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IN OUR GARDENS 2025

It’s a poppy!

I grew a few of these from seed but planted them in some pretty poor soil so the result isn't too good.
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However the one I planted in the front garden was beautiful but has now finished flowering but you can see the seed pods!

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I grew some from seed. The ones I planted in the wildflower meadow opposite our house did badly. The ones in my garden are doing a bit better
 
Brummie a long time ago said:
Yes thanks. A lot of the things Julie plants are chosen for being unpalatable to deer. We did see a few chomped stem ends, but recoverable. While we were away we did see a fox roaming about several times. We noticed some interesting behaviour. The fox seemed to have a fixation on one patch of the garden which is just scrub grass. It would suddenly dive nose first at some particular spot, then carry on wandering about. Oddly, we also saw one of our local regular cat visitors showing interest in the same spot. Nothing to see there when we got back, no holes in the ground.
We have several visiting cats, but only one at a time. They must have agreed a schedule between themselves. We are fine with the cats, we very rarely see mice. There is one that likes to sit on the access hatch for the septic tank, takes all sorts. Badgers are OK, we had one deal very effectively with an underground wasps nest a while ago. I just had to fill the hole in afterwards. We don't see any of this during the day, it all shows up on the cameras at night.
What we do get during the day is birds. Julie puts a tray of sunflower hearts on the window cill and a half coconut filled with seeded fat hanging off the shutter latch. That is non stop traffic from shutter opening to closing.
Andrew.
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Do you find French birds less tame? We found ours won't eat the baguettes we used to bring back and vice versa. I wondered if it is because they eat songbirds.
 
I Am Nico said:
Do you find French birds less tame? We found ours won't eat the baguettes we used to bring back and vice versa. I wondered if it is because they eat songbirds.
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They are noticeably less tame. The outstanding example is the robin, in the UK our local robin would shove Julie out of the way to check for worms if she was digging in the garden, sometimes perching on the fork while she was using it. Over here they don’t come near, and don’t come to the feeders even if we put out mealworms. Other birds are similar to the UK, happy to come to the feeders if they feel safe. The cats round here are night prowlers, so the birds are OK during the day. We do have an increase in blackbirds this year, about 5 pairs on the plot. We have just had a belter of a thunderstorm, and Julie was watching a blackbird near the shed. There was a bright flash of lightening, the blackbird jumped about a foot and then ran under a bush. Another bird that is up this year is the hoopoe (Upupa epops), normally quite private but several are flying around the plot quite openly this year. It has a simple call that Julie can copy quite well, and she often gets an answer when she calls. For all I know, they could be swearing back at her.
As for eating songbirds, the ortolan bunting (emberiza hortulana) sometimes appears in restaurants. (If you need a diversion, look up dining with a towel over your head). The quail, though not a songbird, is fairly common on the plate. There was a controversy a while ago about glue traps for birds. However, all sorts of birds get shot, especially after lunch when the empty bottles have been put away.
(Nothing can eat a baguette that is more than half a day old).
Andrew.
 
Smudger said:
Could be a Peony Rose or simply an Old Fashioned English Rose? I have a similar rose in my garden, lovely scent, but looking closely at the leaves it may well be a poppy !
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The first reaction from she who is in charge of the garden was peony, then she looked at the leaves and was very firm on poppy. (Don't shoot, I am just the messenger).
Andrew.
 
Strange how this year has turned out with wildlife in our garden. Its set out to accommodate wildlife, no chemicals and all that.
So many sparrows, its like an invasion
Lots of Magpies(with their blood curdling calls)
Lots of jackdaws, gits they are, they wrecked my small bird feeder, twice.
Hardly any of the tit family(we used to always get, a long tailed groups)
As I've bored you all before with, no hedgehogs
No frogs in the wildlife pond at all, Newts, yes but not many, and no tadpoles to feed on.
An abundance of insects, flying and not, especially mosquitoes.
No swifts, or swallows, or house martins in the area. (well just the odd couple)

I blame the newly opened battery farm in the area, I know its not that, but it makes me feel better. Especially after having free range chickens for donkeys ears.

Never known a year like it really, its quite sad.
 
boilerman said:
Strange how this year has turned out with wildlife in our garden.
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You must have our sparrows, well down in numbers here.
However, we have your swifts and swallows, together with house martins, and some crag martins.
We have magpies, no jackdaws, but we do have jays.
Tit and finch families are about normal. Hawfinch up a little bit.
Hedgehogs and badgers are rare, but roe deer are getting adventurous overnight.
We don’t have a pond, but there is a big one in the village, and the frogs in there can be heard all over.
We are generally up on butterflies, though the species are variable. The butterflies here fly over to check us out as we walk past. Had a woodland grayling butterfly land on my arm yesterday looking for a bit of salt.

Andrew.
 
Brummie a long time ago said:
You must have our sparrows, well down in numbers here.
However, we have your swifts and swallows, together with house martins, and some crag martins.
We have magpies, no jackdaws, but we do have jays.
Tit and finch families are about normal. Hawfinch up a little bit.
Hedgehogs and badgers are rare, but roe deer are getting adventurous overnight.
We don’t have a pond, but there is a big one in the village, and the frogs in there can be heard all over.
We are generally up on butterflies, though the species are variable. The butterflies here fly over to check us out as we walk past. Had a woodland grayling butterfly land on my arm yesterday looking for a bit of salt.

Andrew.
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Thanks for the update Andrew, good to hear someone's' getting some decent action
 
We on roadtrip at mo
so cannot send pics
i have said before sparrows/Swifts/Magpies
its nice to see sparrows we 2 min from sea in Blackpool
its our first year in house
theres a upper pond and a lower one
Newts/Frogs/ Toads
tadpoles have survived attacks from Gulls
thanks to Hounds
you need a flashlight in garden at night
watching where you tread?
the ponds are dense green in colour
got a pond guy coming soon
i want to clean them up a bit
at the same time keeping all the wildlife
my Son who is house sitting
loves watching all the amphibians on the move at dusk
 
Brummie a long time ago said:
You must have our sparrows, well down in numbers here.
However, we have your swifts and swallows, together with house martins, and some crag martins.
We have magpies, no jackdaws, but we do have jays.
Tit and finch families are about normal. Hawfinch up a little bit.
Hedgehogs and badgers are rare, but roe deer are getting adventurous overnight.
We don’t have a pond, but there is a big one in the village, and the frogs in there can be heard all over.
We are generally up on butterflies, though the species are variable. The butterflies here fly over to check us out as we walk past. Had a woodland grayling butterfly land on my arm yesterday looking for a bit of salt.

Andrew.
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I loved the swift’s & swallows, always thought them to be beautiful birds! As a child loved to draw (not very well) them.
 
Smudger said:
Painting the new bird table. I wanted to leave it natural but the boss says I have to paint it.

View attachment 204153
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Nicely done, is it just a light green or a Farah and Ball French Gray? sorry I'm teasing. The gaffer brought home a Farah and Ball colour chart, and French Gray was the favourite. Joking aside 20 yrs ago, I painted a wooden trellis in F&B, still looking good today
 
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