Unusual Visitors

Over Christmas we found we had some uninvited yet unusual visitors in the house, well to be more precise in the cupboard under the sink. Tiny droppings and chewed cleaning clothes gave them away. The droppings were quite small for a mouse, but we thought it might just be a youngster.

So a trap was set. A live one I might add, baited with Crunchy Peanut Butter (Organic).

Overnight I caught the culprit, but no mouse. Our visitor was a Field Vole (Microtus agrestris) quite a surprise. So it was transported up the track to an area in the hedge free from the freeze and snow, deep in the middle where it could find shelter.

Just to be on the safe side, because the damage under the sink seemed a lot for one small animal. the trap was baited again and replaced.

To date I have caught six voles under the sink.

The latest visitor in the trap.

The vole makes a bid for freedom.

It poses for a little while before racing into the undergrowth under the hedge.

Hopefully the is the last of our visitors, but the trap is back under just in case. We can only think one of the cats brought a pregnant female in and let it go, the sort of tricks they like to play on you.

The snow has gone. It disappeared overnight a day back when the wind swung round and blew from the warm South. It was just amazing how it just went away. Heavy rain all through yesterday and overnight cleared away the compacted stuff and icy patches, so our track is completely clear. The weather is milder and feels so much warmer.

Everywhere is misty with a light drizzle falling at times, so welcome after the cold we have had.

Winter Wonderland

Bright sun today makes the snowy scenes look enchanting.

The snow may not be that thick, but is laid over a slick surface. Impassable unless it's by a 4X4, which we don't have.

The woodland below us is a winter wonderland with the snow.

Looking across the valley.

More Snow

With it so close to Christmas and not much can be done outside, we decided to go to Carmarthen for our last shopping before Christmas. It was cold but dry with no sign of any further snow until we came back home. It was a little late for us getting back at around 3.00 pm, but all was fine until we got to Red Roses and bits of snow started falling, the nearer we got home the larger the flakes.

The roads were covered in the village and the car had a bit of a slide without mishap. Then we entered our track. The first part has a bit of an incline, but it proved a difficult. The wheels span badly, even though we had two bags of heavy grit in the boot positioned over the wheels to improve traction. We thought it was going to be a shovel job, I had put one in the boot just in case. But as we were still moving, even though in tiny increments, I kept the car going.

It just managed to reach the top and we were on the move. If we kept the motion going we would be fine. Turning the sharp corner we have half way along, we met an old lady who regularly walks her dog along the track. Her dog who is a bit of a car chaser roared up to us and she is so slow moving I had to stop the car, on another bot of incline. We thought this is it!

After some minutes she got the dog on the lead and out of the way. The best we thought was I would have to reverse to the flat and then move forward, but first a try from the position we were in and could not believe it, we moved forward. So the car just powered on and kept going right though our gate, which is pretty steep.

The snow kept falling and within minutes had covered our tracks.

Looking down from the front gate, our incoming tracks only just visible.

Snow falling quite fast.

The day was getting dark fairly early because of the heavy snow clouds overhead. But Ma Goose still needs her bath before going to bed.

Cold Bath

The freeze still bites and every morning the ice on the pond where Old Ma Goose has her dip, has to be broken and much of the ice removed for her to have a bathe.

  One of us has to stand around while she does so because of the presence of a fox. It has been visiting up here very regularly because of the frozen ground. Mind you it would not have ventured up to us from out of the valley, but was driven by the shooting going on down in there as they hunt out the Pheasants living in the woodland. The Fox not being stupid, comes higher up to the top of the valley out of harms way, but ends up hunting around us and along the periphery of the wood.

Others also hang around the garden out of harms way. This pigeon is a regular visitor.

Gentle birds that have to keep out of the way while the guns are about, this Pigeon comes around every day. Strangely enough we have never had trouble with them eating our Winter greens.

This chap hangs around the garden out of harms way, walking around quite majestically, then slips away for a while through the hedge and into the field.

Scattering Of Snow

Once again we are lucky to have only a slight amount of snow as others not too many miles away are suffering from the disruption of heavy snowfalls.

 

The iris foetidissima still holds it's berries into the cold weather.

Old dead flower heads take on new forms when covered in snow.

Snow capped Sedum heads.

A Dunnock visits regularly for seed in this cold weather.

Striking Skeletons

Leaves have well and truly gone from all the trees leaving wonderful skeletal forms showing against the skyline. The Oak tree grows into spectacular shapes as it matures.

We are very fortunate to have many fine forms growing around us.

This is a silhouette of the one growing at the bottom of the garden.

