Garden Bioblitz 2013

Well on the weekend of 1st and 2nd June, the 2013 Garden Bioblitz happened.  It was a good fun event, with lots of input from Bioblitzers on Twitter.  Last year, the event happened in July and so, being earlier this year and also in a very late Spring, at Phoenix Court, wildlife was quite hard to find.  However, we did get a few wonderful bug sightings.

It was quite a cloudy day to start and so I did a lot of hunting under tubs and pots.  The first things I saw were several generations of pill woodlice under a paint pot, being stored outside.  This isn't a good picture, as they were moving very fast, but there were all sizes and ages.  This is the

Pill Woodlice

only type of woodlice I have seen before and I didn't quite know that there were many and varied varieties.

My knowledge of woodlice was therefore increased 100% when I found what I learned to be a common shiny woodlouse.  The latin name is Oniscus Asellus.  The link here shows pictures taken by a much better photographer than me!  These are larger than the Pill Woodlice shown here and move much more slowly. But still too fast for a decent photo!




Having searched fairly unsuccesfully for wildlife I was even quite pleased to find these snails on my Sea Holly Plant.  I wouldn't normally be happy about them being there at all, but at least they showed that something was living in my garden.

Egg of Common Gull

Obviously one common wildlife element is the seagulls that are nesting on the roof.  Seagulls are well known to anyone staying in Scarborough and these ones sometimes make people jump by standing on the flat roof outside one of our top floor rooms, or also standing on the domed glass at the top of one of our staircases.  This gives a very odd picture of two webbed feet and the underside of a seagull.  This egg was found at the back of Phoenix Court earlier this week.



A bit more searching and a little bit of gentle digging produced some

Garden Centipede

earth worms and also this rather wonderful garden centipede.  Bright orange, it curled itself onto the pen I was prodding gently into the soil and this enabled me to lift it onto a wall.  At which point it spread to its full length and eventually disappeared under the stone it is heading towards.

The next day I had another search as the sun was shining a bit more and it looked generally a bit more promising.  Well, luck prevailed and I actually saw my first few ladybirds of 2013.  Last year there were loads of them around but they have been extremely elusive so far.

With a final bit of prodding in a wall I found this house spider.  It appeared out of a crack in the wall but disappeared into another one just as quickly.

The only flying insect I saw was a hoverfly and there was no way I could get a picture of this.

Ribwort Plantain

Plant life wise, the things that are going strong but that have found their way accidentally into our garden are clover, and Ribwort Plantain, which shows up on the car park lawn regularly.

Since the Bioblitz things have started flowering in my wildlife planting area and I have also started to see the occasional cabbage white butterfly around, but nothing made a show last weekend.

All in all, the Garden Bioblitz is great fun.  It's good to go searching round your garden to see what is living there - however small and insignificant or grand and wonderful this might be.  The help provided via twitter in identifying bugs and plants was great.

So why not keep your eyes open and have a go next year if you didn't get involved in 2013.

When will things start to happen?

This week, BBC Springwatch is starting, so spring must be here.  Also it's only one week to Garden BioBlitz weekend when I hope to be able to find lots of wildlife and plant life in my garden patch to report on.  However, as everyone knows, plants are so far behind after the long cold winter and therefore insects that rely on the plants are having a hard time.

On a positive note I saw my first butterfly of this year on Sunday in St Mary's Church yard - a red admiral, no picture, obviously.  I have also seen a few bees exploring my bee friendly plants.

However, the required blooms are still reluctant to appear.  Daisies open up every morning and sea thrift (almeria) plants are doing well.  Others are getting there but slowly.

Nasturtium seedlings.

I planted some nasturtium seeds in April and so far three have appeared.  As one plant can produce a lot of flowers three might be OK and also there's still time for some more to push there way out.

This poppy has survived from
last year and looks more and more ready to flower, but is still holding out.  Behind in a pot you can also see the sea holly (eryngium planum) that I planted a few weeks ago.  It looks healthy enough, but no sign of a thistle as yet.  The tall green streak in the same pot as the poppy is a garlic bulb that I thought I should try to grow.

Cornflower plants

I mentioned in a previous post that I had planted some cornflower seeds.  I protected them against damage from birds and snails by putting some netting over them, but they have just become tall enough for the netting to become a hindrance.  This week I plan to spread them around and give them more space to grow.mentioned in a previous post that I had planted some cornflower seeds.  I protected them against damage from birds and snails by putting some netting over them, but they have just become tall enough for the netting to become a hindrance.  This week I plan to spread them around and give them more space to grow.

I have four herb plants in one long pot and the chive plant shown here has produced some lovely buds, I just hope that in the next few days they will actually open up as these are very enticing for insects.

Last week we had a terrible stormy north wind for 24 hours, which gave everything a battering, but yesterday and today it's warm and sunny.   I have been out and watered everything and fingers crossed things might start happening this week.

We can only hope. . . .

Just a progress report.

It's that time of year again when the seagulls are nesting and the front of the guest house is scattered with bits of grass that have dropped out of a seagull's mouth as it flies off to its nesting site.

I have seen seagulls at the back of our building picking up bits of grass.  This one pictured is flying off over the North Bay.

I have had a sliver of success with bulbs despite the failure of most of them due to the slow start to spring.  Last autumn I planted some dwarf tulips and they have been flowering for two weeks now.  This picture was taken towards the end of their flowering life, but they looked very beautiful and offered a promise of more flowers to come.

