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| Painted Lady |
I've been watching the cornfields close to the smallholding slowly turn from green to gold, until, last week, the wheat was finally harvested when a man thundered through the fields in a giant combine harvester. To be honest, there's not been much wildlife in these fields all summer - a consequence of modern farming. I might occasionally see an animal or two, but there are no wildflowers and very few birds and insects.
But the edges of the cornfields are full of life...
The local landowner has been encouraged (through payments) to leave some of the edges of the fields for wild flowers - and this has really benefited local wildlife. Here is the only place I've seen Painted Ladies this year, and I've also seen Peacocks, Whites, dozens of Ringlets and Small Tortoiseshells, Red Admirals and Small Skippers. I've seen bees and other pollinators, too - and dragonflies, damselflies and moths. And I've seen Goldfinches, Greenfinches and other small birds feeding on the flower seeds. I can see here, on my local patch, why the EU (and our own Government) must provide support for wildlife-friendly farming.
In the hedges and trees around the fields I've started to see a pair of young buzzards. Seeing buzzards is still quite special here, because they've only been in this area for the last five or six years. I hear this young pair calling all the time, but their sharp eyes mean that I can never creep up on them to take a good photo...
The Swallows, nesting nearby, are constantly swooping around the edges of the fields and this year they've had second broods (unlike last year when it was too wet and cold). Swallows are my favourite birds and I love to see them doing so well. Here is a young Swallow from a second brood waiting, on its own, to be fed...
I can usually hear Skylarks but I don't hear so many Yellowhammers now. I really miss their song as I walk across the fields.
When the wheat is cut and before the ploughing begins, the Geese fly in to pick up what's left...
Bee Flowers for a Dry Garden
I've realised that I'm not entirely happy with my flower beds and want to make some changes for next year. Some of my flowers are looking very tired and some are simply in the wrong place. It's been very dry here, especially during the heatwave, and although it might be years before we have another one of these, this part of the country can be dry in a normal year (you can see I'm not thinking about last year!) So I've been considering increasing the amount of flowers that thrive in a 'dry' garden. There's one condition, though, they have to be pollinator friendly to help my bees!
I thought I'd go to RHS Hyde Hall for some inspiration. Hyde Hall isn't really that far away, and there is plenty of planting for drier conditions in the gardens. My location isn't quite the same as Hyde Hall's - Hyde Hall is on a hill in a very exposed spot where the surrounding land is quite flat, so it gets very windy there. My smallholding, on the other hand, is enclosed by lots of trees and doesn't really get much wind at all; the air can often be very still. But the amount of rainfall and other weather conditions have to be similar. The soil is too, because I also have heavy clay here (although I know that at Hyde Hall they added sandy grit to their soil to help with drainage and improve soil structure).
So; I nipped over and had a look at what the bees were enjoying in the dry garden there...
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| Agapanthus 'Windlebrook' |
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| Eryngium (Sea Holly) |
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| Echinops Ritro |
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| Tall Verbena (I've grown this before - it's time to plant some again!) |
I also noticed that the bees loved Perovskia 'Blue Spire', although it was too windy to take a pic of this on the day I visited.
In addition to Hyde Hall, I think I might also visit The Beth Chatto Gardens, too, for ideas - as they are only a little further along the coast.
Once I have a list together of the different flowers, I'll decide what I'd like to see growing here. I'll have to think of the right conditions for each, like sun/shade etc, but overall it would be good to have flowers in the beds that I can rely on in dry weather, and that I know the bees will love.
Great pictures of the Painted Lady and the buzzard. They often fly overhead upsetting the entire population of Brixhams gulls! I do like lapwings-they make the most amazing noise. Although you can't change the aspect of your garden you can improve soil and drainage to help the plants and a good mulch in spring seems to get the plants going. Most of my plants have survived quite well from slug and snail attack in this dry weather. I keep meaning to get some Sea Holly. I'm sure The Beth Chatto Gardens will be wonderful-I'll look forward to your post on that visit.
