Bumble Bee Friendly

After watching a programme about the Chelsea Flower Show last night I found out about the Bee Kind campaign running by the Bumblebee Conservation Society.  You can list the plants in your garden on the site and you get a score for the bee friendliness of your garden.  We scored 837.  I struggled with the type of garden.  This is a good score for a window box (500 average) but poor for a small garden (2500 average).  I can't work out whether we are more a window box or a tiny, evolving garden.  Anyway, its a start.

I have recently also started using a site called Grows on You.  This is a good way of listing plants that you are growing and also asking queries from other gardeners. I posted a question about coast hardy bee and butterfly friendly plants and got loads of interesting and useful suggestions.  So that will give me something to work on over the next few weeks.

Progress in May

Well, it's been a while since the weather has been good enough to check the progress of planting.  Or at least take any pictures.  Today is windy but there is a lovely blue sky and sun.

Nasturtium seeds planted in March

Things are continuing to grow and progress to a state where they might attract any brave wildlife that wishes to venture out.

Firstly, the nasturtium seeds are doing well.  These were planted in March.  Elsewhere in other borders some seeds planted in April are starting to show.  I did wonder whether they had been drowned by all the rain, but they are hardy little plants and are now pushing through.

The herbs I planted are surviving the winds well and the chive plant is looking particularly healthy, producing flowers, which are the things that will attract insects.

Sea thrift planted this year.

Sea thrift plants are popular with bees and are also particularly hardy in harsh coastal conditions.  As mentioned before in this blog, one survived well last year and so I planted a few more.  These are all producing flowers and brightening up the flower beds.

Sea thrift planted last year

Meanwhile, I have also found out that Rutland Terrace is one of about 5 major sea gull nesting sites in Scarborough - aren't we lucky!  They are nesting on the roof, dropping moss out the front of Phoenix Court and generally making themselves at home.  And, of course, they managed to take out the television aerial again yesterday.

Sighting of a Blue Tit

          

                                                                           

Well one thing you can say about wildlife is that it never ceases to surprise.  Just when I thought the only birds around were seagulls and the one viewed pied wagtail I saw this. 


It does prove that I am not a wildlife photographer, but this little blue tit was sat high on a branch in St Mary's Churchyard.  It was singing its heart away in the morning sunshine and grew quite a crowd of fans.


What the RSPB says

Too cold to action

Rain, rain and more rain.  What can I say.  North winds too.  At least everything is getting a good watering and things are settling in well and starting to flower.  Nasturtium seeds are bravely peeking the first leaves out of the ground and all things planted are looking settled.  The chive plant has got buds, which should flower soon.

It's lovely to sea the seagulls out of the front windows enjoying the north wind and obviously having a game floating on the wind.

No sign of anything else yet, though.

When its a bit warmer and drier I will take some more pictures of how things stand.

Drip, drip, drip, little April showers

Well, it's been so wet for several days now I haven't done anything else to the garden area.  However, despite all forecasts we have had two dry days.  Here's the same view when the rain stopped.

This picture is taken just after St Marys Church, a very historic church close to Phoenix Court.  The grave yard includes the grave of Anne Bronte and the church itself has suffered attacks in the first world war and during the English Civil War.  It still stands bravely on the cliff top.

I suppose we need the rain and it will be benefiting all the plants I have put in already.  Today I did see a huge bumble bee, quite early I thought, but it was lovely to see it.  As soon as I get time I am going to make a bee log.  I have got all the necessary bits - more on this in future posts.

Pied Wagtail

Today we saw a pied wagtail wandering peacefully across our car park.  It was grazing on the grass area, obviously looking for bugs and insects - looked very peaceful.  This isn't the first time we have seen a pied wagtail on our car park and it seems an unusual bird to find around here as we normally only see Seagulls.

Not the one that likes our car park, but it was like this.

An alternative name is the Gypsy Bird and it appears to have a variety of widespread locations - it does like water.   Anyway it was lovely to see it.  I tried to get a picture but as soon as I got my camera it flew away.  I will persevere, but here is a picture of a pied wagtail in another location.

Herb Planting

Well, most people don't know how to cope with the weather changes over the last two weeks, I can't imagine how wildlife are coping.  Last week was warm, sunny and dry.  It was a false start to summer and obviously far too early for this lovely island we live on.  This week has seen a fierce north wind followed by an easterly wind and rain for a whole day.

Waves coming in across the North Bay

Obviously we can't complain about this as we do need the rain.  However, during the warm sunny week I was filled with enthusiasm for planting and gardening.  I planted a few nasturtium seeds, which should start to germinate over the next few weeks.  Also I planted four herb plants.  Rosemary, Chives, Sage and Thyme.  These will all be useful for cooking, but also seem to be popular with bees and butterflies.  At least they got the warmth when first planted and then a fantastic drink of rain water.  So they should start to thrive.  The mint from last year is definitely looking extremely healthy.

Not grand enough to be called a herb garden!

No surprise, though, that I moved them all out of the way of the wind when it was at its strongest point.  I didn't want them to get destroyed before they had a chance to make an effect.