Snails and Pails and Nature Tales

A post at last! Life with all of its complications has intervened and unfortunately this post has been a long time coming but here it is, better late than never.

The weather here has been distinctly variable with some lovely warm sunshine but we have also had quite a lot of heavy thundery rain. I have been doing battle with slugs and snails which have been voraciously eating my young plants. I have collected buckets-full by torchlight and HLH has deposited them away from the house, but by the amount of plants I am losing I think they must make their way back again! Perhaps if I looked out around three in the morning there would be an army of them marching back in the gate!!

The garden is still busy with juvenile birds getting used to finding their own food and discovering the delights of the changeable British weather! The photo above is a juvenile Blackbird.

'When on a summer's morn I wake,

And open my two eyes,
Out to the clear, born-singing rills
My bird-like spirit flies.

To hear the Blackbird, Cuckoo, Thrush,
Or any bird in song;
And common leaves that hum all day
Without a throat or tongue.

And when Time strikes the hour for sleep,
Back in my room alone,
My heart has many a sweet bird's song
And one that's all my own.'

(William Henry Davies)

I am very pleased to have juvenile House Sparrows in the garden again, I remember the time when I would spot a bird in the garden and say 'Oh it's only a Sparrow', but after years of hardly seeing one at all I have learnt never to take even the most common bird for granted and it really has been a pleasure to see a family of sparrows visiting in the last week or two.

Juvenile Female House Sparrow

This juvenile male was so wet he had developed a punk hairdo!

Here's dad glad to be able to concentrate on feeding himself for a change.


This juvenile Great Tit seemed to be wondering where all the water was coming from!


When the sun came out this juvenile Robin posed prettily.


While mum or dad had a bath

Please don't photograph me in the bath!

Sunbathing to dry those newly washed feathers!

This juvenile female Chaffinch was also enjoying the sunshine


and so was this male, possibly dad


Because of the thistle seeds it eats, in Christian symbolism, the Goldfinch is associated with the Passion and Christ's Crown of Thorns. The Goldfinch, appearing in pictures of the Madonna and the Christ Child, represents the foreknowledge Jesus and Mary had of the Crucifixion.

I always think juvenile Goldfinches look quite odd without the vivid red and black markings of their parents but they are of course unmistakeable with their lovely rich golden colours.

'Have you heard the Goldfinch
Singing in the thorn
O what charming music,
This bright summer morn'

(Benjamin Gough)

While on one of our usual walks with Louis, our dog, we saw another male Chaffinch.


We also saw this Honey Bee, busy in the sunshine collecting nectar from a Dog Rose. After a bad couple of years for bees it is nice to see plenty around this year, hopefully their predicted decline will not be as bad as first feared.


and this Bumble Bee was doing the same on

Russian Comfrey

We also saw

Campions

Woody Nightshade

'My name is Nightshade, also Bittersweet;
Ah, little folk, be wise!
Hide your hands behind you when we meet,
Turn you away your eyes.
My flowers you shall not pick, nor berries eat,
For in them poison lies.'

(Cicely Mary Barker)

Last year was the worst year for butterfly numbers for 25 years! But on our walk we saw this Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly basking in the sunshine.

This butterfly used to be commonly seen in UK gardens but has suffered a dramatic decline in recent years especially in South East England where its numbers are down by over 80 per cent since 1990. One theory for the dramatic decline in this particular butterfly is climate change, but another is the parasitoid fly Sturmia Bella which was first found in Britain in 1999, its arrival from Southern Europe could be a result of climate change or possibly the accidental introduction of caterpillars brought in from Europe. The eggs of the Sturmia Bella are increasingly found on the Stinging Nettles which are the host plant of the Small Tortoiseshell Caterpillars. It is thought that the caterpillars are eating the eggs which develop inside them as they reach the cocoon stage, killing the host. Research into the decline is being carried out by Oxford University.

I just love to see the bright splashes of red of

Poppies


'Summer set lip to earth's bosom bare,
And left the flushed print in a poppy there:
Like a yawn of fire from the grass it came,
And the fanning wind puffed it to flapping flame.'

(Francis Thompson)

These young squirrels were photographed by my best friend's husband on their shed roof and he kindly allowed me to put them on this post, (thank you S).

'Furly, curly
What a tail!
Tall as a feather
Broad as a sail!'

(Anon)

I shall try to get another post out in a few days, and I hope you all have a wonderful sunny nature-filled weekend.