Surprising September!

This month has certainly been interesting. It is going out with some superb weather in the mid-twenties centigrade which is very unusual for this time of year. I guess it cuts down on heating bills.

I am always busy in September when we have visitors from the north. This year we were able to entertain them with some obliging badgers.

I have been quietly watching the badger sett in the woods next door for most of the summer. Sadly, several weeks ago, I spotted some undesirables out shooting in the woods. I was not just concerned with my own safety but I did not want these guys to find the badger sett. So, I decided I should stay in my own garden to watch the badgers.

I have been putting out peanuts each evening, spread over a wide area. The badgers pass by at a very regular time and we have been watching from our conservatory. They literally "hoover" up the peanuts. There are 2 of them, one from the sett in the woods to the east (with a vertical line down his snout) and one from the sett in the woods to the west (with a spot on its nose). Unfortunately, every time I set up the camera and try to trigger it remotely, they get spooked, so no decent photos.

The roe deer family have been more obliging...



A week or so ago, Mum and twins were all on the front lawn. The twins are both boys which you may be able to see from the photos. Their little antlers are just pushing through.

These photos were taken through the window, so are not the best. Just opening the window to take the shots, would have made them flee.




I also recently visited a local garden centre in a quest to find more summer-flowering pretty flowers which the deer will not eat. Someone suggested Pentestemmon which I had never tried before so I bought some to give it a go. So far, they have not been touched by the deer. Hopefully, next summer we may have more colour during the summer months.

I noticed a long time ago that the deer don't eat Primula. The primroses in our garden run rampant in the spring but I did not know how many pretty types of primula there are. We visited Armadale Castle and Dunvegan Castle Gardens on the Isle of Skye in Scotland this year. They had some wonderful displays of primula (primula vialii, primula bulleyana, primula beesiana, etc). I have planted some this year and hopefully they will do as well in the garden as their native cousins.

Finally, the buzzards and red kites are continuing to thrive. They do their best to avoid posing for the camera, but I did get one reasonable photo this week.