The seeds are in

My wildlife patch is really coming on well now. Every weekend, I am making adjustments and adding things to it. This weekend, the seeds for my wild flowers went in. The weather was perfect so it was a good day for it. I find that a lot of seeds need to be planted in September and October to flower in the spring and summer. If I can find any more seeds that need to be planted at this time of year, I should make the most of the weather and plant them soon.

There were a variety of different kinds of seeds. Some of them are being started off in pots and others have gone straight into the ground. They all take different lengths of time to germinate too, so its all a little bit disorganised. However, I do know that they have a good chance of doing well as my dad helped me to plant them. I have tried to grow vegetables in the past on my own, but the seeds didn't germinate. Lets just say that I put them a bit deep in the soil!

So what have I planted? Get ready because its a long list: Poppys, Bluebells, Corncockles, Ox-eye daisies, Cowslips, Corn Marigolds, Primroses and Snake's head fritilary. I am also going to plant some Allium bulbs soon. They all needed planting now, so that they flower at the right time. I knew that I was going to need help planting all this but I really wasn't expecting sowing instructions that were completely different from plant to plant. The most stubborn of all was the Snake's head fritilary (pictured below). The pots show just how complicated the mixture is.

I was a little shocked when I saw on the seed packet that Snake's head fritilary seeds can take up to a year to germinate. I won't be seeing anything any time soon! Not only this, but they needed course grit and seed compost to grow in. At this point, I was beginning to think what fussy plants these are. I have to say that the picture on the packet partly makes up for it. They should, if they grow healthily really look the part in my patch.

I am guessing that wild flowers are generally higher maintenance than some of the easy-grow bulbs and seeds that you can get. I am planning to buy some more seeds too. I have to say that this is mostly because I want the patch to be my own plants and not the usual weeds that accommodate themselves there. Once there are actually growing flowers there, the weeds should find it more difficult to seed themselves there.

One of the seed packets was a variety selection. These ones were generally easy to grow and don't take too long to germinate. When we moved in, I think we already had the Ox-eye daisies growing naturally at the end of our garden. They aren't there any more, so it will be nice to grow them in my patch. Hopefully the seeds will spread themselves over other parts of the garden too. I am familiar with all the other flowers in the packet, but haven't grown them before. It would be a real treat if they could attract some more bees and butterflies to the garden too.

Now, all I have to do is water them and watch them grow. Unfortunately the weather has taken a turn for the worst here, and we have had steady rain all day. I hope this won't rot the seeds before they have even had a chance to grow! I also hope that I will be able to weed some more of the patch this weekend and start looking at a water feature to go here, and a pond to go elsewhere in my garden. It really is busy busy busy!

All photos taken in my garden on 28/09/08

A crisp autumn morning

And a walk around my garden to get photos of visiting birds. I say that its autumn but the weather isn't agreeing. It has been warm and sunny for about a week here now. Even if you go outside with the garden birds, some of the tamer visitors will say a good morning to you. Especially the Robin in the photos below. Its nice to see these visitors in the morning and to hear their song. The Robin especially has a very distinctive song that is recognised by gardeners all over the UK. There is no match for the sight of a Robin sat on a favourite perch singing his/her heart out. These one was very friendly and sat on a fence post at the end of our garden while I took pictures.


This Robin took a bite to eat after I filled the bird feeders up. As always they are the first birds to return after I have filled up. I should get up early one day and watch the birds. I am sure that there are some rarer species visit at this time. I did do this once and I saw a Bullfinch feeding briefly. People have recommended the dawn chorus too but this I haven't done. I am sure that the Robin would be one of the features of this.

In this country the Robin is a very friendly bird that will happily feed near man. But on Wikipedia earlier I found that actually they are quite timid on the continent. You learn a new thing every day! Soon, I should get some more mealworms for the Robins to feed on. They love them and they are great for the juveniles. The only problem is that I am struggling to find a place to put them so that A) they don't get rained on and B) the larger birds don't take them all.

