Well it feels like summer is finally upon us!
No Mow May got into full swing this year, and I think there were fewer disapproving glances, thanks to the new signage (see below) which was helped by the fact there wasn't actually much grass. It's bizarre how simply having a sign appears to make the wildness 'official'; perhaps some people see it as a permission of sorts. As an Interpreter, I find this psychology really interesting!
[If anyone would like a sign for themselves (and their gardens); NatureScot has produced a pdf to download (https://www.nature.scot/doc/pollinators-managed-wildlife-sign) and there are various signage companies which can make it up for you. I used "Colour Frog" with each aluminium sign costing about £20.]
- Start of May - Start of June
Despite not putting anything stronger than topsoil and an elderly half bottle of comfrey liquid on the front garden, it has flourished - to say the least! There's several cornflowers and foxgloves which are almost the height of the cherry tree!
It's really interesting to see what has come up, as I was really throwing anything at it - any free seeds or plug plants that I was kindly given along with several seed carpets from Klondyke. In May, it was fascinating to see all the different leaves come up, so many different shades and shapes of green.
Now we're into June, the flowers are really coming out, so many I feel I might have to do an audit:
Cornflower, Common Poppy, Corn Marigold, Vetch, Honesty, Lupins [blue - self seeded; pink - planted], Ox-eye Daisy, Red and White Campions, Red Clover, Ornamental Poppies, Lamb's Ear, Teasel....
And the insects are loving it all! The cardboard covering the grass has increased the number of worms in the soil. The long grass seemed to encourage the ladybirds. And now it is literally buzzing with bees! On Saturday I even saw a Cinnabar moth [although it was too flighty for a decent photo]!
May has also seen the arrival of the starling chicks... this started with one or two noisy chicks being brought down by their argumentative and equally squabling parents...but has quickly turned into a mob. This years chick count is roughly 33 (up from 25 last year) although its plausible some may have a second clutch.
The chicks are the same size as the adults [although brown and fluffier] and apparently [in the first few days at least] incapable of feeding themselves. There is much cacophony, as these younger chicks have a really grating call to attract a parent or other adult's attention. Later on, when their parents have left them, to fend for themselves [although generally still within a creche of other chicks] their calls are squeakier almost like rodents.
Although they do eat a lot (I got through a box of 25 fat/suet balls in 4 days), create a lot of noise (harmonic dawn chorus, they are not) and are inherently messy and wayward (they constantly fly into the windows) - I do have a fondness for starling chicks, as they are so genuinly curious and extremely dim at the same time. They have a knack of using many garden features in a way I would never have intended: 3 chicks can simultaneously have a bath in an average dog water bowl and it is possible to immerse oneself inside the suet ball feeder by going head first (and reversing to get out).
What they lack in brains they by far make up for in entertainment value and they are not remotely fussed if I'm in the garden or not.
Their current source of confusion is the barrel water feature, which [until recently] contained no way of allowing access to the water (a mis-guided attempt on my part, to not provide any opportunity for them to fall in). This did not stop them trying, as they had already requisistioned the dog water bowl for their bathing habits. A cluster of nine chicks descended on the barrel edge, all apparently goading the others to attempt to land on the solar floating fountain. Several succeeded in landing on the submerged plant pots and taking a victory drink. I have since added several sticks to permit drinking [but hopefully not bathing] - like adding the improvised hedgehog ramp, apparently I must step up and be the health and safety officer for birds too.
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