Scottish Gardening Show - this weekend

Gardening Scotland 2007 is a gardening and outdoor event which starts tomorrow June 1st until Sunday June 3rd. It is located at the Royal Highland Centre, Edinburgh. There is ample parking but if you live in Edinburgh, or travelling by bus or train, you may wish to use the shuttle bus service which operates from Edinburgh's Haymarket railway station.

This year’s show will include Show Gardens, the BBC Beechgrove Theatre where visitors can meet Scotland’s gardening celebrities, dozens of exhibitors selling everything you could ever need to make your own garden grow and a huge Living Garden area, complete with fruit cages, hives and honey bees. The weather has been predicted to be warm with sunshine and showers - but rain won't dampen the spirits of the visitors one little bit!

At the heart of the Show lies the fabulous Floral Hall which will be filled with the colour and scent of hundreds of thousands of beautiful flowers. I have to say here that this is always my favourite part of the show. I love the buzz of the crowds, the beautiful displays by the Nurseries, the plant sales tables and most of all seeing the happy visitors carrying bags and bags of plants!

This year, in the Floral Hall, visitors will find ‘Gardening The Earth’, the most ambitious display ever mounted by the world-renowned Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh. Only to be seen at Gardening Scotland 2007, the exhibit is designed to showcase the organisation’s vital conservation work in more than 30 countries around the world. As well as plants at the show their are other attractions including an International Food Festival and Craft Marquee.

I have just watched a preview of the show and one garden caught my eye - the one by the College of Agriculture. I am looking forward to seeing this one finished - I particularly liked the colours of both the plants and hard landscaping. Inside the marque one of the Nurseries that I will always visit first will be Binny Plants. This is one of my favourite Scottish Nurseries located in Ecclesmachan, just outside Edinburgh. Binny has always a great range of more unusual plants and his display garden never disappoints - I always like the use of water, stone and metal sculpture too.

If you are visiting the show this weekend I would like to wish you a great time!

Last breaths

It is just after 10am as I begin to write this and at the moment there is a very sad picture in our Camera Nestbox. The last two remaining chicks are lying in the bottom of the nest cup on their sides. They are just breathing – I can see them move up and down with just the faintest of moments. They also have some company and unfortunately it is not the parents - there are two flies crawling over them. Perhaps the third last chick was not removed when it died later yesterday and has drawn the flies in.

The Camera in our Nestbox has given us a rare insight into any bird that builds a nest and attempts to raise chicks – there is so much more work involved than we ever imagined. I am in no doubt, as a gardener for many years, that the changes in temperatures this year with the hot dry April (very unusual for my part of Scotland) and the very cool wet May have had a knock on effect on the flowering of my plants and in turn the availability of food for our Blue Tits.

Nestbox Update: The Blue Tit female has just entered the nest and dealt with the flies – what a surprise to see her. I had no idea whether she would return at all now. I am very glad the flies are gone now as one chick is still slowly breathing. She looked into the nest cup at the chicks and briefly looked for other bugs beside them. I recorded her visit which lasted almost three minutes. As I wondered if she would return again – I have just heard her at the entrance calling to the male. I have to say in had been fascinating to see the communication that goes on between them. She has just briefly returned again and looked over and had a peck at the chicks. She then turned and looked to the entrance hole in a way that she has done before when she has looked for the male to join her to show him something. How amazing nature is.

I have considered that although this breeding season is over for our Blue Tits, they only have one brood each year, that on a more positive note other birds may have an extra brood. It will be very interesting to see the results of the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch 2008 as I have heard many stories of other failed Blue Tit broods and unused Nestboxes. I have also heard that this spring fewer Blue Tits have been seen in gardens.

Nestbox Update: The Blue Tit female has just returned again and chased of another fly and I never saw that one! As she jumped about the nest she seems to have disturbed the chicks and I can now see that they are both moving a little. She has left and I can see another fly walking on top of the nest! I can also see the dead, third last, chick which will be attracting them. I know it is just a matter of time now. She returned again and removed another fly – I saw it in her mouth. I wonder how many more visits she will make and if the male will join her at any point. As I was about to publish this the male came in with a beautiful bright green caterpillar – he left with it calling to the female. I now wonder if they will visit together and if they will eventually remove the last chicks. I will look in again on the box this evening.

Selecting pieces of video has been quite tricky sometimes but I have many more clips that I haven’t shown. I will look through them all and perhaps over the weekend show some more of this wonderful insight into nature and a Nesting Blue Tit pair.

Still with us

It is almost 8am and the three young Blue Tits in our Camera Nestbox are still with us. I managed to get some fat cake last night - thank-you Tesco! I hung one in a tree and placed another on the secret feeder and this morning I have seen both the male and female find the one in the tree which is a start. I also bought a bag of RSPB Sunflower mix that has smaller grains in it which would be perhaps easier for the chicks – I know this is not ideal but both the male and female keep bringing seeds in.

The male has been in this morning and brought what looks like some sort of bug, as you will see above. However, he did appear a tad confused when the chicks were not too interested in it. They did open their mouths and he did pass it round them all to taste – he is good that way. He then left with his offering only to return shortly afterwards for a second try – he got no takers at all that time!

The female is also going out for spells this morning - probably to eat herself and also to search for food for the chicks. They both do try to get bugs first before going to the fat cake and the seeds – I can see their searches in my garden. It is another damp and chilly morning so the female will probably need to spend time in the nest cup again to keep the chicks warm.

A Starling and its chick have just found the fat cake in the secret feeder – ah well! There isn’t much space for them in there and perhaps only a few more will find it - I would imagine it could last a few days anyway. However, I have a third fat cake in reserve.


What else is still with us? Well if you are unfortunate enough to have already seen what is shown, beside the woodlouse, in the photograph above in your garden then you will know what it is. On the other hand, if you are worried about finding one in your garden and don’t know what to look out for this will definitely be of interest to you. The photograph above is of a New Zealand Flatworm found under a pot, a good place to find them first thing in the morning, in my garden during a tidy-up at the weekend.

Don’t despair if you find one in your garden. I first found the Flatworm in my garden around 10 years ago. Granted, I did get a surprise to see one at the weekend as I haven’t seen one for a few years now! I have already written a lengthy post on them about my experience with useful links which you will find here. My garden has survived with very few earthworms since then - if it is drier this afternoon I will go out with the video camera and film part of it.

