Butterfly Count 2023
It's Butterfly Count week which you can find more about here. I have spent 15 minutes most days noting and recording the butterflies on the wildlife plot and there have been plenty. Strange, because up until now I have seen very few. Maybe the rain has helped.
Click on the links to see the recordings for each day.
I am going to keep on counting and submitting the results but will only post them up here if I get any different butterflies.
- Joy Simpson By
Fly-tipping, moths and no rain - June 2023
It's been another hot, dry month. The wildlife garden is not watered at all, other than topping up the pond, and so everything in it must survive on its own. If it doesn't, we don't grow it. I think this is one of the reasons why foxgloves find it so difficult to establish themselves. However, there are many plants that will tolerate these conditions and they have been out in force along with the wildlife. I will write another post mid-July about which flowering plants have done well this year and last during the droughts because it is my personal opinion that this type of weather is here to stay and that we shouldn't be using drinking quality water on gardens.
This month has been all about fly-tipping, moths, creating new bits of the garden and a date for the Exmouth in Bloom judges to visit.
To read more, click here.
- Joy Simpson By
April 2023 on the wildlife plot
April is a time of showers and sunshine, sometimes quite windy and sometimes warmer, others colder. I think we had it all this April and the wildlife responded to it by being visible sometimes and not others. Probably as it should be at this time of year. We did have some sightings of insects I have not really been aware of before and some old friends back again such as this buff-tailed bumble bee on the grape hyacinth. I love how furry they look.
This month they have also been on the Skimmia, Lithodora and the early geraniums when it has been sunny. They are always the first bumble bees that I see and the most prolific on the plot.
To see more on the plot such as Hawthorn flies, Holly Blue butterflies and unnamed moths click here.
- Joy Simpson By