What’s happening on our reserves right now
By Jackie Robinson
This month I’ve been staying closer to home – all part of the 8th Langdyke Community Reserve
Because of having to arrange a family funeral in North London I haven’t been at home or able to visit the local reserves as much as I would like recently, so this month I’m writing about my garden instead.
It isn’t massive, it’s in Helpston near the crossing and it certainly isn’t well organised. I’m trying to get away from wonderful flowering plants in every bit of the garden that bees and butterflies seem to have no interest in, to looking at wildlife friendly ones. This is not as easy as it seems, but I’m getting there.
Now, birds are a different kettle of fish! They like my garden, a lot, and cost me a fortune. I have all the usual suspects, the vandal Starlings that swing on every feeder possible and knock the seed onto the ground, Jackdaws who hang upside down on the fat balls, all the varieties of pigeon you could wish for and occasionally crows and the odd Magpie too. Visits from a Sparrowhawk means a very quiet garden now and again. They know that birds like to feed in my garden and sit quietly observing.
However, as my garden backs onto a field and there is only a low fence with wild greengages behind it, I also have many Yellowhammers and Reed Buntings that stray in. Like the Chaffinch they prefer ground feeding, so they spread it around the path and into the flower beds, it is amazing what grows from the discarded seed.
My son was very impressed when I showed him a Hemp plant growing, he laughed at me for recognising the ‘Grass’ style leaf, as he knows I’m a very anti-drug person and said was I going into production. For the last few days I have had a lovely Siskin male and I think I may have seen a female too. He was having none of the Greenfinch aggression on the feeders, it took four of them to get him off. The other day there was a very brief visit from a male Blackcap, but as there was only one berry left on the Ivy he moved on.
Flower-wise, the snowdrops have finished and are setting seed and primroses, violets, cowslips, wood anemones and celandine are all naturalising nicely; even though they are the bane of my life, the Grape Hyacinth (Muscari) actually had a lovey big bumble bee, and I think a Honey bee, looking for pollen, so I suppose they’ll have to stay. I have a lovely Apricot Violet with five small blooms that I nurtured from seed (it took 3 years to flower) and I have some self-set Cerinthe growing in the grass and I know the bees love them. I planted some red clover seeds last year which actually grew and they have been transplanted into the grass (I don’t have a lawn) as well.
There are four clumps of frogspawn maturing nicely in the pond with one frog who seems to be in charge. He can often be seen with a clump under each arm as if he is saying, “These are my babies!” There are some young frogs hanging about too, possibly from last year or the year before. On my night time searches I have briefly seen Common Newts coming up for air, I think Caddis Fly larvae, and in my very unhealthy wildlife pond which is full of oak leaves, a lot of Dragonfly Larvae. There were at least 25 that emerged from there last year, so I can’t clean it out. Who puts a pond under an oak tree?? Me!
I need to look back at my notes to see what they were, Common Hawkers I think, but I’m hoping for the Darters and Emeralds and Damselflies to come back in the same numbers they did last year.
So …. I continue to have my coffee by the French Windows and see what is about … I spend a lot of time just looking!
In the last hour I have seen: Wren, Blackbird, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Dunnock, Robin, Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting, Blue tit, Great Tit (keeps knocking on the window) Jackdaw, Siskin, Collared Dove, Stock Pigeon, Wood Pigeon and two squirrels. Not bad for a drizzly, grey morning!
Have a wonderful springtime everyone, apparently it started on March 20. Keep an eye out for Brimstone and Orange-tip butterflies. (There was a Comma in the garden the other day)