What did I do with it? Well, firstly, as you can see, I got my camera out and photographed it. My daughter was watching from the window – but she wasn’t the only one! I had planned to put it in a jar of salted water to destroy it – you will see more on that in my other post. The blackbird who had been watching me had other plans for it – as I went inside to put my camera away he snatched it and run off with it! My daughter didn’t see if he ate it. I have to say that is the first time I have ever seen a bird take one. I cannot imagine the poisonous enzyme within it would be good for a birds digestion but experts suggest that they have not harmed the birds of the UK.

One day on.....

The activity in our Camera Nestbox looks like it may end soon. Sadly we now have only three Blue Tit chicks left and one looks much weaker than the other two – not even opening its mouth when food comes in. The parents have been seen taping its mouth with a beak as I have seen with the other chicks they have lost. I have been watching the box for a while and very little live food has gone in – in fact the food deliveries even of the sunflower hearts have slowed down! Today has been cold and wet and I would have expected many more visits with food. At this moment I really don’t expect we will have chicks at this time tomorrow – I hope I am wrong.

The picture above was taken from our Camera Nestbox at 5.10pm today.

One week on…..

Last Monday I posted ‘Surprise, Surprise’ as I discovered four chicks in our Camera Nestbox. Later that morning chick number five hatched. What a difference we have seen in these chicks in only a week! They are slightly fluffier now, have wings developing, larger mouths and are making their presence known in the nest! They are definitely getting stronger and growing remarkably day by day! The female is taking longer to settle them at night now and is clearly struggling to get comfortable sleeping with them!

However, not all the chicks have grown at the same rate. The stronger ones are getting more of the food now and sadly the younger ones weren’t even lifting up their heads to open their mouths this morning. The size difference between the first five chicks and the other three was at its greatest today. My first impressions this morning when I saw the chicks in the nest were of serious concern for the younger three chicks. They lay near the bottom of the nest cup and I wasn’t sure I could even see the youngest one move much at all. When food came in the stronger chicks just climbed on top of each other and the smaller birds were pushed further down into the nest. I kept hoping the male would notice the younger ones as he seemed better than the female at checking on them all.

Sadly, I believe sometime during the afternoon and early evening we may have lost three of the chicks. It is difficult to count them all – but I am pretty sure that the younger ones didn’t get any food today so I cannot see how they could have survived anyway. When chicks die in the nest I believe the male or female will remove them to keep the nest clean for the others. I have looked and looked at the nest and I am not exactly certain on how many chicks we still have. I now have mixed feelings about switching on my PC tomorrow and looking in on the nest – although I have always been aware that not all the chicks may survive.

The picture above was taken in the Camera Nestbox this morning when I believe all eight chicks were still present.

Hiding Mealworms - tricky

The Blue Tit parents of our Camera Nestbox chicks appear to be finding it difficult to find caterpillars to feed their chicks. They are bringing in spiders and other bugs but they have also resorted to bringing in pieces of fat cake and sunflower hearts. I have tried to help them by putting out live mealworms – hiding them in places where I have seen them search for food. This morning it is windy and cold too so the parents will be aware they must feed them lots but the female will probably also need to spend some time sitting in the nest to keep them warm – so they will both need to work hard today!

Yesterday, we had a worry for one of the chicks. As we watched the female as she brought in a sunflower heart. She did appear to soften it first on the branch of a tree. She stood looking over her brood and to our horror put the whole heart in the mouth of one of the smaller chicks. She then left. She has done this before but this time the chick remained with its mouth open. The heart was stuck. Soon after, fortunately, she returned and looked at them all. We were talking to the screen telling her to take it out! She finally saw there was a problem and removed the heart then left again - but the mouth remained open. We were having difficulty seeing why. She then returned again and appeared to check on the chick. She then removed a very thin skin of the heart allowing the poor chick to finally close its mouth! Thank goodness – how clever she was to keep checking though. My next thought was how this reminded me of a visit to the Dentist and how sore the chick’s muscles must be after holding its mouth open for so long!

Hiding Mealworms has not exactly been successful as you will read below, but I am and will continue to keep trying. The problem is that the Blue Tit has to recognise them as a food.

The pot above is at the moment right under my window – beside the ledge that spiders can be found. The Blackbirds found these ones and still keep coming back to see if there are more! Their search is vain there now. I also hid this dish on the ground behind another pot but……. the blackbird found them too. So I won’t try these places again.


The hanger above, as you can see, is beside a peanut feeder hanging in an Acer tree. This is a popular feeder for all the Tit family and the Chaffinches. I didn’t notice if any were taken from this feeder but…… this morning it was lying on the ground below. It was lightweight and today is windy so I will go out refill it and secure it more thoroughly to give it another try.


The secret feeder above was the one I was most confident of. My small domed Acer tree has a small ground feeder underneath it. When the Blue Tits search on the ground for food they will often take it quickly away and jump up at speed into the inside crown of this tree. They will eat there in a little more safety. The way the branches grow out in the crown is the perfect framework to hold another small ground feeder. I put live mealworms there. They disappeared very quickly but I wasn’t confident it was the Blue Tit that had taken them. I suspected the Blackbirds had been watching me – as they often do!


I should have guessed that a bird that would mostly feed on the ground would find and really enjoy live mealworms. I would describe the bird shown above as an explorer as it skirts around the undergrowth of my plants. It is about the size of a Robin and I have often seen a Robin chase it around the garden and into flight. It is also quite timid and I have had difficulty getting a photo of it – so I am thrilled to get one on camera.

If you haven’t recognised the bird above it is a Dunnock. But, as you can, see it really likes the mealworms and one is not enough. This was not its first visit! I put some on the ground below the secret feeder, a couple on the ground tray and a few on the ground. It firstly found the tray ones and gingerly took one away. It then came back and took two away – that was the tray empty! It then returned and searched the ground and found some more. It must have thought he had struck gold. So again, more beakfuls of mealworms were taken away until the final trip on the ground that is shown above – he is getting greedy now! The ground was now cleared of mealworms.