ReplyDeleteThanks Suzie. I can just imagine the upset when the buzzards appear - our chickens don't like them overhead, either. You're right about improving the soil and mulching; I got really behind with everything this spring and didn't do enough to the flower beds. It does show.
DeleteNot sure when I'll get to The Beth Chatto Gardens - hopefully soon!
What a lovely post. I'm hoping to make my front garden a lot more wildlife friendly next year. Well more than hoping I will be, I will also be fitting in a crab apple, a couple of hazel nut & elderflower bushes too.
ReplyDeleteThanks Joanne. I love the sound of your plans for the front garden. I would like more elderflower bushes here; I tend to go out and forage for the fruit and flowers etc but it would be good to have enough for use on the smallholding.
DeleteAs usual some very special photos to admire whilst scrolling. The first one for me is stunning.
ReplyDeleteIt has been a great summer, which has been so beneficial to the butterflies, the bees, the insects, and we humans too. I feel as if we may be heading into a beautiful Indian Summer now as well, the air has a calm, warm, balminess to it.
I heard on the news today that the black bee which became extinct in the 1920s is now making a really good comeback here in the West.
Thanks Rosemary. I've loved this summer, too - I hope you're right about an Indian Summer. It would be wonderful if we had many more weeks of this lovely weather.
DeleteI shall listen out for the item on the black bee. Several beekeepers here are interested in keeping them. They are said to be hardier and to fly out more in bad or cold weather (unlike the usual honeybee) That seems to make them more suitable for areas with a higher rainfall. But they are also supposed to be feistier and so keeping them may not appeal to everyone! (I'm also not sure how you keep the different strains of bees separate)
Beautiful photos as ever. The wildlife field edges sound wonderful. We have buzzards round here (South Gloucestershire) but I need to go a bit closer to the river to see lapwings. I'm very impressed with the variety of butterflies you've seen.
ReplyDeleteThanks CJ. The contrast between the field edges and cornfields is remarkable. I imagine you're quite used to buzzards where you are, a few years ago we just didn't see them here at all. I love to see the Lapwings; earlier in the summer I tried to photograph the Lapwings with chicks but because I didn't want to get too close (and disturb them) I only got a few photos of small grey blurs in the field!
DeleteAn interesting post with some great images, especially those lovely Painted Lady butterflies (I've only seen a couple so far this year). As you say leaving the field margins for the benefit of wildlife is crucial for the long term survival of many species and hopefully such schemes will at least help some of our otherwise dwindling farmland birds & insects.
ReplyDeleteThanks David. I only started seeing Painted Lady Butterflies about three weeks ago and all in the field edges - none on my buddleias! I do feel strongly about support for wildlife friendly farming - I can see the huge difference it makes around here.
DeleteLovely post! I love the lapwings - they remind me of my childhood in the fields and woodlands around home - but they are so hard to capture on a photos. I also love to hear the mewling sound of buzzards as they circle overhead. I'm glad that farmers now incorporate wildflower areas and uncultivated margins into their fields it is a shame that they, like hedgerows, ever disappeared from the landscape in the first place:)
ReplyDeleteThanks Rosie. I've given up trying to take a good photo of a Lapwing! I love the sound of Buzzards, too - and watching them soar overhead. And I completely agree about the loss of hedgerows and the fields that supported wildlife; because of this we've lost many types of birds and wildflowers for good here.
DeleteLove the pictures of the geese best. Interesting about the Buzzards - they're ten a penny here but, like you, I find it very difficult to sneak up on them.
ReplyDeleteThanks Em. We generally go the South West on holiday and I always used to expect to see Buzzards there - and never here. But now we're becoming used to them. There's now talk about the odd Red Kite sighting in this area, so perhaps, like the Buzzards, they'll soon extend their range to here.
DeleteAs always I admire and enjoy your photographs. Although we have seen the farmers starting to cut the wheat we haven't seen the geese flying across the house yet. We have many buzzards here but it is always a special moment seeing them.
ReplyDeleteWe have all the flowers you have featured in our garden. I would love to visit Hyde Hall and I have longed to visit Beth Chatto garden. I have read so much about it.
