Wildlife and Gardens Thread

[Tommy G]

8 minutes ago, jgtuk said:

Sounds like you need low maintenance shrubs and low ground covering plants. Do you have any membrane on the bed? 
You probably don’t want to be constantly weeding or pruning I presume. 
Don’t forget the pollinators 👍

Whats a pollinator?

[Trav Le Bleu]

21 minutes ago, jgtuk said:

Sounds like you need low maintenance shrubs and low ground covering plants. Do you have any membrane on the bed? 
You probably don’t want to be constantly weeding or pruning I presume. 
Don’t forget the pollinators 👍

Are you saying that @Tommy G is lazy? 

[Tommy G]

24 minutes ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

Are you saying that @Tommy G is lazy? 

He'd be correct when it comes to this kind of thing. 

[Spudulike]

1 hour ago, kenny said:

Use the internet......

 

Online garden centres are much cheaper and have better selections.

 

Dependant on what you want to plant, bare root is the cheapest way of buying plants, but you are getting a bit late to plant them. That said, putting them in now they should survive if not thrive this year if you water every day after planting.

 

https://www.gardeningexpress.co.uk/ - 9.6% cash back with Quidco is decent as well.

 

We have had plenty from the above, but we have used many online sources, even ebay for plants.

I've been looking for a suitable small front garden tree to give a bit of kerb appeal. Settled on a Cornus kousa chinensis (Chineese Dogwood), good for pollinators and has fruit in late summer for the birds. Would've preferred to have bought one from a local garden centre but none had one in stock. Shame as I don't think they are particularly uncommon. Anyway, I've reluctantly bought one online from Gardening Express. It's not arrived yet and not sure what sort of quality it'll be. I've had mixed results buying online in the past. We'll see.

[kenny]

1 minute ago, Spudulike said:

I've been looking for a suitable small front garden tree to give a bit of kerb appeal. Settled on a Cornus kousa chinensis (Chineese Dogwood), good for pollinators and has fruit in late summer for the birds. Would've preferred to have bought one from a local garden centre but none had one in stock. Shame as I don't think they are particularly uncommon. Anyway, I've reluctantly bought one online from Gardening Express. It's not arrived yet and not sure what sort of quality it'll be. I've had mixed results buying online in the past. We'll see.

We have bought thousands of plants online, from trees to hedging to feature plants and the quality has always been excellent.

[Spudulike]

Just now, kenny said:

We have bought thousands of plants online, from trees to hedging to feature plants and the quality has always been excellent.

I bought some Portugal Laurels online to form a hedge a couple of years ago and they were very decent. At the same time I bought a couple of Mexican Orange Blossom shrubs from J Parkers which were very poor quality (almost dried out, dead twigs). Should've checked Trust Pilot before ordering as many had the same complaint as me with that company.

[Trav Le Bleu]

On 02/05/2025 at 23:55, TeamRocket said:

Anyone else notice alot more green flies around or is it just the north West?

Why are there so many greenfly around? (BBC News)

[jgtuk]

1 hour ago, Spudulike said:

I've been looking for a suitable small front garden tree to give a bit of kerb appeal. Settled on a Cornus kousa chinensis (Chineese Dogwood), good for pollinators and has fruit in late summer for the birds. Would've preferred to have bought one from a local garden centre but none had one in stock. Shame as I don't think they are particularly uncommon. Anyway, I've reluctantly bought one online from Gardening Express. It's not arrived yet and not sure what sort of quality it'll be. I've had mixed results buying online in the past. We'll see.

I had one of these at a previous house. Fully mature with stunning flowers. Fruit is barely edible/bland but makes a good conserve. 
Lovely ornamental tree 👍

[Parafox]

We had a resident blackbird couple in our garden several years ago, nesting in a small willow tree we had.

 

It seems that the subsequent generations returned each year as we have never been without a pair in or around our garden.

 

The male blackbird song is a thing of beauty.

 

It's at thing I find odd in nature that the male of most species is the more colourful, flamboyant and out there than the generally dull females.

 

Do the females feel they don't need to bother because they've got what the males want?

Edited 10 May 2025 by Parafox

[ElusiveEd]

Found a young rabbit in my rear garden this morning, not been dead long but it's confused me how it got there.

 

I have a large brick wall around 3/4 of the garden and a fence around the other 1/4.

 

There is only an inch or 2 between the bottom of the gate and the patio so (not that a rabbit would anyway) it could not have squeezed under there.

 

I have cats, only one of which leaves the garden occasionally. He loves hunting but he only has 3 legs and has a bit of an assault course to complete to get over the fence and could not have climbed it with this rabbit in it's mouth, even with 4 legs it would be tough.

 

My only conclusion is that a bird of prey must have dropped it, I do see buzzards and red kites round these parts so seems the only feasible way it could have got there. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Trav Le Bleu]

4 minutes ago, ElusiveEd said:

Found a young rabbit in my rear garden this morning, not been dead long but it's confused me how it got there.

 

I have a large brick wall around 3/4 of the garden and a fence around the other 1/4.

 

There is only an inch or 2 between the bottom of the gate and the patio so (not that a rabbit would anyway) it could not have squeezed under there.

 

I have cats, only one of which leaves the garden occasionally. He loves hunting but he only has 3 legs and has a bit of an assault course to complete to get over the fence and could not have climbed it with this rabbit in it's mouth, even with 4 legs it would be tough.