Stinking Gladwyn

Dry shaded areas are always difficult to fill with plants, but one that is very easy to grow in this situation is Iris foetidissima sometimes commonly known as Stinking Gladwyn or Stinking Gladwin. Spelling is different but the same plant.

It is pretty hardy, ours grow in the shade of conifers in soil that can get pretty dry. The stinking comes from the smell when the leaves are crushed emitting an unusual smell, some find it unpleasant, but we don't mind it.

The flowers are subtle, a greyish blue in colour. But the berries make up for the unprepossessing flowers with their striking colours.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They are worth having for that punch of colour in difficult places. Look out for the variegated leaved form.

Early Cold

Early cold has swept across Britain. Okay those who live here don't need reminding of that. Some of us are deep in snow, but thankfully here in Pembrokeshire we have escaped that so far.

Frost though is everywhere and penetrating deeper with each day. Look on the bright side though, slugs will be less numerous for us next season as eggs laid too close to the surface will be frozen and killed by the cold.

Frosted leaves.

The Sedum gave us a lovely showing this year and still bring a touch of colour to the stark early winter months.

Saxifraga umbrosa is as tough as old boots and completely unaffected by cold.

The Sweet Chestnut leaves had just lost their crispness with the rain, then along came the frost making them snap and crack once more as they are walked over.

Tiny Tenant

The time came to clearing out the greenhouse ready to put some of the tender plants in before the frosts come. Moving away a seed tray that had been left on the floor, I found that underneath had been home to a family.

A mouse and it's family must have been happily living under the tray. The nest warmly lined with fluffy fibres from sheep's wool from sheep who grazed in the field the other side of the hedge, along with soft moss.

There was no sign of life so the whole family have fled to pastures new.

Fungal Fun

The woodland just by us has sprouted many of it's unusual denizens. The fungi are out in force now before the cold weather really strikes.

This one has a lovely metallic sheen to it.

Scattered amongst the woodland floor some seem to follow their own trail through the wood.

I had earmarked this dead tree for cutting for logs, but on seeing the mysterious habitants I now have to leave it.

Unfortunately these are not the only things I found while down in the wood. Youngsters, and it would only be kids  going into the wood to drink, take cans of booze, drink them and just leave the tins scattered around.

Amongst this rubbish are also two throwaway barbeque bases and the wire tops to cook on, the base is at the front of the pile. So they had a really good time down there.

The plastic can holders, bottom right, are a dangerous nuisance as they have been found tangled around the legs of wild life. The strange thing is we never see anyone down there even though it is just at the bottom of our own land. We can only think they get down during the evenings when no one is likely about.

Slow Slowworm

This morning I came across what I thought was a casualty, laying in the heavy dewed grass the body of a Slowworm (Anguis fragilis).

It's eyes were closed and it seemed fairly rigid when I picked it up. But I think the warmth from my hands made an immediate difference as a slight movement came from the wiry body. The tail was blunt at the end and looked as if it had lost it from an attack.

The wound seemed to be fairly fresh. So it would seem that something had tried to make a meal of it and ended with just the end of the tail. In Slowworms this is their one defensive action they can take, to shed the end of the tail, allowing escape from the attacker.

I think in this case somehow it had got itself in the cold dewy grass and had chilled. So I held it for some minutes hoping the heat from my hands would help it become more lively.

The cold rigidity slowly gave way until it felt like a bronze bracelet that had life. I love the feeling of them in my hands, they seem to emanate such intense life in a small body.

I took it over to the place where it would be at it's safest, the compost heap.

   Quietly with a lovely grace to the movement it slid from my hand and pushed it's way into the heap and safety once more.

There is some kind of fragile beauty to these small legless lizards that makes me feel great affection for them. They do no harm but much good, eating many of the dreaded small white slugs that do so much damage in the garden.

Their favourite place is within compost heaps, so whenever you break a heap open don't use a spade to slice down that they cannot escape from, use a fork as there is very little chance of spearing the body of a Slowworm.

There's more info on Slowworms here at Wikipedia

Autumn Colours

Around the garden we have quite a collection of Sedum's (Sedum spectabile), gradually the are coming out in flower and as they do they attract masses of insect life to them.

Bees of all types busily wander over the flowers, while Butterflies flit from head to head gently sipping the nectar.

Dahlia's are still blooming quite vigorously, giving loads of colour in the garden. Regularly dead heading is needed to keep them going right up into October or until the first frost touches them.

  The taller dark leaved variety is one of the Bishops children and is fronted by a single flowered and double flowered dwarf dahlia. All are easily started from seed around March. They are terrific for Bumble bees giving them a really good source of food well into Autumn to keep them going over winter.