The Blue Tit is another bird I saw this morning. They are a bit more elusive than the Robin above, but will still quite happily take seed from the feeders while I am out. They are very active and although they are very common they can be difficult to photograph. I find that when the Blue Tits feed, other members of the tit family follow suit, as did the Great Tits this morning. They make a harsher noise than the Robins but its nice nonetheless. Around our area the Blue Tits fly around in flocks, flying from feeding station to feeding station.

Autumn "officially" starts in late September and finishes in November . I think this seems about right so far this year. The first leaf has fallen from our apricot tree and the apples in the apple tree are dropping to the ground too. The falling leaves are the stereotypical signs that autumn has begun. In previous years this has been quite inconsistent with poor summers and sunny autumns. But certainly in our garden autumn has begun!

The Blue Tit was very neat. They must have just finished moulting. It won't be too long before we start seeing some frantic pairing up and nest site investigation from these little birds. They won't look like this for too long!

I realise that I haven't really posted much about plants recently. I do have something lined up though. The birds have been spending a lot of time at our feeders recently so I thought I would focus on them a bit more. What is it like in your garden this autumn? I reckon that this part of the UK is a bit further ahead of Northern England and Scotland. Finally I will leave you with couple of the autumn pictures I took today. Enjoy!

Blue Tit and Robin photographs were taken in my garden on 27/09/08. Yellow leaf and rotting apple pics were taken on 28/09/08.

A Jay today

Well actually I didn't see a Jay today as suggested in the title, but I wanted it to rhyme! I saw it on the day I got the footage of the squirrel. This is a new garden bird to me. In case you didn't know Jays are members of the crow family. They are much more shy and secretive than the more common Magpies and Carrion Crows we normally get in our garden. They are woodland birds really, so it was a pleasant surprise to see it fly into our tall conifer. Our conifers are very tall and the tops are often good perches for passing birds. Just last week a Sparrowhawk was perched there and flocks of Starlings visit too. But never a Jay.

It was a brief visit too. It was there less than a minute so no photos, I'm afraid. It was also a bit too far away for my camera to cope with. I have seen this bird before but I have to say that despite their colour, this bird can be very hard to spot. I was begging for it to fly down onto the bird table so that I could get some close-up pictures but I don't think it was convinced. I only saw it because I happened to be looking out of the window at the time when it came. What luck! Come to think of it, there are probably plenty of birds that pass by unnoticed...

I have seen plenty of other posts from other blogs on them too. If only my dad's binoculars were able to take photos. They are excellent and let in a lot of light, meaning that I saw the Jay in its full colours. They are unmistakable when you see them. The blue streak on their wings is the give-away for me. If you want to see a picture of one on wikipedia, click here. Also on wikipedia it mentions their ability to mimic other birds, which can make it very hard to distinguish its identity.

I thought this post would be a bit dry without any images, so I thought I would share some of my recent Goldfinch photos. Now, you may have noticed that quite a few of my posts are based on these birds. OK, hands up its because these birds are simply some of the easiest and most colourful birds that visit my garden. They are surprisingly tame compared with the Greenfinch and Chaffinch. They also spend more time at the feeders than quite a lot of our other garden birds. Its interesting to look at the behaviour of birds. For example over the years I have noticed that the Blue Tits will often take a seed and fly off into a bush with it to break it up. Unlike the Greenfinches, which are much less likely to give up their spot on the feeders.

Adult Goldfinch


The images below are juvenile Goldfinch ones. This one was actually feeding while I was doing something to my patch, and I was only a few metres away from it. This one even took a quick drink from the bird bath. Its a little disappointing I didn't get better ones but never mind. I am guessing that the young birds are less aware of the dangers in the garden. The adult Goldfinch (also pictured above) was a lot harder to capture.

Juvenile Goldfinch

All photos were taken in my garden on 21/09/08