Sarah x
Thanks Sarah. Large skeins of Geese coming in for food are an amazing sight, aren't they? As soon as the corn is cut they're here. Having not seen any Buzzards before a few years ago - we now seem to have our 'home' pair with these young birds!
DeleteAnd I really have no excuse for not visiting The Beth Chatto gardens before now; if I say because they're so close I keep postponing a visit - I hope that makes sense!
As I was reading through your post I was thinking of Beth Chatto before you mentioned it - well worth a visit. I've read one of her books about making the garden, and it's somewhere I'd love to go.
ReplyDeleteLovely photos of the bee friendly plants. I saw Echinops at Hartland yesterday and really must get one.
Great to see the geese too!
Thanks Jessica. I imagine The Beth Chatto gardens are worth a look at several times of the year - so I can feel more than one visit coming on!
DeleteI know I'll have to do plenty of work in the flower beds over the winter and spring to get things right. I managed it with the veggie beds - but the flower beds got left behind.
Love your photo of the Painted Lady, I have only seen one this year and that was at my local garden centre! We have buzzards all the time here in Devon and occasionally they land in the garden, once on the steps about 10ft from the house. It was lovely to see the wild flowers round the crop, the farmer next door to us leaves a margin, not a very wide one, we just have nettles, docks, and bindweed! I make up for that with my bee, bird and butterfly border, the visitors are amazing.
ReplyDeleteThanks Pauline. I am quite envious you see buzzards so close, I would love that here (as long as they kept away from my chickens, of course!) I am pleased the local landowner keeps these field margins for wildlife, but I still wish there were more - and that they were also joined up to create wildlife corridors.
DeleteLovely post with some great images :) Loved the Painted Lady - I have only seen one this year and hadn't got my camera with me! As you say, its amazing what a difference it can make to leave an area for wildflowers to grow around a field - so important for wildlife with all the intensive agriculture there is these days.
ReplyDeleteVerbena is very popular with insects in my garden and when I see some Echinops I must buy some as when I've seen them in NT gardens they are always popular with bees etc.
Thanks Caroline. It is remarkable that even a small patch on the edge of a field can attract such a variety of wildlife. I can just image how wildlife-rich the fields would be with greater areas like this.
DeleteI think Verbena and Echinops are definites on my list for planting next year!
Those strips at the sides of the fields are becoming lifesavers for wildlife, a wonderful scheme that hopefully all farmers will endorse. I think there is nothing nicer than a strip of wildflowers....
ReplyDeleteOh wow! That buzzard is amazing, how thrilling to see one up close like that. We never had them here, but over the last few years I've noticed them wheeling high in the skies, their wingspan is incredible isn't it.
I love those canada geese, and as usual your posts and fantastic pics are a real treat.xxxx
Thanks Snowbird. I agree about the sight of wildflowers, one of the most beautiful sights in the countryside. These field margins are definitely lifesavers for wildlife here.
DeleteI'm very interested that you've only recently seen buzzards, too, where you are. They must have recently spread right across the country. I wonder why conditions have suddenly improved for them.
I love the geese, as well - they certainly let everyone know they've arrived!
Wendy, first of all I'd like to comment on your wonderful wildlife photography and whole heartedly echo your sentiments re support. As a village, we tried to lobby our local authority to turn some of our grass verges into wildflower areas. They refused and we tried a bit of guerrilla gardening, unfortunately - local authority grass cutting regime doesn't lend itself to wildflower meadows!
ReplyDeleteSecondly - I can see you are going to have fun choosing new plants. Being that my garden in the complete opposite to yours I'm not the ideal person to offer planting advice but don't forget Nepeta, it's not only for the cats ;)
Thanks Angie. That is fascinating about your village's attempt to lobby the local authority and I'm sorry to hear they refused. My local authority also cut all the wildflowers in the verges while they were still in bloom - and this included the bank of primroses and early summer wildflowers outside my smallholding! I'm in contact with them about stopping it happening again.
