Sunshine, Wind and Rain

It has been a week of sunshine, heavy rain and winds.

An inspection of the garden today found the pond level two or three inches above the overflow pipe. It must have rained very heavily during the night. I hope the level falls to normal soon otherwise the bog plants in the shallow end may suffer.

A huge tree has recently fallen in the corner of the garden furthest from the house. Luckily it did no damage. It is not actually our tree but has fallen over into our garden from the woodland next door, just missing demolishing the fence!

I think it is an alder (although difficult to tell when there are no leaves). I have read that alder wood does not give out much heat when burnt in a stove, so I hope I am wrong about the type.

I also found lots of holes dug in the flower beds next to the house with lots of tracks leading to them. I guess it must be rabbits causing the damage. I think it is unlikely that badgers would dig there. Whatever it is, it is causing a lot of damage. I must put out my stealthcam to see if I can get a photo of the culprits and try to find a way to dissuade them.

After the Storms

I have been away for the last few weeks and therefore unable to post.

Today was the first occasion to look around the garden to see what has been happening while I was away.

Apparently it has been quite stormy - high winds and heavy rain. Most of the leaves have gone from the trees, which is rather a godsend. As you can imagine, with so many trees in the garden, leaf clearing is a huge job which usually lasts from September to December. The ash leaves are usually the first to fall and the oak the last. This year, maybe we can get them cleared by early December.

There is not much flowering at this time of year, just some Winter-flowering Jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum) and Mahonia (Mahonia x charity), but they add a little bit of colour.

There are still lots of fungi. The lawns are peppered with what look like tiny Waxcaps (Hygrocybe), white and yellow, but I have not been able to identify them exactly yet. There are also Blackening Waxcaps (Hygrocybe nigrescens), Shaggy Parasols (Macrolepiota rhacodes), Deceivers and some Cup fungi which I am not sure about.

While I have been away, the birds emptied the feeders and then disappeared. They turned up again very quickly when I replenished, including 2 very greedy crows and the athletic magpies which manage to hang onto the feeders like the little birds. There were also a couple of mistle thrushes around the house today.

Luckily we don't seem to have had any storm damage and let's hope we are in for a calmer winter.