New neighbours

They seem to have moved in. Who? The starlings.

Each morning, as I venture towards the kitchen my ears are assaulted by their raucous cries.  Now, this year, whenever you venture into the garden you hear them everywhere. Come the evening they outcompete with the more mellifluous sounds of the blackbirds.

They seem to have moved into, & presumably nested in, the huge tree in next door’ garden. When we first moved here, nearly 20 years ago, that tree was the nesting place of the collared doves. After many battles, some fatal, the doves yielded to the magpies. Now the magpies have given way to the starlings.

As for our insect house, that is definitely proving an attraction to the bees. Some hollow tubes have been blocked off for eggs to hatch. Most times when you look at the house a wriggling striped backside can be seen up a tube, hard at work. We put the house just near the lavender, always a bee attractant.

The garden has really filled out now. The pergola midway up the garden is covered with a mass of white clematis & sweetly scantly mauve wisteria. Further up the garden, beyond the white lilac tree & the large white hydrangea, huge pink clematis flowers have opened up. Today some dark purple & yellow irises have unfurled. There are azaleas, red, pink & white. In the wild garden under the silver birches bright red poppies are appearing. The Solomon seal is flourishing & laden with its creamy seals. Summer is definitely here.

All of a buzz

Whenever we go out or come in at this time of year, we stop at the oregano growing in the front garden. Why, you might ask. What’s so intriguing? We’ve discovered oregano is a great bee attractant. There’s rarely less than three bees going around the flowers, even though it’s a fairly small clump. They’re usually big fat bumble bees with white backside, though there is the occasional slim-line honey bee visiting. The little white rumps wriggle around in ecstasy as they gorge themselves.

In the back garden it is undoubtedly the lavender that is the main attractant, though a fair number can be seen amid the mint at the moment.

It is wonderful to see so many busy buzzing bees. Our next door neighbour was complaining only the other day about the shortage of bees coming to pollinate his runner beans. I couldn’t help thinking I knew where they all were - in our garden. Even the lobelia & primulas growing in the pots in the walled garden have striped behinds sticking out of their flowers.

The new garden certainly is doing a grand job of attracting the insects. We’ve even had some butterflies, species never previously seen in our garden. Admittedly that does mean a few holey leaved plants as caterpillars eat their way through the leaves - a small price to pay for the beautiful insects that finally appear.