Thursday 16 April 2015

Spring 2015. What a Start!!

Well, I can't believe that last year's garden bioblitz was the last post I put on this blog.  2014 was a lovely summer, with really beautiful weather.  My tubs thrived and all went well.  But the beautiful weather also brought out lovely guests and we were so busy the blog went by the wayside!  Hay, ho.  That's the way things go sometimes.  Anyway.  A new year brings a start to the blog and spring has brought some wonderful suprises to my little wildlife garden. 

First to appear were a small number of snowdrops peaking their little white heads out into the harsh early spring weather.  These were then followed by crocuses.  I always forget what I have planted at the end of the previous year, so it's great when flowers emerge to remind me and show me that the planting was a success. 

Now, more recently we have daffodils.  I planted particularly small ones so that they had a better chance of avoiding any harsh winds.




 
Then. these lovely little pansies appeared.  I had planted them last summer and they flowered brilliantly.  Having died back it was lovely to see them make a further appearance this spring.
 Last autumn the buddleia was practically wiped out by a harsh wind, so I pruned it back quite brutally and hoped for the best.  Now as you can see the early growth is looking very positive.

There are some plants, such as the two lovely jolly osteospernums, that were also attacked by the harsh autumn winds.  I am not sure yet if they will recover, but fingers crossed!

There isn't much in the way of wildlife to report as yet, but I can't possibly not mention the fantastic sightings off Marine Drive of bottle nosed dolphins.  These lovely creatures have been seen several times and pictures of them are on our facebook page.  Also, Scarborough Porpoises on twitter have lots of information on sightings.


I mentioned the Garden Bioblitz earlier and 2015's Bioblitz is 30/31 May.  Have a look at the Bioblitz website if you fancy getting involved yourself.