I will be honest here and say that I opened my window to chase it away a few times and for once it was not timid! I thought that would be all he would get and the others were safe – silly me. On its next visit I got the biggest surprise as it jumped up right up to the secret feeder. How did it know it was there? Could it smell the worms? Well that was that. After a few visits it had cleared the lot! I will try this feeder again though but I won’t put any on the ground this time. This feeder still has sunflower hearts and I also plan to put a little of the fat cake there too. If the Blue Tit gets there in time perhaps by association it might just see the mealworms as food.


A ladder could be called for today. Looking out my window I have just though of another place I could try to hide live mealworms. I have just spotted the female resting on the very top of my small pine tree. It is opposite the entrance to the Nestbox. Perhaps this is a place I could try leaving some.

The photo above was taken yesterday of the male Blue Tit with a grub of some sort to take in to the chicks.

Springwatch Returns to BBC2

STARTS MONDAY 28th MAY

daily until FRIDAY 1st JUNE

BBC 2

8-9PM

with special Nightshift Programme at 12.30am

Bill Oddie and Kate Humble

present the third series of Springwatch

at Estate Farm in Devon.

Simon King will be in the Hebrides

and Gordon Buchanan will be in Glasgow

keeping track of urban foxes.

Perhaps all Springwatch followers in the UK

will be aware of the return of this very popular programme

but, just in case, I thought I would post a reminder.

This year the programme is being shown

later in May than in previous years and therefore

we should expect different birds and wildlife.

The warmer April has meant that

they will not have Blue Tits to follow this year.

However, there are Young Barn and Tawny Owls

in Camera Nestboxes to see live.

Kingfishers are likely this year

and urban foxes too.

I have to add here that not all Blue Tits

have already fledged in the UK,

we have eight chicks in our Camera Nestbox

that will be almost a week old

when the programme starts

showing that nature does vary throughout the country.

Eight hungry chicks

I have been a tad nervous about writing this post. At the moment we have eight Blue Tit chicks in our Camera Nestbox. They are tiny hungry little things and I am very aware that their chances of survival is reliant completely on the food in the beaks of their parents!


How old are they? Well I am not absolutely sure on the first four chicks. I spotted them on Monday morning which suggests they could have hatched then or on the Sunday – so we could guess that four chicks are now four or three days old. I watched one hatch on Monday – so number five is now three days old. Chicks numbers six and seven hatched on Tuesday so that makes them two days old. The final chick hatched yesterday so it is the youngest at one day old – it is easily spotted in the nest as its mouth is much smaller than the others. I never saw the last chick hatch but noticed it yesterday in the nest by the pinker colour of its body and its smaller size. In the picture above the youngest chick is on the right with its mouth open.

How do they look? Well they are similar to a new born baby with floppy heads and limbs that wriggle about with no particular coordination. Similar again to a newborn they respond to the parent’s voice but in this case it is a tweet which is a different sound than I have heard the parents use to call on each other. They have yellow banana-like mouths, as you can see above, tufty grey hair on their heads and a black band across their eyes. Their eyes are not open yet but their beaks are beginning to form. I would guess that the next stage will be a stronger neck so they can hold their head up.

Calling to the chicks is mostly done by the female when she has food. She looks over the nest, calls to them and they struggle to pull their heads up and open their mouths – some are too late as she quickly feeds and disappears again for more food. The male is usually quite silent when he feeds them and sometime stays looking over the nest for a while as you can see above - the second picture shows that the female came in and her look reminds him to get moving and he leaves! However, I have noticed that when he feeds he tries to feed all the chicks a piece of what delicacy he has brought in as you will see in the video below. The female on the other hand will sometimes feed only one or two chicks – is she feeding up weaker ones or already aware that some are more likely to survive than others and concentrates on them?



The female still sits on the nest cup to keep her chicks warm and regularly dives in to clean up the ‘mess’ that the chicks are making now that they are eating. She mostly eats this mess but the male will also take his turn in cleaning up – but he takes it out of the nest and has not been seen eating it. Sometimes when she tidies up the chicks get pushed up and almost out of the nest as you can see in the picture below.


The menu for the chicks that I have seen so far has been a mix of caterpillars, spiders, small slugs and pieces of fat cake. I really don’t know if the fat cake is a good food but quite a lot went in last night – maybe the parents were trying to ensure their chicks survived the night. I am seeing less caterpillars going in and have heard about failures of other chicks due to lack of caterpillars in gardens due to weather conditions. Reluctantly I bought mealworms yesterday and placed them in three different containers hidden where I see the Blue Tits sometimes look. I don’t know if the parents will find them but for myself I know I have at least tried to help them. If any chicks do die they will be removed from the nest by the parents - hence my nervousness of the title of this post.

I contacted the RSPB yesterday to ask for any advice about the possible food shortages for the Blue Tits this year and about providing mealworms. Ian Peters, Wildlife Advisor, Bedfordshire replied:

“Unfortunately, the recent weather combination of cool and wet conditions is the worst possible situation for blue tits during the fledgling development stage. The caterpillars are there but they can be difficult to find and because the food demands for the growing brood are so high, they can quickly die even though they are still getting a little food. Longer periods of bad weather can mean almost 100% failure of nests across the country in some years, especially as blue tits have such a distinct breeding season. Fortunately, the temperature has now risen and some places in the country are experiencing drier conditions, which are perfect for caterpillars.”

He added:
“Mealworms are a potential solution for bad times but blue tits are so conditioned to looking for caterpillars that many individuals fail to recognise the food.”

Incy Wincy Spider

Incy Wincy spider
climbed up the Nestbox wall,
Down came the rain
and made poor Incy fall,

The Blue Tit in the Nestbox
nearly missed her chance,
As Incy Wincy Spider
across the nest did dance.

Poor Incy Wincy spider
there were hungry chicks,
Although he was just tiny
he filled eight sets of lips.



The video above was taken in my Camera Nestbox on May 23rd 2007.

Bottoms Up!

I have a short video of some of today’s activity in our Nestbox. I have taken many snapshots over the last two days and I will have some difficulty deciding which ones to use. For the moment I thought I would share the video below.



Hygiene in the nest is something I never really thought of. The chicks are eating now so… naturally this food has to go through them. Where does it go after that? Well, it can’t stay in the nest so the female removes it – usually by eating it! You will see this in the video above. She feeds the chick and then removes and eats a white substance from the chick’s tail end. She then can be seen diving into the nest cup to see if anymore housework is required before settling back into the cup and rotating the remaining egg with her feet.

