Notes from the garden....

Having the garden has been my saviour over the last ten months since bring struck with sciatica and it is amazing the number and variety of species our small garden hosts on a daily basis.  The pond has a big part to play and this week we have been visited by Brown Hawker one of the largest dragonflies and two species of damselfly, Large Red and Blue Tailed.  On the butterfly front we have had small numbers of Ringlet, Meadow Browns, Tortoiseshell, 1 Large Skipper and 1 Comma.  I am continuing to try to identify the Bumblebees and we are currently being mesmorised  by a colony of Red Tailed Bumblebees which have taken over one of our nest boxes apparently there can be as many as 200 in a nest.  Then there are of course the birds, July is always a quiet time in the garden but this week we had a mixed flock of 72 Blue Tits, Great Tits, Long Tailed and Coal Tits pass through, one if not the largest flocks we have ever had and yesterday afternoon we had two Crossbills and a Yellow Wagtail fly over.  We have daily displays of Common Buzzard and a female Marsh Harrier went through last week and a Hobby often plays havoc with our resident flock of House Martins.  A pair of one of my favourite birds is frequently feeding on the Honeysuckle at the bottom of the garden - Bullfinches, they have nested in the park this year and it is always a delight when they visit but the  birds I am most happy about is the pair of Spotted Flycatchers - I have previously reported that they built a nest in the Park but that it was predated however they have rebuilt in the same box and this morning one of the birds was sitting so fingers crossed they will be successful second time round.

Finally we now have two LongEared bats visiting the garden each evening again they are feeding around the Honeysuckle picking off the moths which are feeding on the flowers - we are predicted another hot week so we will hopefully putting the moth light on this week so fingers crossed we can get an Eyed Hawkmoth before the bats!

Ps if you can get to Normanby Park soon do so just to smell the Lime Trees, they are flowering at the moment and the smell is just divine.