Dwarf tulips

Almeria

You will see also that the Almerias I planted and that were so successful last year are now starting to come back. These ones shown here are against a sheltered wall but the others are not far behind.

Sedum

Last year I planted a Sedum; these are very popular with butterflies.  It practically disappeared over the winter to the point where I could hardly remember what it was.  But now it is returning very strongly and healthily.  This might yet then be stronger than last year.

Also, returning healthily from practically nothing is the buddleia that proved so tough last year.  It is now growing lovely healthy leaves and recovering from the long winter.

Buddleia

The cornflower seeds that I planted a few weeks ago are growing well and are still protected by the netting I put up.  Hopefully I will avoid the total disappearance that happened last year.  Nearly 10 days ago I put in some nasturtium seeds, but no sign of growth from them yet.




I mentioned in my last post that I was planning to look at composting and since then I have decided upon a dual Bokashi system.  I haven't got this yet, but I will be getting this going quite soon.

Despite everything the only wildlife of any sort that I have seen amongst my plants are baby snails.  So I can sense a season long battle with these guys coming on.

Sunshine and a Shower of Rain

Finally after such a long period of cold weather we have some sunshine.  Its warm and it feels like spring.  With any luck things will start to happen in my little garden and wildlife will start to appear. Particularly also as we have had a couple of showers of rain.

Cornflower Seeds

Over the last week I planted some cornflower seeds.  You might remember I did this last year but shortly after shooting form the ground they disappeared.  Obviously they did attract wildlife but not in the way I had intended!  This year, I have taken precautions and erected a net over them to protect them.

Buddleia

Other things that I have done are prune the buddleia plant, that survived so successfully last year.  I was reluctant to do this when it was so cold but now it appears to be starting to grow again.

Bug Log

I have also moved the bug log, that was on the carpark last year, to this area where there are tubs and more wildlife attracting plants.  It is hanging behind a bench and so protected from the worst of the elements.  It is also above the log pile I created last autumn just by a stinging nettle.

The stinging nettle was taken from an allotment rubbish heap area and died back completely over the winter, but it is now coming back strongly.  They are obviously tough little plants as they grow wild everywhere, but they are so helpful to insect and bird life, I thought I must try to keep one.

My next intended actions are planting nasturtium seeds and finding a suitably sized composter, so more news on this coming up.

British Summer Time has Arrived!!!

Well the clocks went forward on Easter Sunday morning and spring is here, but the weather remains extremely cold.  The only blessing is that this week the sky has been blue and if out of the wind the temperature has been quite pleasant.  In fact, although this morning it was cold at the front of Phoenix Court (as the wind was a northerly one), at the back the temperature was reaching the dizzy tropical heights of 9C degrees.  Scarbados indeed!

This still hasn't helped the bulbs that I planted at the end of last summer.

Green shoots 

Slightly browning shoots

They optimistically pushed green shoots through several weeks ago but no flowers have followed and in some cases now the shoots are turning slightly brown.

Daisies

The only plants that do seem to be thriving are the daisies that I 
planted in my wildlife beds last summer.

As you can see from these photos, it is indeed sunny but there's obviously not been enough warmth to generate flowers.  It might not be too late, so fingers crossed.  You will see from these photos that they were taken when it was bright and sunny.

Next week, the forecast is predicted to be warmer, if wetter.  This will be good as we haven't had any rain for quite a while now and tubs and beds are getting quite dry.  This can't have helped the flowering process either.   

The really said thing about the extended cold weather (and obviously the main reason for my planting) is the effect on wildlife.  The puffin, kittiwake and guillemot populations has been devastated as they head for land at the start of their breeding season.  Here is a link to a BBC report on this subject http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-21999947

There is also concern about several species of butterflies who have been suffering over several years now and had a terrible year in 2012 because of the wet weather.  Now, with spring being delayed and fewer flowering plants than you would expect, they are having a bad start to 2013.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21939189

Needless to say as soon as things start to perk up I will be trying my best again to extend the range of butterfly and bee friendly plants that I can grow around Phoenix Court.  So more news will follow.

  

The Arrival of Spring

Well I say Spring but we are experiencing temperatures colder than last December.

Apparently yesterday (11 March) was the coldest March day since 1986.  Consequently I am reluctant to carry out spring pruning until things warm up a little and there's not very much going on in any of my planting areas.


However, bulbs are starting to come through and green shoots
are appearing everywhere.  The star player though is this little snow drop.  It's the only one to surface and is determinedly showing it's face in the freezing temperatures.

It is to be hoped that the weather warms up soon and then the other bulbs will start to flower and I will be able to get down to business with pruning and planting.  So watch this space.

Winter's Coming

Poppy

It's getting colder and the dark nights are coming but it's sunny and crisp today.

Outside in my little wildlife patch there is still some life, which is lovely at this time of year and quite unexpected in one case.

After a summer of defending poppies from snails and slugs, this lovely flower is just about to open.  I would have thought that it would be too late for poppies still to flower, but perhaps it's taking the opportunity of flowering when there are hardly any snails around.



Also, all the autumn bulbs are now flowering and they look lovely.  They seem to
survive winds and today they are open and looking happy in the weakening autumn sunshine.  These crocuses are supposed to be bee friendly, but there are no more bees around (at least here on the cliff top where we live).  Anyway the last bit of colour is great.