Diary Of A Wild Country Garden

It is the Winter Solstice today 21st December 2014 and right now is the shortest day of the whole year. That is the shortest hours of daylight for the year. After today we very gradually gain a little more daylight every day and nature responds. Where I live the worst of the weather is potentially still to come. I has been quite a mild start to winter really this year.  The garden is still and quiet to our eyes but is getting ready to steel itself through the winter and burst forth in Spring.  Many of our creatures like the hedgehog are still in hibernation. Sometimes I think they have the right idea! They will have found a cosy spot in the gardens or maybe even in our garage for the winter. If you do see a hedgehog outside in winter and it looks underweight or sick do contact your local hedgehog rescue or wildlife team for advice. You can read more here Caring For A Sick Or Injured Hedgehog    Hedgehog, Mug by mag26s Browse Hedgehog Mugs online ...

While it has to be said that Winter is not my favourite time of year there is a special magic about it that I find I love... The flowers are largely gone and many of the trees have lost their leaves and it can all look a little bleak. However, if you look closer you start to notice the tree bark on its trunk and branches. Usually, we do not notice it so much, the leaves and blossoms take centre stage most of the year and the bark plays only a supporting role.  However, now if we take the time to look, we see the beautiful intricate contours on its trunk, the different colours and the often lacey pattern the bare branches make against a clear winter sky. The winter berries shine out red and glistening in a winter frost, providing a beautiful and powerful splash of colour just when we most need it most.  Of course the holly berries are wonderful and the cotoneaster, if they have not all already been eaten by the birds!  Red Berries in the Winter Sn...

We have several trees that shed their leaves in late Autumn.  We get a beautiful carpet of glorious golds, bronzes, reds and bronze on the grass and gravel. It's gorgeous... It is so lovely it is tempting to leave it there but for some at least we have a good use for it.  We used to just rake them all up and put in the bin for the council to take away. However, we have since discovered a few better uses in our own garden to help us and the wildlife.    We take some of the leaves and use them to cover our little wild mammal shelter. It is really just a collection of logs and sticks leftover from prunings in a corner of the garden but I like to think it gives some shelter from the wind and cold and rain for the little mammals and the hedgehogs if we are lucky. So the leaves go on top for some added warmth. We add a few more sticks on top of that to keep them somewhat in place. OK, some of the leaves we put in the borders. There they provide a little she...

I was looking through my photos today of the garden over summer and autumn and came across this one of a snail. It's not really cute and certainly not cuddly but it is fascinating and a part of the garden and it does live there....quite happily. Now snails are not generally on a gardener's top most wanted visitors list! However as a life form and a part of nature I respect them. Yes, I do have some choice words for them when they eat all my marigolds as they did this year and when they and their slug friends eat holes in my plant's leaves, but they are a part of the gardens rich tapestry.  I accept it. I also do feel that some of their shells are quite pretty and when they pop their heads out they can really be quite cute :) Also somewhat morbidly I know, if there are snails in my garden it is helping the survival of the Thrush bird who eats snails and the hedgehog who is partial to a snail in the diet, both creatures who are not doing so well in nature at present. Y...

Look at this little guy! He is adorable and he visited our garden.  It's getting cold here now and I think this little one was looking to increase his store of food before the real winter sets in and thought our garden may have some hidden treasures no other squirrel had found.  He is a grey squirrel, not native to the UK but originally from America and certainly successful in colonising many areas and finding opportunities for food and shelter.  Our native squirrel is a Red Squirrel, smaller and much more reddish in colour than a Grey Squirrel,  but we do not see those anymore here, the nearest to us are in Northumberland and Scotland. We don't very often get squirrels in our garden, they seem to prefer the woodland nearby and the cemetery where there are huge mature trees with a good supply of nuts. This one however decided to try his luck.    Cute Squirrel Mug by RaintreeDesigns Order custom mugs on zazzle. We do not encourage squir...

Berries Abound In Abundance!  Berries abound on the Cotoneaster and in the hedgerow. I wonder as there are so many berries what the winter will be like.  It is often said around here that if there are many berries that it will be a severe winter.  I don't know about that. It is perhaps that we had such a good spring and summer and the trees and shrubs produced more berries.  I guess only time will tell as we go through winter.  The birds have started to notice the berries now and are eating a few already as they ripen. Many birds visit for the berries. In particular large pigeons sit on our garage roof savoring the tasty berries. Often they will simply sit in the Cotoneaster eating berries within their reach! Our visiting Woodpigeons are looking quite plump now! Of course, birds are one of the main distributors of berries and it works well. The birds get their food and the berries get distributed far and wide and of those that land on the favorabl...

Our Virginia creeper comes into its own just now, in Autumn. It shines a stunning vibrant red. We value it as much as the Daffodils in Spring.  Most of the year it is hardly noticed but now it shouts out and is beautiful. A plant swan song before it too loses its leaves completely here.  I love its rich red shiny leaves at this time of year. The way it trails up and over structures and other sturdy plants and shows off its amazing colour. On a bright sunny day, the leaves seem to shine and I think they look very beautiful. Even dark, dull rainy days are brightened up by its glorious display shining out for us to see. The vibrant red giving us a boost at a time many of us start to slow and slumber.   Virginia creeper is quite an easy plant to grow. It likes sun or shade and is not fussy about soil type either, wet or dry it does not worry it, it can even grow in slightly alkaline soils. A lovely plant to have in the garden. Obviously, in a very dry spell it...

