to leave. Possibly a suburban waste of nettles, ivy, self-seeded ash and willow herb would be good for wild-life. But this is also a garden, where with lots of different patches I try to keep things in balance. Anyhow, I am doing the cutting a little at a time. This is partly laziness, but it also means that amphibians and invertebrates disturbed in one area can move a yard or two and find fresh seed-heads and hollow stems and tangled old grass. One area that I must give some time to is the pond. If it becomes a swamp, with no open water, it will be a very different habitat from what we have become used to.

One advantage of cutting back is the frequent sightings of shy creatures. There was a fine Elasmucha grisea, Parent bug, sitting still on a leaf. It is one of the commoner sorts of shield-bug. 

Parent bug

There have been enough little frogs to give hope for the future population. There have been many sorts of bumble-bee and hover-fly. The biggest hover-flies look ferocious, but I gather that their similarity to stinging or biting insects is a trick to deter predators.

One lovely sight just now is small gnats dancing in the sun against a dark background. I have no idea what variety they are, but they are not biters. In fact I use the word “gnat” as an ignorant layman, not as a scientist or fisherman. I guess that their presence justifies the ponds and the wet moss, and the absence of pesticides. There are harvest-men around, with huge legs; and my grandson was pleased to have a lady-bird crawl on his hand.

On Saturday there was a familiar noise that made me look up. A skein of at least fifty geese flew across, high and going north. I claim no credit for them, of course, but I hope their breeding and feeding grounds are protected.

My Wild-life Garden Chapter 16: September 21st

On Saturday we went up Ben Lomond. That is a long way from the wildlife garden, of course, but such country trips give ideas and make one think about what is going on in one's local little patch. We had three seasons in one day, starting with hot sun and ending with mist and icy wind on the summit, with those who had gloves being pleased to put them on. On the way up the dominant bright flower was Succisa pratensis, Devilsbit Scabious. It was profuse, and growing thickly by the path. It would be fun to get some to do that in my “meadow” after the long grass is cut. I guess there would be a problem with over-fertility. When a patch has been a town garden for over a hundred years it is likely to have very different soil from a rough mountainside. But if you find you have got a garden of builder's rubble and sub-soil, do not despair. Some wild flowers will like it.

Water mint

In the pond one of our last flowers to bloom has come into flower. It is Mentha aquatica, Water Mint. I bought one plant when the pond was new, and still it survives and spreads, even though iris and spearwort and water lilies are much more aggressive. In the baby-bath pond I have tried to avoid total stagnation by installing the cheapest possible solar-powered fountain. Thanks to playing about with depths and nozzles I have managed to get it so that there is a jolly shower, but not a spurt that empties all the water out. This little device cost less than £8.00.

Solar-powered fountain

On the summit of Ben Lomond there were ravens croaking and doing free-fall stunts as they dived joyously. In the wild-garden one morning we found a scatter of sea-gull feathers trailing off into the bushes. I guess that such a big, powerful bird must have been the victim of a fox, not of a domestic cat; but I am not sure.

Predator at work

On the drive we commented on how the trees were just starting to turn yellow. Back home we are starting to see berries replacing flowers as the most colourful things. The Crataegus monogyna, Hawthorn, has haws, of course. But the real glory of the autumn fruits with us is the Rosa rubiginosa, Sweetbriar. In some years the mature hips – sometime after Christmas – have been very attractive to greenfinches. They have been less common in recent years, but one of the reasons for writing this blog has been to give me an incentive to observe more closely.

Sweetbriar hips

So as to help me with this observation I have bought a very jolly toy. It is a plastic jar with a magnifying lens in the lid. It enables us old folk with weak eyes to see little bugs of all sorts enlarged and close up. I still don't find I can identify any but the most common varieties.

Bug-box

Once or twice in the last week I have seen that wonderful sight of a gossamer thread catching the sun against the background of shade, as some tiny spider uses it to float off on its travels. I am hoping to see many spectacular webs in the next week or two. Watch this space.