How clever nature is – our female Blue Tit is a young bird yet she still knows how to care for her brood. I hope they all survive. It is difficult to get a picture at the moment that clearly shows all seven chicks and the one egg. I don’t know if the first few days are crucial for the bird’s survival – we will just have to wait and see. I have to be honest and say that tomorrow morning when I switch on the PC and look in the Nestbox that I will be a tad nervous - I hope I will be able to see them all. I also hope that the last egg will hatch tomorrow as otherwise the chick will be a bit behind the rest and perhaps struggle to get its share of the food at feeding times.

Surprise, Surprise!

Well what a surprise greeted me this morning when I switched on my PC and looked in on the Nestbox. The female was sitting in the nest cup and as she moved a little I spotted a brief flash of pink. I instantly thought we had our first chick and I missed it hatch!

The female settled down again in the nest cup and did her jiggle thing turning the eggs with her feet as she has done many times. She settled for a brief while - and I was willing her to get up to see the chick! She finally did and when the whole nest cup was visible I had an even bigger surprise!


Four chicks were in the nest cup – my first thought was where did they come from? Of course I know the answer to that – but when and how did we miss them? I expected one to hatch per day perhaps. I saw the eggs yesterday morning and her in the nest cup. I was busy in my garden in the afternoon but any time I looked in the box she was sitting sleeping or turning the eggs – noting appeared any different.

The weather was sunny and warm yesterday afternoon and early evening. This morning we have blue sky and sunshine - at the moment out Nestbox will be catching the warmth of the sun. It was positioned to get early morning sunshine and to avoid the sun later so it didn’t overheat. Perhaps this change of temperature has helped the hatching – I really cannot believe we have so many chicks so quickly!

Number five hatched as I began typing this! I wondered what was happening when the female was taking particular interest in one of the eggs instead of the chicks. Then I noticed a crack and it moving a little. She eventually pulled a piece of shell away to help the chick get out. We then watched as she ate this piece of shell. Eventually the chick broke completely free and she removed the rest of the shell from the nest.


The male has been very busy this morning bringing in caterpillars to the female who then feeds the chicks with them. She has also left the nest and comes back with food too. Funnily enough the male doesn’t always come in with the food if she is not there. I hear him calling at the entrance then he flies away!


How fascinating this is to watch but I must leave it for a while. I will post more photos and some video footage when I get good clear shots.

Chelsea Flower Show Preview

SUNDAY 20TH MAY

6.35 -7.35pm

BBC 1

Alan Titchmarsh, Joe Swift & Carol Klein

Present an exclusive preview of the

85th RHS Chelsea Flower Show

Perhaps all gardeners in the UK will be aware the BBC has a preview of the Chelsea Flower Show which is this coming week

but, just in case I thought I would post a reminder.

I am looking forward to watching it

and would like to wish all visitors this year a great time.

All quiet now!

Earlier this evening as I looked out my window the trees and plants were still blowing in the wind. The light was fading fast and all was quiet – but what a noise was heard today in my garden. Squawk, squawk, squawk! I never heard the noise from inside but I did notice a bird through my window which I initially didn’t recognise. However when I went outside it was definitely not quiet.

What was this bird sitting on my pine tree? Well if you haven’t guessed it is a juvenile Starling! I have never noticed one in my garden before and today we saw four. They would sit squawking with beaks open waiting for parents to come and feed them – even when they were standing on the sunflower hearts! They even opened their beaks at a passing Blackbird – silly things. They were all very amusing to watch.

They waddled like ducks and when the wind blew at their fluffy feathers they even looked like large ducklings. However, they did have the instinct to drink and found all sources available and one even tried to have a bath. The bather acted even more like a duckling when it slipped down into the pond and had to skim across the surface to safety – more than once!

Poor parents were stalked by groups of their offspring who almost outsized them. It really was funny to watch - they even followed them in flight. I looked up my reference book and read that it is five weeks before these juvenile’s will be independent - poor parents. The video below captures one of many feeding moments.

When will the eggs hatch?

Today is a chilly, very windy day with rain showers and also day 12 of the female Blue Tit incubating eggs in our Camera Nestbox. The question now is - when will they begin to hatch? Well, this is Scotland and it has definitely been a much cooler May than last year. I have no records of my own to make estimates so I have referred to other Nestboxes on the Web. It seems hatching begins between 12 and 16 days so in day terms that would be between today, Saturday, and Wednesday.


My guess is now going to be for Tuesday as the weather has been so cool. I originally thought tomorrow might have been the day. The pictures above show the eight eggs and our Blue Tit female sitting in the nest cup at 9am this morning.

Hatching has a process that is really quite fascinating. It appears that chicks call to each other and to the parents from within the egg! This helps co-ordinate their hatching – although they won’t actually hatch together. They use a tiny ‘egg tooth’ on the bill tip to break the shell and then struggle until they push the two ends apart. So the process goes from cracking to forcing then to actually breaking out. I wonder if we will see any of this live on the screen – I hope so.

The Yellow Book

Scotland’s Garden Scheme and the National Gardens Scheme (England and Wales) are gardens that open for charity in the UK. The gardens are almost all privately owned and it is an excellent way to get inspiration for your own! In some cases a village will open a number of small gardens and tea and home baking will be provided in the village hall. There are often plant sales too.

The garden owners make you very welcome and spend a lot of time getting their gardens ready for their openings and take time to chat to their visitors. I always feel sorry for them if the weather is unkind on the day. Children are made welcome too – especially in gardens where there are children. I would definitely recommend visiting the gardens - it is a great day out. I would also like to add that I took part a number of years ago with my own town and found it a great experience!

The Yellow Book gives dates, location information and instructions where tickets will be sold. There is usually a map supplied, with the ticket, to find the gardens and often coloured balloons are tied outside the gardens too. I have been known to go through the whole book, at the beginning of the season, circling the gardens I would like to visit although perhaps only visiting a few. This year I will try and plan my weekends better so I can visit more.