No garden should be without some kind of berry bearing shrub to supply birds with free food that will help them fatten up for Winter.

Pyracantha or Firethorn can be easily trained against a wall to make an eye catching display. Earlier in the year it is covered with masses of pure white flowers, then the berries create a marvelous display. Birds love the berries and will strip them in a few weeks as they ripen.

Another shrub to grow is Leycesteria formosa or Himalayan honeysuckle, Pheasant berry, flowering nutmeg. It grows to just over 6 feet in height and has lovely hanging purple racemes that end in small white flowers. Eventually the pollinated flower forms a purple-black berry.

The berry itself is loved by numerous birds especially the Blackbird and as the name suggests  Pheasants. The berries are fairly sweet in themselves and taste a little bit like sickly toffee, some say like treacle. If you don't believe me try a taste, myself I'm not too keen on the flavour.

  Leycesteria formosa

Soft succulent berries forming under the purple bracts.

Where are the Blackberries?

Between our hedges the Blackberries are hopeless, they just seem to be shrivelling into dried mummies before they even form. Even at the top of the garden a large Blackberry we have growing has gone the same.

So we walked around the field and found much to our relief, blackberries growing in the hedge where the sun really hits it. So can only come to the conclusion that it is the poor weather we have had during August that has stopped many from developing properly.

Just out from the hedges a few Blackberries have ripened, but are outweighed by small undeveloped ones along with withered specimens. The smaller will ripen eventually, but much later and will not have the rich flavour.

   The difference can be seen where they are growing in the sunny part of the hedge.

We was not alone while in the field.

We finally ended with a nice few succulent berries to have that evening.

A surprise has grown into the trees of the bottom hedge to the garden, we knew we had  planted it some years ago, but it had never before flowered.

This is an old Hop variety (Humulus lupulus) that I found growing in a hedge between two gardens and I dug up a few roots to grow in our garden. The house below the garden I was in where the hop grew, was once an old inn. Traditionally before the advent of large breweries, Inn keepers grew their own Hops to flavour their own beers brewed on the premises. That is why very often hop plants can be found growing within hedgerows around Britain.

A Hop plant may travel quite a long way through a hedge over the years, far away from the original position that it first grew in. But if the hedge is followed either way, the site of an old inn or pub may be found where the hop was originally grown.

Another good giveaway that it was grown for brewing is if there is only a female plant present, only females produce the hop or cones. For brewing purposes male plants are not bothered with as they would fertilise the female and seeds would be produced which is not desirable in brewing.

The female hop will easily reproduce vegetatively, travelling in good soil for long distances underground by way of long white roots. They make lovely twining climbers that effectively cover fences, trellis or pergolas. Each year they will die right down to ground level, then in Spring shoot up at a fantastic rate to twine over whatever they are positioned by.

If the plain green varieties are too ordinary the golden form Aurea makes a gorgeous plant with bright gold leaves and golden hops!

End Of Summer Days?

Over here in the West of Britain, the weather has become very uncertain. Although August is known as the wetter month of Summer, it seems to be living up to it's reputation here at least.

So each good day needs to be enjoyed for what it brings because September is rapidly coming and that will herald the onset of Autumn (Fall).

The later Summer plants are now at their best.

Hydrangeas (Hydrangea macrophylla) are out fully, the heads perfect in shape and the colours pristine.

A little out of sync with the season, a dwarf Azalea flowers. Deep inside the flower I caught this wasp taking a drink of nectar.

Azalea and wasp

Soft As Down

The large Thistle that came up at the side of the veg plot has now gone to seed. It was quite an impressive size and really sharp points to it. But the colourful purple flowers make it well worth while leaving to grow on. Not only that but it is an important insect food, attracting many insects to the nectar it produces.

Now the soft downy seeds have come, the Goldfinches will be visiting it for the carbohydrate rich seeds they need to build up their fat reserves for winter.

Thistle seed heads (Cirsium vulgare)

For a good number of years I have looked for a variegated Nettle and finally found one (see Trouble with Nettles)  called Brightstone Bitch. It is a lovely yellow variegated Nettle, well worth a place in the garden.

Sods law though often has a laugh and a month or so after acquiring it I found a nettle with a tiny variegated patch on a shoot. So I carefully nurtured the shoot and have now produced my own variation of a yellow variegated Nettle.

Variegated Nettle (Urtica dioca)

It looks very much the same as Brightstone Bitch (Trouble with Nettles) but so far it seems to be a shorter form keeping it's shape even while flowering, whereas Brightstone Bitch grows quite tall. Anyhow we shall have to see how it performs over time.

Ever one not to be satisfied I would love a white variegated Nettle to come along :-)