Mid-summer garden visitors...

So the colours in the garden may be peaking but the weather’s gone grey. I was beginning to take the blue skies for granted. Always a mistake, don’t take anything or anyone for granted. Always take the time to practise gratitude, Man! I‘m grateful every day for my garden but the harsh truth is that the sun and blue sky just make it better. John Lennon wrote about “sitting in an English garden, waiting for the sun”. He would have waited even longer in Scotland, the point is, he was right, the odds are pretty high on no sun so it’s been all the more amazing this last month. When it’s grey, though everything goes a little quiet, a bit still. The insects like ourselves just seem a bit keener on hanging out, if the sun is out. Still, life goes on.

The birds have, actually, been a bit more active, they seem indifferent to the sun’s presence. I’ve seen blue tits, great tits, blackbirds, magpies, the dreaded woodpigeons, the delightful collared doves, the dunnocks, the ubiquitous robin, a wren, still no summer warblers, sadly, but the swifts continue to thrill, flying through the sky like TIE fighters from Star Wars. Their numbers have augmented too. I saw a screaming frenzy of at least ten fly past this weekend. In addition to my resident frog, we have a wood-mouse, like a normal mouse but with big ears. Very cute, I saw it helping itself to the peanut feeder the other day. Seems to be solitary so like the lonely frog it may have to keep itself entertained.

            An exciting and slightly perturbing visitor the other evening was a Hawker dragonfly. Very large, very fast and quite friendly. They apparently fly close to “investigate”. The other visitor I’m still hoping for has yet to appear. More common in the Mediterranean, the Hummingbird Hawkmoth will familiar to those of you who’ve been to the south of France or Spain. Hovering opposite flowers, to take their nectar, hence the name, they are quite something to behold, but they do sometimes appear in the South-East if the winds favour it. We saw one last year, it was quite surreal and I’m hopeful we’ll see one again, though I wouldn’t bet on it. Another exciting and brief visitor was Britain’s largest hoverfly. You know Hoverflies, like mini bees or wasps, they mimic them to trick potential predators in thinking that they have a sting. The Hornet Hoverfly has taken it to a higher level, actually mimicking in size and colour a hornet. A hornet is Europe’s largest wasp, pretty scary even though they’re pretty docile and fairly rare. Certainly impressive work on the hoverfly’s part. What a clever thing, nature is!

            My venture into the property market that I referred to is not quite what it seems. I purchased a bee apartment. What on earth is that? Well, it’s exactly what it sounds like, a mini-apartment block for solitary bees. They’re less conspicuous than the better known social honey bees partly because they’re much smaller but I love them. They’re also important pollinators. We NEED pollinators. Without them we won’t eat. Honey Bees understandably get the attention because they make honey and that is great but don’t forget the little guys. They're little mini-bees, very cute. They’re very important too. You you can do your bit to help by purchasing a little bee flat. If not, at least have the flowers that all bees love. Lavender, Buddleia, Lobelia, Scabious etc. Keep an eye out for them.

            One other feel good story involves the purple flowers in the picture. The plant almost died but I managed to resurrect it and now it has a regular but solitary visitor. A honey bee which comes every day. It is on the vicinity of the buddleia which is slowly flowering though so that may bring a few more visitors to this particular part of the garden. Anyway, it’s high summer, everything is in bloom, let’s enjoy this moment, it won’t last long; remember what Shakespeare said about summer’s lease.