 

My only conclusion is that a bird of prey must have dropped it, I do see buzzards and red kites round these parts so seems the only feasible way it could have got there. 

 

 

 

 

 

Seems like a reasonable conclusion.

 

On another point, saw the first swifts of the year over our house today.

[Foxdiamond]

34 minutes ago, Parafox said:

We had a resident blackbird couple in our garden several years ago, nesting in a small willow tree we had.

 

It seems that the subsequent generations returned each year as we have never been without a pair in or around our garden.

 

The male blackbird song is a thing of beauty.

 

It's at thing I find odd in nature that the male of most species is the more colourful, flamboyant and out there than the generally dull females.

 

Do the females feel they don't need to bother because they've got what the males want?

Agree about the blackbird song. We also have wren nearby. Little bird big song. I suppose the male birds have to outcompete other males. I find it interesting that female raptors are often bigger than the male.

[Free Falling Foxes]

Further update.

They are now exploring from the nest now.

Apologies for poor quality. Also, for some reason, FT was rejecting my attempt to upload another short video

Edited 11 May 2025 by Free Falling Foxes

[Flamey]

Any of you clever folk know that the hell this is? 🤔😳

[jgtuk]

56 minutes ago, Flamey said:

Any of you clever folk know that the hell this is? 🤔😳

Ichneumon Wasp by the looks. Completely harmless. 

[jgtuk]

Noticed that quite a few Damselflies have emerged this week, watched the first Dragonfly emerge yesterday and managed get a photo this morning. 
Male Broad Bodied Chaser. 
 

 

[Flamey]

27 minutes ago, jgtuk said:

Ichneumon Wasp by the looks. Completely harmless. 

Thanks, I let him out, but can't remember seeing one before 🤔

[Flamey]

23 minutes ago, jgtuk said:

Noticed that quite a few Damselflies have emerged this week, watched the first Dragonfly emerge yesterday and managed get a photo this morning. 
Male Broad Bodied Chaser. 
 

 

Yeah, I saw a couple have a bit of 'hows your father's by our pond earlier 😂

[Trav Le Bleu]

7 hours ago, Flamey said:

Yeah, I saw a couple have a bit of 'hows your father's by our pond earlier 😂

Are we allowed to say how's your father any more?

 

How's your Y chromosome donating parent?

[Trav Le Bleu]

We had a bird box we planned to put up and left on top of our small garden tools shed. While we were on holiday some blue tits moved in, been watching them coming and going for the past few days.

 

Until this morning when we found the box on the floor (about 4ft drop). My wife put it back where it was, but reports no activity

 

Guess one of the neighbours' cat is the culprit. I'd be fine if a creature was doing it for food, but cats are the only other thing than man that hunts for sport.

Edited 14 May 2025 by Trav Le Bleu

[Spudulike]

2 hours ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

We had a bird box we planned to put up and left on top of our small garden tools shed. While we were on holiday some blue tits moved in, been watching them coming and going for the past few days.

 

Until this morning when we found the box on the floor (about 4ft drop). My wife put it back where it was, but reports no activity

 

Guess one of the neighbours' cat is the culprit. I'd be fine if a creature was doing it for food, but cats are the only other thing than man that hunts for sport.

Domestic killer moggies really are a bleeding nuisance. Owners should be given an ASBO 

[leicsmac]

2 hours ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

We had a bird box we planned to put up and left on top of our small garden tools shed. While we were on holiday some blue tits moved in, been watching them coming and going for the past few days.

 

Until this morning when we found the box on the floor (about 4ft drop). My wife put it back where it was, but reports no activity

 

Guess one of the neighbours' cat is the culprit. I'd be fine if a creature was doing it for food, but cats are the only other thing than man that hunts for sport.

Some other animals (like foxes) also spree kill for sport, but yes, domestic cats are responsible for a truly huge death toll of other animals purely for that sake and I've no idea why it's still considered socially and legally acceptable to let them roam in areas that do not require pest control and for reasons beyond only that specific purpose.

[Trav Le Bleu]

I think that it should be a legal requirement that any cat that is allowed out (and for the record, they should be. I'm no fan of people keeping their pets imprisoned.) should have to wear a collar with a bell on it.

[Spudulike]

5 hours ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

I think that it should be a legal requirement that any cat that is allowed out (and for the record, they should be. I'm no fan of people keeping their pets imprisoned.) should have to wear a collar with a bell on it.

If cat owners are unable or unwilling to keep their animal within the confines of their own property then perhaps they should consider whether they are suitable pets. It's not ok to allow dogs or any other pets to roam freely. Legislation is unlikely as it's not a vote winner but it needs to become socially unacceptable. The collar and bell is an RSPB advisory as is keeping the cat indoors during dawn and dusk when birds are most vulnerable.

[Trav Le Bleu]

The way many people are about their pets (and I say this as someone who has had several pets) is boggling.

 

Recently Dobbies garden centre got taken over by another company and as we like visiting garden centres I thought I'd check out the reviews on Google.

 

The average score was 3.2 out of 5, not great, but I noticed that reviews seemed to be either 1 or 5 stars. I decided to read the 1 star reviews to see what the problem might be.

 

The new owners had brought in the rule of no dogs the cafe and boy, the dog loving community kicked off big time! I didn't matter if the food was nice, the staff courteous and polite, the plants well looked after and the prices competitive.... I CAN'T TAKE MY DOG IN!

 

My question is, does your dog really want to go to the garden centre?