OK so this is not in my garden, it is nowhere near big enough to have swans! However,  I really wanted to share this video with you.  It shows the rescue of a baby swan that has got stuck in a fence. The video also highlights just how protective parent Swans are. I do think this video demonstrates the very valuable work of the Wildlife Trust.  Organisations like this and the hardworking people who conduct the rescues really help our wildlife, when they find themselves in trouble, wherever they may be. If you like this post please share it with your friends

I wonder how many of us see a birdbath as an essential item in the garden?  I know many of my neighbours do not have one yet and even though they feed the birds and some put up nest boxes and allow hedges to grow they do not see the need for a birdbath. However I feel that it is an essential item in any garden, be it a wild one or not.  When we got ours a few years ago I had no idea how much it would be used!  It took a few days but it wasn't long before we had a lot of inquisitive visitors and took them no time at all to be drinking and bathing :)  We have ours on our patio close to the house but they do not seem to mind this at all and it gives us a close view of them.   It is essential for birds to be able to drink and to be able to bathe and preen their feathers, their very lives depend upon it. So a clean safe source of water is of vital importance to them. All year round they use our birdbath. Just yesterday when I was talking to a friend on Fa...

I was thinking about this, are we too tidy in our gardens? I love to see a beautifully neat and tidy garden, everything with a place and everything in its place. I have a friend whose garden is like this and I have to say it is very restful - for people. You can walk across the lawn- not grass- a proper lawn, and even barefoot you would not sting yourself on a rogue nettle sapling, or hope to meet with a bee or wasp.  Each flower is in its place and as soon as it fades the seed head is plucked off and replaced by another beautiful flower. My friend loves her garden and I love her garden...but the wildlife... they don't love it so much.... We discuss this and well the debate is ongoing! I also have to say my garden is, somewhat sadly, not like that! It is not by design it is just the sort of garden that does not lend itself to over tidiness, it would not look or feel right. It is intrinsically for the wildlife and it is theirs.   We have left some of the leaves that...

So we have now in mid-October reached Autumn or Fall.  I cannot believe how fast this year has progressed. I do love the month of October though as we lose the occasionally fierce heat of summer and cooler weather gently or not so gently sometimes takes over.   We have had a beautiful warm and sunny summer and a fairly mild September and just now we feel the hint of autumn's influence upon the garden. I can look out now and see the once-green trees turning into the reds and golds and bronze colours so typical of this time of year. I love these autumnal colours, they are the most wonderful, rich and interesting for the year and so beautiful. All the more so as we know they will not be here very long before winter takes a hold of the landscape.  The winds are starting to grow stronger now and the trees bow majestically to their great force. The ones that are flexible and gracefully moving with the wind, the survivors in this. Sadly the rigid that brace against the...

Where? Yes, I did. But not on the stair as the little song goes, no in the garden.  He or she was taking full advantage of our bird feeder set in a secluded spot with nice ground cover in the form of bark mulch.  This feeder was providing  a steady stream of food via the birds who messy eaters as they are dropped so much on the ground.  He or she was a very cute looking mouse and was joined by another one as they got used to us.  However, while I am OK with them in the garden I do not want mice in the house so we moved the feeders much further down the garden and are more careful about spilled birdseed grain now.  Our neighbours are avid bird feeders as well so we warned them to just be careful with feeders very close to the house.  The mouse is -we think- a wood mouse and they rarely like to come into homes but it is certainly not unheard of so it's just being careful. They are usually nocturnal mainly so it was surprising to see them ou...

I wanted to shares some real beauty with you today.  Not in my own garden today but visiting another, which I find important to do for inspiration and just the joy of appreciation.  Yesterday we visited a beautiful garden near us. It has a large lake which at this time of year, just on the edge of summer going into autumn,  is filled with gorgeous water lilies.  There are many types and colours and my all-time favourite is this one with its pristine white petals and a vibrant yellow centre.  We don't have a lake or even a pond in our garden so when I like to see water-loving plants we come to this garden and it is wonderful. The lake was so serene, just a gentle breeze on a warm day gently rippling the surface of the water with the hazy sunlight dancing sparkling across the waves. It was so relaxing and so lovely. An afternoon off to appreciate the beauty of a waterlily on the lake.... precious moments indeed.  Do you like water lilies?

I was lucky enough to be working from home recently and looking out of the window on a coffee break I saw a beautiful sight!  I had heard the birds singing as I worked but when I looked our garden was filled with birds of such a variety of types and sizes, they were so lovely.  Read more about my happy experience here. It is always worth looking out of the window!   A Garden Filled With Birds If you like this post please share it with your friends. 

There is an old anonymous saying that goes something like this:- "Wether the weather be fine, Or wether the weather be not Whether the weather be cold, Or wether the weather be hot, We'll weather the weather , whatever the weather, Weather we like it or not !" Yes it's a bit of a tongue twister but so has our weather recently. So far this winter we have had no or little snow and it really hasn't been that cold.  However in the north we had a tidal surge that flooded the city near us and we have had gales and it has rained, rained and more rain of late. We are also having massive coastal erosion and losing especially on the east coast much of the land and many houses were built on the coastline. It is devastating for people and some of the wildlife. The last month has seen the south of England hit hard by gales, waves of over sixty-foot high crashing into coastal areas and massive devastating flooding.  The flooding has been in some areas like Somerset...