The book is sold at Garden Centres and perhaps some bookshops. Local Newspapers can also advertise the Opening Dates and posters are often seen in Garden Centres – usually printed on yellow paper. Of course if you are reading this you will have internet access where you can also get all the information you need. To see details of Scotland’s Garden Scheme click here and for England and Wales click here .

Happy Visiting – whatever the weather!

Garden Bloom Day May 2007

May Dreams Garden is in Indiana, USA. It is a Gardening Blog/Diary written by Carol who shares photos and stories about her garden. There are many people throughout the world that do this – that is not unique. However she has introduced something through her site that is unique and I feel is such a brilliant idea.

What grows and flowers where and when – how many books are written on this? However, especially with climate change, stories from real gardeners can be invaluable. Carol has come up with an idea that tells real stories of how plants are thriving, or not, throughout the world. She has invited gardeners to share what is in flower in our own gardens on a particular day of the Month, the 15th, by posting plant lists and photos through Blog/Diaries. This is such a fun idea to see what other gardeners like to grow too – giving ideas to all and sharing valuable info.

To join all you need to do is post your photos and lists of what’s in bloom, perhaps what is in bud and what has just finished. It is up to you - it doesn’t have to be all photos but they are great for everyone to see. You then tell Carol that you have taken part by leaving a comment on her page here. This allows her and others to visit your page from the large list she will have there. If you are not able to take part this time you can still see the photos and plant lists by visiting May Dreams Gardens. Below you will see my contribution for May.

Photos above, from top, ALLIUM Christophii, ALLIUM Purple Sensation, Pink & BLUEBELLS, CIRSIUM Rivulare Atopurpursum, EUPHORBIA (Spurge).

The plants above are grown in my front garden with a quartz gravel mulch as they get baked in the sun there. They all grow well through grasses and over rocks.

Photos above, from top, GEUM, Candelabra PRIMULA, SAXIFRAGA variagata (London Pride), AQUILEGIA (not sure variety), BOWLES GOLDEN Sedge Grass, SNOWDROP (On tall stems -not sure variety).

The Geum above sadly is short lived but I lift and divide it to spread this sunshine orange colour about. My back garden gets more shade. It looks great with the striking pink of the Candelabra primulas and the ornamental grasses.

Photos above, from top, TULIP , VIOLA Labradorica Purpurea, AJUGA (not sure variety), PRIMROSE grown from seed in 2003.

These plants have some shade growing under my Acer tree and to the side of my pergola. I do love to see them in the early morning as I did today with it dappled upon them.

Photos above, from top, FRITALLARI (not sure variety), AQUILEGIA x2 grown from seed collected last year on variety Tequila Sunrise, RHODODENDRON x2 (will need to check varieties – have labels), POLYGALA Chamebuxus.

The plants above always add strong colour to my garden at this time of year. Most of these plants I have had for many years although they have not always been where they are now! I am well known for moving plants around.

Photos above, from top, NARCISSUS Poeticus Pheasant Eye, Lawn DAISIES.

I was quite surprised to see two lone narcisi in my grass today - all the other bulbs have passed over and at the end of June we will mow over this grass area again. Today the rest of my grass was in need of a trim - but then I would have missed the daisies!

Photos above, from top, CHOISYA Ternata (Orange Blossom), CHOISYA Aztec Pearl, WISTERIA Shiro Naga Fuji (Snow Showers) x2.

The scent of boths leaves and flowers of the Choisya are wonderful. My Wisteria has not quite made it into flower for this post but it really isn't far away. The leaves are now beginning to uncurl behind the flower buds which are getting longer every day. I must remember to feed it to get good strong flowers.

Photo above, BAMBOO Sinarundinaria Nitida (Chinese).

This perhaps looks like an odd photo to add to the list for today. Yes, and not too common fortunately. This is my Bamboo in flower - it is now setting seed and will die! I was very unfortunate that I had three good sized plants when last year was the one year in 100 that this plant flowered. Other Bamboos are once in every 30-40 years. I collected seed and will try sowing it - just as an exercise to see if it germinates. The plant I have in flower was spared one more year as I had divided it into another three before it came into flower last year. I have thrown out one, compost bin, and left another to see if it comes back to life in another three or so years purely for sentimental reasons as it was part of a Jungle garden I built with my daughter.

Finally, I would like to wish everyone that drops by this page a Good Bloom Day! I am now looking forward to visiting May Dreams Gardens to see who has been visiting there with garden photos today.

Update Wednesday 16th:

Sorry, I missed something in my post yesterday which may be of interest to you. I have had increasing enquiries to my site about New Zealand Flatworms after posting on them. Many are now coming from the USA. Click here to read about them.

All photographs above were taken in my garden on 15th May 2007.

Garden Birdwatch May 2007

The Blue Tits nesting in our Camera Nestbox have rather dominated posts recently. I thought I would address this, on behalf of the other birds in my garden, by doing a bird count over this weekend as activity in my garden has increased recently.

The results below were taken on Saturday between 8.30-9.30am. Top of the count was the Starling.

9 Starlings counted

Starlings have dramatically increased in numbers in the last 10 days or so. They are coming to the feeders in packs and are messily tossing food about as they eat. The smaller birds wait about and sometimes join them. The Woodpigeon gets quite aggressive when they feed near it.

7 Blackbirds counted

Blackbirds have visited my garden in good numbers for some time now. They are seen and heard most early in the morning - although they do visit throughout the day and are one of the last birds to be seen before dusk.

The pictures shown above are of a Blackbird male, top, and a juvenile. There were five males, one female and a juvenile in my count. The mystery surrounding the unusually large amount of sunflower hearts being eaten at the moment was solved when I did my count.

I watched the male blackbirds go away with beakfuls of up to five sunflower hearts and I saw one feeding a juvenile with them. The young juveniles are quite plump and brown and almost the same size as the male. They wait about the ground near the feeders. Between them and the recent invasion of starlings I will need to restock my supplies a week earlier than usual.

4 Greenfinches and 4 Chaffinches counted

Finches are popular in my garden but not all were seen for my count. We have not seen any Siskins since my post on March 21st. We had about eight visiting then – as one was sick I slowed up a little on filling the feeders and off they all went! All the finches appear to be sociable visiting in large groups together or mixed. Goldfinches too were missing from my count but they are still visiting my garden – the most I have ever counted of them has been 19!

