Sunday, June 29, 2025

Garden Project - Effects of the Heat

The garden is about a month ahead compared to the last two years and has a definite mid to late summer look. For instance, the Yellow Foxgloves (image 6) are almost over this year but don't usually start flowering till July. The fact the borders are well packed with different height plants has helped but the soil is so dry and compacted now. The 

Compare with July 17th last year - Ann Miles Blog: Garden Project 13 - In the Summer Heat


Friday, June 27, 2025

Paxton Flowers and the Dry Weather

This first image shows the Redlands area of Paxton Pits in 2024 - covered in Ragwort - to compare with this year's same view completely devoid of vegetation with the dry conditions. Tomorrow we have a wildflower walk in the morning and I feared that it would be without many subjects but a walk around yesterday morning produced 56 species so plenty to keep the group occupied.

Thursday, June 26, 2025

Marbled Whites, Privet Hawkmoth and Smaller Species

 For the first time, we had a couple of Marbled Whites on our Lavender bush and an impressive Privet Hawkmoth on the pear tree. Apart from these, there were lots of smaller insects to add to the garden list including this exquisite Ruby-tailed Wasp, which is a parasitoid on small stem and wood-nesting wasps, and very strange Hemipteran that feeds on small insects as well as plant buds and unripe fruits. 


Tuesday, June 24, 2025

Wild Flower Species in My Garden

It seemed a simple task on a free day to record what wild flowers are in bloom in my garden at the moment but I had underestimated how many species I would find and, even after over 60 years practising (yes it was a childhood obsession too), I still find getting attractive images of flowers in situ really difficult. Here are the species from my front garden which has herbaceous beds that are a mix of cultivated and wild species; I find these do really well together in maintaining a good ground cover and height  - essential in these dry conditions for invertebrate life.