DeleteAnd you are right - I should have mentioned Nepeta. It is in the dry garden at Hyde Hall and it was buzzing with bees. I took a picture, too (although it didn't come out well)
Monocultures are so destructive to local ecosystems. At least the farmer has left a bit of land wild, even if he's being paid to do so. Here are some plants that might work for you: salvia sylvestris, coreopsis, nepeta, Russian sage, sedums, asters, lavender, knautia, and liatris. They all need good drainage except the knautia, which takes clay. I grow all of these in my clay loam. I just amend each site with gravel to improve drainage. :o)
ReplyDeleteThanks Tammy. That's so true about monocultures. There are still some people here who remember the small, mixed farms (like my husband's grandfather used to keep)- but, over the past few decades, the trend in this part of the country has been large fields with a single crop. Because of this, the wildlife losses have been alarming.
DeleteAnd a wonderful list of plants - there are some there I don't grow so I've made a note!
Lovely pictures once again, you are really very talented at wildlife photography. The chap on the next boat to ours left it covered this year and it became an ideal nesting place for swallows. The second lot of babies are just leaving their nests. Hyde Hall and Beth Chottos' gardens are always worth a visit xxx
ReplyDeleteThanks Fran. That's lovely to hear about the Swallows on the boat. The second broods look so cute and vulnerable - incredible to think they'll have to build themselves up for the long flight to Africa in just a few weeks.
DeleteI'm hoping to get plenty of inspiration from Hyde Hall and Beth Chatto's over the next few months!
Lovely shots of the Painted Lady Wendy.
ReplyDeleteThanks Roy. I was pleased to see one at last!
DeleteThat's so interesting about the wildlife and modern farming methods- you have the proof right there. I too am going to re-vamp the garden next year, but I thought I would concentrate on encouraging more wild flowers in, having seen how the insects love them. Be very interested to hear more of what you decide to put in yours. CT x
ReplyDeleteThanks CT. I look forward to seeing how you re-vamp your garden, too. I'm also going to create a new wildflower area - I've already worked out where it will be. I know from when I did this before it's hard work, but, like you, I will love to see it bring in the insects. We'll have to compare notes!
DeleteWonderful wild life shots Wendy - you certainly are a wizard with a camera. We have lots of buzzards round here - you can see them circling and calling all the time. It always reminds me of cowboy movies when they are in Red Indian country. I purchased a Perovskia last week as my last one didn't overwinter and died. Good luck with your dry borders.
ReplyDeleteThanks Elaine. I love your image of the buzzards in the wild west -and I agree; they do look as though they should be circling over vast plains! Our young buzzards have a range over several fields - I think our smallholding is right at the edge of their territory.
DeleteAnd that's interesting about your Perovskia; if I do buy it, I'll have to remember to look after it over winter.
I forgot to mention that have you thought of Joe Pye weed to grow in your garden. You see lots of it in the hedgerows but you can buy it from nurseries. We saw it recently in a garden and it was covered in insects.
ReplyDeleteThe geese are now flying over on the way to the fields, always a wonderful sight.
Sarah x
Thanks for this, Sarah. I hadn't thought of it, so I'll look for some. I can add it to my planned wildflower area.
DeleteI'm pleased that the geese are flying in. I always have to stop what I'm doing to watch them fly over.
The plants you grow for the dry garden are the ones I grow here and they are all both tough and beautiful. We have buzzards here too but I have never managed a good photo! Love yours. And I so agree about the need to leave areas uncultivated. My garden is positively noisy with insects after a few years of gardening with the intent to support pollinators. It is amazing how quickly wildlife responds if you will let it.
ReplyDeleteThanks Elizabeth. I completely agree with you on wildlife areas - nature will move in very quickly if we let it. But sadly the arable farming here can be so destructive.
DeleteThe pair of young buzzards are now regularly flying right over the smallholding, but they still fly off the moment I point the camera at them!
I think that you have found your bee friendly flowers! I love your first painted lady photo but also the other one with the peacock in the background! Brilliant!
ReplyDeleteThanks Lou Mary. I'm not sure how many new flowers I'll be introducing to my re-vamped garden next year but I now have a list of bee friendly flowers that are definites.
DeleteThe field margins are still the only place I've seen Painted Lady butterflies this year, none on the smallholding at all.