Wildlife Update

Earlier this week I turned my Wordless Wednesday post into a "Wildlife Wednesday" post and included this photo of a corner of the garden.

A couple of people spotted the little visitor at the bottom of the photo -- a field mouse!

Here's a closer shot of him/her.  I seem to have at least two in the garden. One has dug a little burrow in the whiskey barrel container down by the wall.  Another one has burrowed into a hanging basket of fuschias.

I had been a little worried about them because we had such torrential rain last week I feared they might have been drowned.  But this photo was taken since the storm, so at least some of them are okay.

Now I have a dilemma -- This whiskey barrel needs to be replanted for the summer - the pansies I had in there have long since passed their prime and need to come out.  I'm reluctant to do any digging in case there are any babies down in the burrow.

I suppose I could get a few pots with annuals in and sit them on top of the whiskey barrel for a bit of color without disturbing the mouse family. Or is that taking "gardening for wildlife" a tad too far?

What do you think?



Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.

Animal Antics in the Garden

 For my blog post today, I thought I'd share with you the antics my husband and I witnessed as we sat on the patio with our morning coffee.

We've got at least four hummers, gearing up for their migration.  They expend so much energy chasing each other round the columns on the patio and around the garden, it seems like they will be worn out before they even get started across the Gulf.

Usually, I can only get photos of them either on the feeders, or perching in a tree.  I was lucky this morning to be able to capture these photos of a female in flight as she approached the feeder.

The hummers aren't the only birds in evidence today. As I was sitting on the patio, aiming my camera at the hummingbird feeder for the photos above, I kept seeing flashes of color and movement along the back wall of the garden.

This male Northern Cardinal perched and posed momentarily for a photo op, but not for long. As you can see in the photo above (I'm amazed I caught it on film), another male is swooping in to chase the intruder from "his" territory.

At the same time, on top of the wall, what I thought were two adult females, but turned out to be an adult and a juvenile when I looked at the photo on my computer, are happily pecking at bird seed.

The juvenile enjoyed hopping up and down the milkweed stalks.  Do they eat aphids?  I'm not sure, but at least there were no caterpillars in the way.

When we first moved in here and were surrounded by our own personal forest, we seemingly had our own resident squirrels.  Since all the trees died and/or were removed, and since the lots either side have been cleared and built on, we very rarely see squirrels.

I was missing them, but happened to glance out and see one on the fence last week.  This morning, it was back, helping itself to the birdseed and nuts on the fence. 

There such sweet little things, and so entertaining, I welcome them in the garden.  They've lost so much habitat around here, I'll do anything I can to help them survive. If it means the birds have to share their seed and nuts with the squirrels, so be it :-)


Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.

Down Memory Lane - Penton Hook Island

On the first day of our recent vacation to England, I took a wonderful trip down Memory Lane and at the same time, got to show Eric a place that holds very special memories for me.

I grew up on the border of Staines and Laleham in England, within walking distance of the Thames. I have very fond memories of many pleasant hours spent playing down by the riverside, in particular on Penton Hook Island, adjacent to Penton Hook Lock.

 
 As you can see from the map, the river forms a deep loop and the island was created when the lock was built across the neck of the loop. 

The lock allows boats to navigate the river with a drop of about 4 feet. 

On the other side of the island, the water flows over a weir.


At first glance, the island itself hadn't changed a scrap since my friend Lorna and I used to play over there. There's a path that goes around the whole island, with smaller paths criss-crossing it.  Lots of little beaches to play on and glades for sunbathing.

On closer inspection though, I realized that some changes have been made, and they are changes that, while I may not have appreciated them when I was younger, I can appreciate them now for the wildlife habitat they provide.

As we were reading about the wildlife that has been attracted to the area by the latest additions, we spotted a heron on the path ahead of us.
  

 

As we continued our walk, we must have disturbed him and he flew across and landed on the other side of the river, before posing for this photograph.

I'm afraid my knowledge of English wildflowers is limited to daisies, buttercups and dandelions, which were in abundance, as seen above.

 But there were also a lot of things I couldn't put a name to, such as the purple flower above.

I'm pretty sure this one is a rose of some sort, possibly Rosa canina - Dog Rose.

On a later riverside walk, we saw swans and cygnets, geese and goslings (I'll share those photos another day), but on this day, this lovely swan was alone.

Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.