My Wild-life Garden Chapter 15: September 10th

Yesterday we had a magnificent wild-life garden event. One of the things that has turned up in the hedge has been oak-apples. I germinated the oak about twenty-five years ago from an acorn picked up in York. Well, ten days ago my five-year-old grandson asked if he could take one home in a jam-jar and see the bug when it came out. I had no idea how long he would have to wait,and if it would work. Then, yesterday afternoon, the phone rang. “Grandpa, grandpa. The bug's come out of my oak-apple!”. I had time, on the bus, to read a little. Apparently it was as likely to be a parasite as the gall-maker that emerged. But no. sitting safe in the jar was what we could see was Andricus kollari. It already seemed a bit big for the exit hole in the gall. I suppose it squeezed out soft-bodied and then body and wings became more rigid. It crawled out onto my grandson's hand, sat for a while so that we could get a good view, did a practice buzz to test its wings, and then soared away into Roseburn. What a treat.

Oak-apples

There has been a definite overall drop in temperature, but last Monday was really hot. To my astonishment I heard some robust croaking. Tiptoeing up to the pond – a good twenty-five yards away – I confirmed that it was indeed two frogs calling each other across the water. I wonder what the point was? It cannot, surely, be to do with breeding as autumn starts.

Red Admiral on Hemp Agrimony

On the same day I at last saw brightly coloured butterfly – Vanessa atalanta, Red Admiral. The Eupatorium cannabinum, Hemp agrimony, has sometimes been really good for butterflies. This year they have been scarce, so it is nice to see one. I hope it finds somewhere safe to hibernate, ready for spring.

Ground elder

One of the most striking plants by the pond just now is Aegopodium podagra, Ground elder. I see my flower book says of it “a pestilential weed... all too often in gardens”, so be careful. What the book does not say is that it is a particularly good insect nectar plant for early autumn. So far I seem to manage to pull out unwanted plants, but I guess it could spread wildly.

I have mentioned before that one does not need to be too austere about providing native plants. We have two magnificent bushes of Fuschia magellanica, Fuschia, planted by some predecessor. They look magnificent for several weeks, are loved by bees, and provide a pretty good thicket for birds to shelter in.

Fuschia

Sometimes I have recommended a book at this point. This week I recommend a TV programme. “Gardeners' Word” has become a splendid advocate for wild-life gardening. Monty Don's wild pond and his pollinators are given plenty of air-time – and far superior photography to mine. There is more to gardening than growing the biggest leek or a prize dahlia.

My Wild-life Garden Chapter 14: September 2

Several friends have commented that we seem to be in autumn already. Well, it is September, and September in the garden means that seed-heads are beginning to replace flowers as the main centre of interest.

Actually there are plenty of flowers left, and some new ones emerging, but the seed heads are very splendid. None more so, to my way of thinking, than Rumex, the Dock family. I did check the flower book to see if ours might be Scottish Dock, but it says they only grow on or near the shores of Loch Lomond.

Dock seed-heads

Urtica dioica, Common nettle, is one of those plants where the seeds show them at their best. Those tumbling cascades of pale green are worth putting up with a few stings. It would be nice to report lots of caterpillars on the nettles, showing that butterflies are active. But I really do think this has been our worst ever year for butterflies in the garden. I did see a Polygonia c-album, Comma, about a mile away but in the garden in August we have had to make do with the occasional White.

Common nettle

I have carried on cutting back in a cautious way. The slow speed is partly caused by laziness and partly by a desire to leave what beasts and mini-beasts need for food and shelter. My caution was rewarded today as I strimmed the “meadow” area. In theory my actions now imitate the farmer who turns cattle into his hay-field after mowing, to graze and trample. In practice I go very carefully, and so I saw three little frogs – this year's babies – hopping for cover. Best of all I saw a Triturus helviticus, Palmate newt. I was allowed to pick him up for a photograph.

Palmate newt

I do hope that the “lack” of newts compared with a few years ago is merely because there are far more places for them to hide, I do think the numbers crashed here after the very cold winter of a few years back (walking on the frozen canal, I remember), so it would be good if they were building up again.

The numerous thickets and undergrowth sometimes benefit foxes. I can do without them taking up residence, but I was pleased to see a big one the other morning, sauntering across the bottom of the garden as I first opened the shutters. Grey squirrels are also welcome only in small doses. Our local one is finding ways of eating fat-balls even when they are put in the squirrel-proof feeder. They do look very sweet.

One of the many great pleasures of a wild-life garden is that children can experience nature straight out of the back door. I have cut a secret passage-way in the undergrowth so that my grandson can push through to the back of the pond.