Monday, 12 October 2009

What's caught my eye today?

Its been a while since I posted about our garden's plants, so I thought I would post about what plants have been catching my eye over the last week or so. And for my 100th posting today, I will start with some lilies which have just flowered in our pond...

They really have been adding some colour to our garden at this time of year. Most of our other plants have already flowered and are now "closing down" for the autumn and winter ahead. In the bottom right photo in the montage above, you will notice that some of the flowers are still yet to appear. Hopefully, the frost which we apparently could be getting tonight will not damage these lilies or anything else which happens to be flowering at the moment.

I did notice that many of our plants are losing their leaves now, especially our Apricot Tree. Just next to our pond, we have a little Blueberry plant, and the leaves from this have turned a brilliant purple-red colour. Presumably, it won't be long until our blackcurrant bushes lose their leaves too. Notice the lonely Blueberry still left on the plant!

The birds are still feeding pretty frantically, and I have been very happy to see a Goldcrest again twice, which we last saw earlier in the year. I haven't been lucky enough to get a photo of it yet, although it has allowed me to get very close. Its very difficult to follow the tiny bird as it flits through the needles of the conifer. Another small bird which has been visiting again recently is the Long-Tailed Tit, which we see more and more of nowadays.

As usual, the LTT's visit with the Blue and Great Tits, and just recently, we have also seen the return of the Coal Tit to our garden. Today, I saw a Blue Tit on our fat block feeder by the Apricot Tree. I haven't seen any more visitors inside our camera nest box today, although we have been hearing the birds tapping at the entrance hole and calling to one another.

We have also had groups of around 9-10 Goldfinches visiting our feeders too. When I am outside though, they tend to gather on a nearby tree, waiting for me to go back inside before coming in to feed at our feeders.

Hopefully, I will be seeing more of the same as the week goes on. Maybe we will even get a bird roosting in our camera nest box, should the temperature get cold enough. I wonder what your gardens are like at this early stage in autumn. Have a great week :)

4 comments:

Midmarsh John said...

Congratulations on your 100th post Joe.
I have the same variety of plant in my pond and it does look a treat with its bright flowers when nearly everything else has gone to seed.
My local LTTs haven't started visiting here yet and I'm looking forward to seeing their brief visits.

Jayne said...

Beautiful color in your garden Joe! We are just starting to get some color here in our fall... the full explosion of fall colors is still a few weeks away.

Angie Moore said...

A great post Joe. My garden is covered in leaves and full of hungry mouths to feed! The Starlings get most of it though.

Joe said...

Hi John, Jayne and Angie,

John- Thanks, glad you have enjoyed reading my blog so far. Yes, teh plants really look fantastic don't they. They are now fully our in our garden, so they are even more colourful.

Looking forward to seeing LTT's visit your garden later in the year!

Jayne- Thanks, glad you enjoyed this posting. Yes, it really is colourful at the moment. Yep, the trees are really starting to lose their leaves here too now.

Angie- Thanks, glad you enjoyed this posting. Our trees are only just starting to lose their leaves, but the leaves are a really brilliant colour.