Greenfinches, top, will feed at the feeders and on the ground enjoying the sunflower hearts. Chaffinch females, middle, look quite similar to the greenfinch and will travel through shrubs to get to the ground – two were counted. Chaffinch males, are often seen around the ground or sitting on branches just looking about – two were counted.

3 Woodpigeons counted

I’ll be honest when I say that I find myself opening in window and clapping my hands to scare off the woodpigeons when they are at the feeders in numbers. I did do this during my count quite a few times. The smaller birds don’t always move away when I do this. I don’t mind the odd woodpigeon strolling around the ground and feeding there – as long as they don’t damage plants! Sorry, I shouldn’t be selective I know.

2 Song Thrushes, 2 House Sparrows, and 2 Blue Tits counted

Song Thrushes, top, are seen regularly now enjoying the sultanas and sunflower hearts from the ground. They will even feed from the bird table and I have seen one on the bar of a feeder trying to get the sunflower hearts from there too.

House Sparrows, middle, come and go. Often there is a solitary one or two then a larger group will come along of about ten. I am seeing more males at the feeders at the moment. The largest numbers I have seen of House Sparrows was last October where we had to count visually in groups of tens – there were over 80! It was quite a sight when they were disturbed and all flew off together.

Blue Tit, bottom, numbers have decreased since our pair began nesting. Our male is often seen chasing off the competition as he did during my count. The photo above is of him sitting on his favourite perch.

1 Great Tit, 1 Robin, 1 Dunnock and 1 Jackdaw counted

Great Tit, top, was seen only briefly as our Blue Tit male chased him too. He did take a sunflower heart away with him and attempted to eat it on another tree but our sleuth male chased him from there too! What a handsome bird this is though – isn’t it?

Robins, middle, are back visiting my garden once more – they seemed to have a spell away. They are often seen chasing off the Dunnocks – although not in this count. I don't have a photo of the Dunnock yet - it moves about the ground around plants.

Jackdaws, bottom, have begun to visit my bird table taking its favourite nibble – the peanuts! It has the same problem as the Woodpigeon at the table as its size makes it a bit difficult to get in. It does manage though. It also gets the open window and clapping of hands treatment!


1 Blue Tit female in Nestbox

Finally, this bird count could be complete without mentioning our nesting female Blue Tit in our Camera Nestbox. All has gone quiet in the Nestbox at the moment – perhaps next weekend we will have some eggs hatched!! For most of the count she remained inside the Nestbox incubating her eggs. She did pop out briefly at one point and returned again.

All photographs above were taken in my garden.

Blue Tit male in waiting

I am aware that perhaps I have given the male Blue Tit, of the pair nesting in our Camera Nestbox, a bad name. Yes I have not seen him visit the female often in the box – when she was making the nest and laying her eight eggs. However he is seen in the garden on perches, tree branches and at the feeders.


He waits and watches for her, as you can see above. I am now considering that he is on guard duty for her. Perhaps he has more of a guardian role at the moment. I have noticed he is very close by when she is on the ground.

He reminds her to eat perhaps – I have considered this too. Maybe she loses her appetite after a while. I say this as when she is outside she flies to him where she will wait and he brings food to her – sometimes twice. He then leaves and flies up to the tree above. She will then go to the feeders herself for a while then fly up to the tree - I assume to join him for a while.

A Caterpillar has been brought in to feed the female but today, as I began to write about him, he brought her something else. It was difficult to see at first but I do believe he brought her a lovely Spider. After eating it she left the nest and is still out now - almost an hour later. I have to be honest and say I am always happy to see her back in the nest again. I would hate anything to happen to her now after she has put so much effort into getting this far.

The photograph above was taken in my garden on 9th February, 2007.

Feed me

Late morning I heard our Nestbox female Blue Tit calling to the male. I assume she was requesting food and I did spot him at the feeders with something in his beak. She called and called as you will hear, and see, in the video below.



Unfortunately, he only got as far as the entrance and flew off again. Maybe the invasion of young Starlings diving around the feeders scared him off. However, he was successful last night at 7.30pm as you can see in the shorter video below.



It is wonderful that a camera in a Nestbox can allow us to see these moments. I am delighted to be able to share them through this diary.

Eight eggs now!

This morning I first looked into our Camera Nestbox at 7.30am. I did wonder if our nesting Blue Tit female would lay another egg this morning. If she did I felt confident I would see it in the nest cup at some point during the day. Although she has begun incubating her eggs she is not sitting full-time yet. I was delighted to see that she now has eight eggs.


Twelve hours before this I was even more delighted to see our male Blue Tit come into the nest and feed her. He brought her ‘fresh’ supper! I was lucky enough to catch it on film – the light wasn’t as good at that time of night but I will publish a brief video of this later as it still captures the moment.

Incubation begins with 7 eggs

This morning, at 5.12am, I looked in on our nesting Blue Tit in our Camera Nestbox. She was sleeping in the cup of the nest and breathing quite fast. Was I too late to see an egg being laid again? Was she finished laying? A few minutes later I spotted the male outside taking a peanut from the feeder and flying off with it. This was a pattern I had seen on a few mornings – but today this was about to change.

I cannot confirm that an egg was laid this morning and I have no idea if the first egg, that was buried deeper in the nest, has been brought to the surface.

I can confirm, though, that our female Blue Tit has begun to incubate seven eggs as you can see above. She has sat in the cup of the nest since I looked in this morning with only the occasional breaks to either walk around the Nestbox, to stretch her legs, to flap her wings a little or to go outside for a drink at my pond below. I have heard her having spells of chirping too which catch my attention when I am on the PC – it is nice to hear her.

I haven’t seen her eat and the male hasn’t come into feed her – he does appear to know things have changed though and has remained around the feeders more. He has also been on look-out nearby when she is out of the Nestbox – I assume he is looking after her and will warn her of danger. I expect he will feed her at some point – I hope I catch his visit.

I have considered buying live mealworms and placing them in a feeder where the male would find them now - to feed any successful chicks we may have hatch in the next two weeks. I will need to cover the container of the mealworms though as I cannot stand seeing them wriggle about.

Are any more eggs likely? I do not know the answer to that question – perhaps she may lay one more tomorrow. I am happy that she has not laid too many as perhaps they have more chance of survival.

