Hot, Hot, Hot!

I don't recall a summer with so many extremes of weather. After weeks of cold and wet weather, it was all change this week. Hot and humid with temperatures over 30C (86F) - once again not the usual UK summer weather.

The warmer weather has brought out the butterflies and moths, but still not as many as usual.

 

I managed to snap this Purple Emperor butterfly yesterday. It was a bit difficult to get a decent photo being quite high in a tree but I think it is interesting because you can see the purple sheen on its wing which give it its name. Only the male has this colouring.

A piece of good news about the roe deer twins - I have now seen them with their mother a couple of times. My fears that something had happened to her were happily unfounded.

Just before this hot spell, the hares were spending a lot of time in the garden. I took a series of photos one day when a couple of them were right outside our conservatory. It had been raining so their coat was a bit damp, but I rather like some of the poses.






 



 



 

Finally, it seems to be the grasshopper season. There have been dozens them in and around the house. I keep picking them up on a piece of paper and depositing them outside, but they seem to leap straight back in again! There were 5 of them on our French windows one day last week.

The weather has now cooled down a bit to more "normal" summer temperatures. I hope the rain holds off at least for the duration of the Olympic Games.

Wet, Wet, Wet!

Not much to report at the moment apart from the lousy weather. I don't actually recall the last time we had a full day without any rain :(

June was officially the wettest since records began and July is not looking much better.

We have been lucky not to be affected by flooding that other people in the UK have experienced. We live at the top of a hill so we feel relatively safe in that respect.

The weather has played havoc with most of the usual outdoor summer activities - village fetes and the like. But, it is a really tough year for wildlife, too. I have hardly seen any butterflies, moths, damselflies or dragonflies this year. The garden is normally teaming with insect life at this time of year.

The twin roe deer are still around but no sign of their mother. I am wondering if something has happened to her? There are also two Muntjacs hanging round under the apple trees most days eating windfalls.

A very strange event happened last week - and I missed it! A friend saw a mole above ground right outside my kitchen door! There is no doubt that it was a mole but it was on the patio and then started burrowing into the ground under one of my climbing roses growing up the pergola. Sadly no photo. I looked up this strange behaviour and my book says that moles are sometimes seen above ground in wet weather. So, it is not only us humans that are feeling disgruntled with this miserable weather! The strange thing is that there are no molehills around this year, so I have no idea what this little chap was doing or where it is.

When the weather allows I have been out watching the badgers at the sett. Their behaviour is also very strange compared to last year. I watched them for much of last summer and they would emerge from the sett at around 8.30pm and have a good scratch. This grooming would go on for 15 - 20 minutes. They would scratch themselves and then each other.

This year there is less grooming and when they emerge from the sett they start mock fighting. They have a good rough and tumble with each other, sometimes just two, sometimes three or four of them. I am sure they are not hurting each other but there is lots of squeaking and squawking. Very entertaining.

The weather has not been good enough to do much flower photography. Everything is being battered by the rain. St Swithin's day tomorrow and the weather forecast is good. I am hoping that the tradition holds true and the next 40 days and 40 nights will follow suit.

Fingers crossed!


 

It's Twins!

I know that the Roe Deer fawns are usually born in early May. However, Mum has kept them well hidden this year because I had not seen any until a couple of days ago. This year, it's twins! These two little rascals are now old enough to explore without Mum and I spotted them on our back lawn in broad daylight.

They were never still so taking photos was not easy. These two were the best I could get. You can see their spots are just fading, so I guess they are a couple of months old.

The weather has continued to be very unpredictable - a couple of days of decent weather followed by several horrible days with heavy rain and winds.

I have continued to try to photograph the flowers whenever the weather allows. The wind dropped suddenly the other day so I snapped these Primula.

I have never been a fan of Primula (except wild primroses which are so beautiful and delicate), but because the deer don't eat them I decided that it is a good idea for a bit of colour in the garden.

Whilst in Scotland on holiday the last couple of times, I have visited the gardens at Armadale Castle and Dunvegan Castle, both on the Isle of Skye. Both had beautiful displays of Primula and some really unusual varieties. When I got home last time I bought some and they are flowering nicely in the garden this year.

The one below is Primula Vialii, which originates from China. It is very pretty and above all untouched by the deer!


Another shrub which has started to flower is Senecio greyii, also called Senecio Sunshine. Very aptly named because the flowers look like little suns and it is a very cheerful shrub with pretty grey foliage.


It continues to be a difficult year in the garden with the weather. The butterflies and moths are almost non-existent, which is very sad.

