Garden Catch Up

I’ve been getting behind on posting images of my garden – other things pop up for me to talk about instead!

So beware, there will be a fair few to follow, including a lot of images in this blog alone! Whoops he he he.

The following photos were taken a couple of weeks ago when it was raining heavily mixed with hot sun – it looked like the summer house and upper tier of the garden were on fire again as the rain was burnt away.

Herb Robert, I’ve waited for one to self seed for ages and I found one hitching a ride with a Chive in a pot that had been lost under a Clematis and Elder, so a very nice surprise to see it :)

Long grass… Sometimes I’m speechless how quickly it grows!

Water drop on Aquilegia

The same Aquilegia, it’s exploded this year! I have had it cooped up in a pot for years, it was planted last year and barely did anything but this year it’s at least trebled in size. Stunning!

Allium, I’m in love… I hadn’t bothered getting any more Alliums last Autumn, but since this beauty has been out I’ve rediscovered my love and these are the only two that have survived – either the snow or the Foxes, I don’t know, but the rest all seem to have disappeared!

A little fly on the Lliatris leaves sunning itself to warm up again after the rain.

Yarrow head (I think??) it was simply marked as ‘cottage plant’ but I’m pretty sure I recognise it from my pink Yarrow last year.

A Carder Bee on the American Wistera, the flowers have pretty much died whilst I was away as pete didn’t water it… Shame.

Raspberry flower buds, it’s now in flower, sadly it hasn’t done much, so I expect a minimal crop… Oh well, it’s only the first year I’ve ever had them, so don’t really expect much this year.

This little flower was in some hanging baskets when we moved in… Only I can never remember its name, but it’s self seeded pretty much everywhere!

A Geranium bought last year from Wilkos for 80p, reduced as it was half dead and the end of the season, so I’ve waited almost a year to find out what it would look like, as again the pot simply said ‘Geranium Variety’ hmmm, thanks, that’s very helpful Wilko!!

Dicentra, it’s coming to the end now, and has been rather damaged by the rain so this year it didn’t put out such a good show unfortunately…

I hope you enjoyed the shortish tour around the garden, not a great deal has changed since these photos, I’m still waiting for everything to pop, especially the seedlings I have growing, some have been planted and I’m waiting for them to flower:

Nicotiana
Poppy (various varieties)
Cornflower
Lavertera
Verbena (various Varieties)
Foxglove
Hollyhock
Sea Holly
Gaura
Anemone

I still have plenty more that have been potted up and coming along nicely…

Norfolk

I’m back from Norfolk and had a wonderful time, the weather was great with only a couple of relatively short showers.

My birding list was as follows:

Shelduck
Mandarin
Great Crested Grebe
Mallard
Canada Goose
Lapwing
Tufted Duck
Black Swan
Coot
Moorhen
Crow
Jackdaw
Rook
Jay
Greenfinch
Goldfinch
Chaffinch
House Sparrow
Woodpigeon
Feral Pigeon
Pheasant
Red-Legged Partridge
Collared Dove
Blackbird
Robin
Long-Tailed Tit
Great Tit
Blue Tit
Mistle Thrush
Goldcrest
Chiff Chaff
Common Tern
Grey Heron
Blackcap
Willow Warbler
Treecreeper
Swift
Swallow
Wren
Mute Swan
Greylag Goose
Gadwall
Pochard
Teal
Egyptian Goose
Pied Wagtail
Black Headed Gull
Common Gull
Herring Gull
Reed Warbler
Grasshopper Warbler
Cetti’s Warbler
Marsh Harrier
Sky Lark
Cuckoo

At least I think that’s all, I could’ve missed some off…

We discovered a nice place called Fairhaven, a water garden fairly close to Strumpshaw, so we often went back for a cup of tea/bite to eat. We enjoyed a nice boat trip along the broads, eventually the end it did begin to rain so our visit was cut short after hiding under some azaleas from the rain watching a brood of LTT’s flit around feeding.

Lots of LTT’s were around, I imagine there must have been more than one brood there were so many flitting around above us

Views of the water garden, these ‘streams’ criss cross around the garden.