The reality is that not all chicks survive. I was reading through the diaries of the links I have on the right column, under the heading ‘Bird Nestboxes - Cameras & Info’, and was sorry to read that all the Blue Tit chicks out of two Nestboxes on one site had died. However the six Great Tit chicks in the other Nestbox are thriving. If you wish to read about this click here.

Another link I would recommend for info on Blue Tits and Nesting is NestWatch – I look in on this one myself. I read there that when our nesting female dives into the nest cup re-adjusting her eggs, as I thought, she is actually turning them! I never thought of that. Both sites have Camera Nestboxes and diaries for a few years so clearly have lots of experience in what is likely to happen next.

Seven eggs for seven days

Today our Blue Tit female in our Camera Nestbox had laid egg number seven by the time I looked in on her at 5.08am. I cannot deny I was not a little disappointed - this was the earliest I had been up to see her! She was early today herself – ah well.

She was sitting over the cup of the nest when I saw her this morning. She then dived down into the cup to sort the eggs – I had thought perhaps she was making space for today’s one. I had to wait a few naps and sessions of re-adjusting of the material around the top of the cup before I would see the eggs - almost 15 minutes later. I think I really knew it was all over when I first saw inside the box.

I also considered if she had brought up the first egg hidden further in the cup of the nest but all her behavioural signs suggested she had laid an egg. I was unable to get a good picture this morning as you can see above. However later on when I looked in again at about 7.10pm, just before she came in for the night, I managed to capture a very clear picture of six of the seven eggs as you can see below.


The question now is – is she finished laying? Another question has also to be answered what is she doing about the first egg hidden deep in the cup of the nest? Perhaps I was mistaken with the first egg but I am confident I saw it. I think I will put this question to a forum and see if others have experience of this.

Sunday sees six

I must be honest and say I didn’t actually see six eggs this morning! If I didn’t get up 15 minutes earlier this morning I would have had no idea at all if another egg had been laid. Number six was laid at 5.20am this morning and I saw our female Blue Tit lay it. It can just be seen below.


A brief rest - then she dived well into the cup of the nest and then rearranged her eggs as you can see below. The eggs are now banging against each other as she does this – I wonder if any ever get cracked.

She covered the eggs early today making it very difficult to see them all. I am glad I got up early to get a glimpse of the others – who would believe from the photo below taken at 10.40am has so many eggs hidden beneath!


Colour variances in the photos above are as a result of changing light levels outside. I occasionally alter the brightness of the photos. As I am choosing to share these photos I like to show them as I see them as much as I can. These photos have not been altered.

Sleepy

Today as I made an early check in our Camera Nestbox and I saw our female trying to sleep. She did this a few times between spells of re-adjusting the nesting material around her as she sat in the cup of the nest. I have never noticed her do this on other mornings – she was clearly tired and last night we did notice her feathers a bit ruffled looking as she went to sleep.


She kept me guessing giving only tiny glimpses of an egg below. I looked in at 5.30am and 22 mins later she left the nest and only then I was able to see she had laid another egg. We now have five – four sitting at the top of the cup. I am still concerned about the first one which is deeper in the nest cup but hopefully she will bring it up to join the others.

When she left she flew straight to the Cherry tree opposite perhaps to join the male – with the blossom and leaves and could not see where she was. I wonder how many more eggs she has left to lay.

Male Update: As I was about to publish this post the female came back into the Nestbox. She sat in the nest cup a while and was breathing quite fast. She must be tired – was she hungry too? She went to leave then stopped in the entrance hole to look about. I then spotted a Blue Tit on one of the feeder hooks. I looked back into the box she was still there! I hoped it was the male.

The female then flies across to join him and I was delighted to see him feed her. He then flies off briefly with what I could only describe as a fast fly-by past my window then he returns to the feeders. He takes out a sunflower heart and takes it up to the female, who did not move, and feeds her again. He then flies off and up into the cherry tree. She then flies down to the sunflower hearts and eats some – he has understood she needs to eat more for energy. All this activity would have gone unnoticed had I not been looking for it.

Finally, as I was making breakfast, before starting to write this post I noticed there were many birds scurrying around the ground looking for the sunflower hearts and sultanas. Two birds caught my eye, Song Thrushes, and I kid you not they came quite close to my window and stared straight at me! It was quite amusing they would move a little and stare again. I guess I should really go outside now and top up the feeders. The Song Thrushes regularly use the bird table too - they were so shy when they first arrived too!

Flowers of the week

I love May as my garden really comes to life again. The fresh new leaves are on my small Acer trees with pale yellow primroses growing in clumps below. My small rhododendrons are in flower and my allium buds are about to burst with their many stars of flowers.

Daily checks are made my wisteria for progress on its flowers with the same anticipation of eggs in my Nestbox! To help its flowers this year I am now watering daily as we have had very little rain this past month. I plan to feed it regularly now too.

Plants can put on sudden spurts of growth at this time of year and if you are unlucky you can miss some gems. I almost missed the first flowers on my cirsium, the last picture above, as I wasn’t looking for it to flower yet. The leaves on this plant can take over but the thistle flowers are loved by the bees just as much as me. It has a very longer flowering season too and last year I had a second flush in December – after pruning some hard back.

Window shopping

Yesterday I wasn’t exactly window shopping. I called into a garden centre on my way home and spotted something very interesting to add to my garden – a Solar Insect Theatre. It is a box not unlike the size of a Nestbox with a window to see the insects inside.

The small solar panel on the top will power the light inside. How fascinating it will be to see what enters it. It claims to attract Moths, Butterflies and Lacewings. It comes with a twig but you can add your own plant material, branches or attractant. I bought some Butterfly attractant.

My last posts perhaps suggest that all the focus in my garden is on birds. Agreed, it is a busy time with nesting but the plants too are at an interesting stage. I have also noticed lots of insects now in the garden with the odd bee and butterfly too. The Insect Theatre, shown above, also has solitary bee holes.

Greek Oregano, Garlic, Silver Queen Thyme and Alpine Strawberries were added to my shopping basket. Although I do have a good home for them – my new scree herb garden that I have been working on this week. A nice planting job for tomorrow! I will post photos of the finished job.

