Gold

Late afternoon sun captured and stored by Rudbeckia.

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Pond Report

There’s a very new, very small pond in our garden. Raw at first, it filled gradually with rainwater. Then, before we had even decided what to do with it, nature began to move in. First, there was a huge yellow frog, which didn’t stay long.

Then a beetle.

We bought some plants to improve the pond’s appearance, but also for oxygenation purposes.

Great excitement ensued when we found that two frogs had taken up residence; their activities are monitored with immense enthusiasm. That shivery feeling when they emerge in the dusk to go hunting! Laughter as they plop back in. Of course, we also hope they will keep the slug population under control…

 

Over the Hedge

A midsummer garden. Or the view from my window as twilight approaches on a June evening. 

Rozanne

Geranium ‘Rozanne’ peering through some iris leaves. Beautiful as ever, but somehow not as many flowers this year. I’m hoping…

Small Successes

Something went well in the garden! Here are some of my wonderful tulips. Before they go…

Garden Journal

Getting started …

I’ve been thinking for a while about starting an informal little garden journal. Just a notebook really, with possibly some of my own drawings in it when I’ve established the habit. I started on April 3rd, a day of some significance for me for other reasons, and I can tell by the handwriting that I was enjoying the process of writing it.

Nothing much has been added since, unfortunately, because I’ve had so many other things to do, but Easter weekend seems a good time to pick up the threads and start work again, both in the garden and the journal.

Wish me luck!

Gold

I’ve seen very few goldfinches in the garden; even then, they didn’t stick around for long. Just occasionally I’d hear an unfamiliar song, then look up and notice one on a chimney stack, or catch a brief flash of red and yellow as a pair took off from their precarious perch on last year’s Rudbeckias. In fact, I’ve never seen many of them, although I remember seeing a group (or charm) feasting on some thistle seeds by the dusty road I lived on when I was a child.
Last year, I bought a packet of Nyjer (Guizotia abyssinica) seed and a special bird feeder, hoping to attract some of these attractive little birds. Nothing happened. A couple of investigative visits from  long-tailed tits, but they didn’t seem to find it very inspiring. This spring, though, two goldfinches started visiting regularly, always after I left for work, of course! But this morning I managed to take a quick shot of them (through the window, so not top quality).

With luck, they will become regular visitors, and possibly even nest nearby.

https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/bird-and-wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/g/goldfinch/