A view to the house, we don’t believe this is open to the public as there was no obvious route to it, just tantalising little glimpses.

Primula Candelalbra, these are everywhere and looked amazing. I’ve never been a fan of Primula (love Vialii though!) but these were very nice and I think I may just have to get some! Mum was tempted but it seemed a little silly to drive home with a boot full hehehe

Small Tortoishell on a Hybrid Bluebell.

Egyptian Goose

Waiting for the boat ride, looking out onto the broads.

Little Mallard duckling

Mr Mallard

We visited Strumpshaw Fens, nice place and had a nice slow/long walk around the site 3/4 miles or similar I believe it was. We missed the bearded tits and Bittern, oh well. And apparently the day before Swallow Tail Butterflies had been seen, sadly I wasn’t so lucky!

Black cap in a shrub, I assume they had a brood already as they were in and out, the male then postured to the female as she brought him a twig!

Strumpshaw Fen, I think this was the meadow (obviously not yet in flower!)

Water way with reeds, barely caught any sightings of the warblers but they were definitely making their presence heard. The Grasshopper warblers especially, I’m unsure if we were actually hearing grasshoppers!

Female Common Blue??

Marsh Harrier, a record shot only.

Mr Pheasant

Mrs Pheasant, she didn’t want to move from the path for me, we had to creep around her lol.

Canada Goslings

Coot with pretty ripples around it

Far too much money was spent in Norwich *whistles innocently* obviously Monsoon is evil – but then it always is as surprisingly the same happens in Inverness every year… Hmmm strange how that should happen… lol. I managed to resist the temptation of Hotel Chocolat (well I did actually plan to go back later, but forgot)

I hope everyone has had a great Bank Holiday weekend, it’s been scorching hot here and I think I’ve caught the sun again after spending the morning birding in the local patch and then doing some gardening in the afternoon.

Sunday Evenings...

Why are Sunday evenings so bad?? I hate them with a passion as you seem to spend from 5/6pm onwards getting more and more depressed as that Monday feeling begins to kick in as you dread getting up and joining the rat race yet again.

So sorry, I have a lot of images to get up on here, I’ve been lazy with the blog so they’re seriously building up now, not to mention the photos I took today (in between rain showers) as part of the bloom day…

Tulip ‘little beauty’

Dicentra ‘King of Hearts’ is certainly one of my favourites, has a massively long flowering period and will continue will into August or later, just amazing!

Clematis ‘Willy’, has had a new lease of life since I planted it last year… Quite why it’s sold as being great for pots I know not as it’s now far happier

Weigela was here when we arrived… Although pretty I’m not entirely sure if I like it, it seems rather leggy with little foliage… We’ll see how things go over the coming years.

Maple

Sea Thrift is so magical, and loves to grow pretty much anywhere.

Russian Dwarf Almond was an amazing find in a garden centre… Hidden at the back, I had to fight my way through Pyracantha and others to get to it, I couldn’t believe why they had shoved it to the back like that…

I'm off on Holiday tomorrow! Woo hoo.

Off to Norfolk for some serious birding/walking... Although the latter activity may be somewhat hampered by my mum having cellulitis in her legs, she's unable to walk too far so I may have to go easy on her. Shame, just the slightest knock caused it to flare up again as it never completely went away.

I'm hoping to go to a Falconry in the area, should be a fantastic experience as I've never done it before...

Lady Bumble

Today I found this little lady…

She didn’t look so well

She was unable to fly

I first noticed her climbing up an Aquilegia and attempting to fly

Only to promptly fall to the ground

I carried on doing my gardening

And our paths crossed again, I took her to a different Aquilegia

And carefully directed her into a flower head, in case she needed nectar

A smaller, Bumble going about her business as usual

Buzzing away gathering food.

It got late, and eventually she took a liking to my glove and wouldn’t get off

So I let her rest, I don’t think she’ll make it through the night.

I wonder what was wrong, there were no obvious signs of injury or parasites. She is a huge lady, much larger than the healthy Bumble… At least twice the size, is it possible she is a queen attempting to find a nest site to start a colony??