Teasel and Angelica were my final two purchases. I couldn’t resist trying to grow these plants. The teasel will be planted near my bird feeders – I believe the goldfinches like them so it will be interesting to see them feed from it. I expect it will self seed freely so I will have to regularly weed below it. I will plant the Angelica in an area of partial sun beside wild flowers and golden hop.

Friday makes four

I did get up early this morning but by 5.38am when I looked in the nest I did wonder if I was too late. She was sitting quietly in the centre of the nest cup. Ten minutes later after tugging and pecking at the nesting material, and herself, she moved out a little and revealed another egg! We now have four eggs. She then left taking a feather with her!

Still no sign of the male visiting the Nestbox – not that I have seen anyway. Interestingly enough I have just looked out my window and spotted a Coal Tit at the feeders with a sunflower heart. I haven’t seen one for a while. He wasn’t there long though as he was chased off by a Blue Tit. I wonder if it was our male – I couldn’t tell. Our Blue Tit pair have become very territorial and chase off the Great Tits that visit too. I assume they are saving the insects they will need to feed their young.

Now we have three!

This morning I was unable to get up early to watch our Blue Tit female to see if she would lay again. She managed okay without my support and was kind enough to leave them uncovered for me to see - as the picture below shows.

Now, she is definitely trying to cover up her eggs - as you will see below. However I am concerned about the first egg buried a lot deeper in the nest – has she forgotten about it?

I am also concerned that the male has forgotten about attending to her – I have never seen them together recently. He was around yesterday though – perhaps the leaves and blossom on the trees are camouflaging them together.

Changes in the appearance of the nest vary throughout the day. However yesterday the nest stayed pretty much the same with the egg uncovered. This morning she has visited a few times to cover the eggs so perhaps the cover-up is complete now. I will post other photos here if there are any significant changes.

More feathers, the photo above was taken at 12.25pm

Getting ready for the night – has she heard the male call to her? The picture below was taken at 7.43pm.

Getting to sleep, as we all know, when you are uncomfortable can take some time. The photograph above was taken at 8.34pm and as I publish this, 30 minutes later, I have seen her move around the cup of the nest a few times – poor thing. I can only assume that she has more eggs to lay and that is what is making her so uncomfortable! I think I’ll get up early to see her tomorrow - but perhaps she will have the morning off!

Where are you?

Our Camera Nestbox now has two eggs - the first one is hidden in the cup. Our Nestbox female clearly looked like she was waiting to show him egg number two at 5.40am this morning. He had been at the feeders but never came to feed her. She eventually left without covering the egg - the second picture taken at 8.00am shows it even more visible.

What happened first? As I switched the PC I looked out my window and spotted the male Blue Tit dive down into my garden to the feeders. He then swiftly flew up to my neighbour’s, heavily blossomed, Cherry tree. I had difficulty seeing him there. I suspected he might be waiting on the female – or perhaps planning to bring her breakfast in bed!

Was she still there? That was the question. Other mornings when I got up early to see her, just after 5am, she was already gone by the time I could see in the Nestbox. However yesterday she was there at 7.30am. This morning I had no idea what to expect. I was delighted to see her sitting pretty in the cup of the nest.

What were the first signs that an egg would be laid? Well, I have to say this is all new to me. I have looked at other websites so from reports there I did expect the eggs would be laid early in the morning. I didn’t want to know much more than that as I felt it would perhaps spoil the experience. I felt the nest was ready when she spent most of the day away from it. Was she enjoying her freedom, and rest, before laying and incubating her eggs? I was feeling quietly confident.

What did she do first? This was quite amusing to watch. She went round in circles, clockwise mostly, within the nest cup tugging at the material bringing it forwards toward her. Round and round she went occasionally changing direction. She also tried to shuffle in the cup but the nest really looked quite springy and she bounced about. This started at 5.15am.

Did the male visit her? No – instead he visited the feeders enjoying the sunflower hearts at 5.30am. I don’t believe he went near any plants for insects either as he did when she was building the nest.

What did she do next? Well, she snuggled herself low into the nest cup. Her head almost appeared stretched out and almost half her body was hidden. It was 5.32am and her breathing appeared fast. In the background I could hear the noises of birds chattering and singing outside. I assume she was keeping focused as she didn’t lift her head up at all as she would have any other time.

How much longer? Just over five minutes – in this time she moves forward in the nest cup. She begins to lift her tail end up then pushes it down into the cup. Then this movement changes with her pulling up her tail end out of the nest cup in longer movements and the hole of the cup becomes visible. Then one last lift and the egg was visible as you will see in the video below.



Did she look at the egg? Not right away. She sat where she was for a while – I assume tired with the effort of pushing the egg out. Her breathing was still a bit fast and heavy. Then suddenly she came to life again and went back into the cup burying away with it once again. I couldn’t see the egg now. She then appeared to re-adjust her tail end with her beak a few times and generally get herself in order once more.

Did the male visit her now? No - not even with a reward of food. She looked like she was expecting him too. She stood to the side of the egg as if to proudly show it to him for a while. She then clearly gave up hope of him visiting and re-adjusted the wall sides of the nest and left at around 6.04am – without covering the egg!

Did she return to the nest during the day? A few times. She moved material about and shuffled in the cup over the egg. She definitely didn’t make any attempt to hide this egg – was she trying to make a point? I didn’t see her much at all for the rest of the day.

Where is she now? Back in the Nestbox all tucked in. She had difficulty getting comfortable again tonight. The last glimpses inside the Nestbox tonight showed her breathing fast again. I wonder how many eggs she has left to lay.

Will I get up early again tomorrow? I’d like too - but I’ll not set an alarm.

First for May 1st

We have our first egg in our Camera Nestbox! What a surprise this morning. I only had a brief glimpse of it, in the centre of the picture below, before our female Blue Tit tried to hide it.

Unusually she was sitting in the nest cup when I switched the PC on just before 7.30am this morning. She was still all puffed up just as she is before going to sleep. Her breathing was a little fast. She pulled the material towards her and it was only then that I became suspicious. She got up and then almost concealed the nest cup as you will see in the pictures below.

I didn’t see the male come in with food for her so perhaps he had already been. She appeared to be having a well deserved rest before going out for the day. She then left taking a piece of nesting material with her – that wasn’t unusual!

How many will she lay? That will be the next question.