I am also watching the badgers regularly at the sett when the weather allows. I don't take photos but just watch these beautiful creatures at play.

Flaming June?

British people are renowned for talking about the weather, myself included. It is not surprising because from one week to the next we don't know what to expect.

We had a heatwave in March. April was the wettest in the last hundred years. The rain continued into May but halfway through the month it changed into another heatwave. We sweltered in unseasonable temperatures for about 2 weeks and now it has changed back to winter!

We have stormy winds, heavy rain and it is so cold that we have turned the central heating back on - 2 weeks from mid-summers day!

This weirdness is also reflected in the garden. Some things have flowered early, some have hardly flowered at all, but sadly the wind and rain are damaging the blooms.

The baby birds have all been born early. There are dozens of squirrels, but virtually no moths or butterflies. Completely topsy turvy.

This leads me on to the photo above. We found this juvenile great spotted woodpecker on the patio. It had obviously flown into the window and stunned itself. I kept an eye open for predators to make sure it recovered before the magpies took an interest. At the same time I got this lovely close-up. The red head shows that it is a juvenile.

I am happy to say it flew off unharmed not long after taking this photo :)

I have continued to take more flower photos after building up the momentum with my April challenge. However, it has mostly been too windy to take flower shots outdoors.

I rather like this picture of Aquilegia. It is an intriguingly complex flower.

Below, is a close-up of the tiny Pyracantha flowers. I find it interesting that the anthers on the stamens are different colours on the same stem. Some flowers have orange anthers and other, white.


It will be interesting to see how the remainder of this summer progresses. The year has been full of surprises so far.

A Sudden Change in the Weather

2012 is proving to be a very varied year with respect to weather - even more than normal in the UK. After 6 weeks of horrible, cold, wet weather, it suddenly changed. The weather forecast did not even predict it. The temperature has been in the high 20's centigrade for the last week with the wind from the East. This is most unusual because our hot weather normally comes from the South. It is also very unusual for May when the temperature is normally 16-20 degrees. I won't complain - I love hot weather!

The wild flowers are continuing to bloom in the garden. The photo above is Germander Speedwell. There are carpets of it blooming at the moment.


There are also huge clumps of Common Vetch in the flowerbed. Even though it is a weed, it is pretty and I don't feel inclined to pull it out.


I found a clump of this Star of Bethlehem. It must have seeded itself because I did not plant it.


The bracken is also unfurling which makes a very pretty photo.


Finally, this evening I saw a Red Kite feasting on something at the bottom of the garden. On closer inspection it was a pheasant. Sadly, I think "Hoppy" who I mentioned last week is no longer with us :(

Beech Leaves and Partridges

Since I finished my April challenge, the weather has not improved - grey, cold and showery. The plants and creatures are completely confused about the weather. The apple blossom finally came out weeks after the cherry and pear, but there are no bees or other insects around to pollinate.

The leaves are appearing on the trees and I love it when everything looks so fresh and green. I just had to take a photo of these pristine beech leaves before they they are nibbled by insects.

The birds are very busy feeding their young but there has been one casualty of the mating season. I have posted photos before of cock pheasants fighting. They are really quite vicious with each other. Well a couple of weeks ago, one of the pheasants was hopping around completely lame in one leg. Lo and behold, a day or so later, we saw another pheasant hobbling around with a sore leg! I have no idea whether they were fighting each other or whether there was another pheasant that has attacked both of them.

The pheasant that was only slightly hurt seems to have recovered, but "hoppy" as we now call him, is still in a bad way. He can hardly put any weight on the bad leg and hops everywhere. When we see him, we put extra seed out for him, but sadly I think his days are numbered.

There has been a bullfinch around on several occasions landing on some plants just outside my office window. Unfortunately, I have not managed to get a photo.

The couple of red-legged partridges below have been in the garden for a few months and are inseparable. I guess they are nesting, but because we normally see both together, I guess she has not laid her eggs yet. I find them very strange looking birds with their bright red eyes. They are very nervous and don't hang around for long when disturbed.

We are eagerly awaiting sightings of the roe deer fawns this year. We normally see them during the last weekend of May. I hope this year will be no exception!

New Web Site Live

I mentioned some time ago that I was working on a redesign of my web site www.english-country-garden.com.

I am pleased to say that it is now live. There are still a few issues that need to be corrected but it's almost all there - more than 500 pages!

I have been replacing some of the old images with better ones on the information pages. I also wanted to showcase some of my best photographs so have created a series of photo galleries.

If anyone cares to visit, you may need to refresh your browser if you have visited before because all the page names are the same.

Any feedback (especially if you find any errors) would be gratefully received.