In the Garden

 The garden is bit of a mess, mainly because it has been too hot to work out there but also due to lack of rain.  The grass yellow and dry, shrubs with crisp brown leaves, flowers and most produce stunted.  Such a shame.   

The three water butts are empty, we try to save tap water into jugs, mostly from water run whilst waiting for it to turn warm enough for washing up also any water used for washing and rinsing fruit and vegetables.

The 'no mow' area at the top of the garden has now been cut down, you can see where it was from the very faded area around the seat.

Hardly any sweet peas, strawberries or gooseberries this summer.  The tomatoes in the greenhouse have taken ages to ripen but at last one of the varieties has started to reach the expected size and colour. 

These are Golden Sunrise.

Garden visitors still arrive for food and water.  

Vixen lazing in the garden around 6.30p.m. in the evening.

Badger hoping for worms but the soil is too dry.

Linnet on the bird feeders. We sometimes see up to four at a time.  

There's always one that escapes notice - a marrow sized courgette.

The Last Day of June

The last two weeks have flown by in a haze of not coping very well with the heat, mostly due to my medication and not walking very far because of painful and swollen knees and ankles but also popping out now and again here and there for treats and visits for Paul's birthday.

This lunchtime Woody visited, he landed on the tree in front of the kitchen window.  Luckily my camera was handy on the kitchen table where I'd left it when we came in from our morning walk - how wonderful to walk in cooler weather.

Isn't he handsome?

Over the last couple of weeks we have visited the Trentham Monkey Park, the RAF Museum at Cosford, taken a late evening Beaver Safari at Trentham and on the actual day a music event at the Dorothy Clive gardens where various performers sang songs from the musicals from each decade 1920s to 2020s, folk music and sea shanties.  Thank goodness it was cooler and the morning rain cleared.  Later we popped up to Bridgemere Garden World, where we visited the Food Festival and the show gardens.  One more treat to come is lunch with friends in Nottingham later this week.

Our Beaver Safari bus took us to the ranger station for a talk and presentation and then around the lake.

 Barry, the only beaver I saw that evening even though one was spotted on the lake and several people saw it.  Paul did manage to capture a photo of it.  I had binoculars but couldn't see it. I'll write more about the Beaver family group later.  The ranger in the purple top below was an excellent guide and so enthusiastic.

I thought with it being a Sunday Bridgemere would be crowded but it wasn't too bad at all.

We had the Octavia Hill show garden to ourselves.

See you in July.

Spotted in June

 A quick 'spotted locally' post for mid June.

The three sculptures above are part of the Staffy trail across Staffordshire this summer.  Left to right - 'Outdoors, Muddy Paws' at the Goods Yard, Stoke.  'Sonney' in Hanley Park and 'Artie' in the churchyard at Stoke Minster.   

There are others in Lichfield, Stafford, Tamworth and Uttoxeter.  

Inflatable purple ducks have appeared at Trentham gardens. I have no idea why.  As the event tents are all purple I expect it is to do with that.

Lots of lovely flowers in the garden to make up a table posy.  Pinks, Sweet peas, Oxeye daisies, Hardy Geranium and Pink Valerian.

A tailless squirrel at Westport Lake.  There are one or two like this here and have been for a year or so.They seem perfectly healthy so I think they must have been born tail free.

A Macaque monkey enjoying an apple at the Monkey Forest, Trentham Estate.

It was easy to spot this years new-borns in their family groups.

Twinkletoes the lucky cat at the RAF Museum, Cosford. In June 1919 navigator Arthur Brown and pilot John Alcock made the first non-stop flight across the Atlantic ocean.  Twinkletoes took the journey with them tucked into Arthur Brown's pocket.  Arthur and John had both served in the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War.

In the Garden

 It's been much warmer and brighter over the last few days.  I was concerned that I hadn't seen any Wood Anemones growing yet in the garden but all of a sudden two or three flowers have appeared hidden under a Hebe bush.

We've had some unusual visitors to the bird feeders.  The Great Spotted Woodpecker is back.  I was able to catch him for a photo last week.  It is a male as he has a red spot on back of his head.

We've had three other different birds visit recently.  Paul managed to take photos of them.

Siskin

Female Blackcap

Linnet

Newts are back in the pond and coming up to the surface now the sun is shining.

The Rhubarb is doing well.

We enjoyed the first few sticks gently stewed and served with some Greek yoghurt. 

We have now had another lot from the plants and these will be made into a Rhubarb Crumble.

I think the Comma butterfly was enjoying the Rhubarb too.  This is the first we've seen this year.  

Not long after a couple of Peacock butterflies were spotted flying over the garden, they landed on a raised bed.  A Brimstone was also seen flittering about over the garden. It was too quick for the camera though and didn't settle at all.

It's good to see so much wildlife back in the garden.

A Walk in the Rain and the first Wallaby

 Yesterday we walked in soft and gentle rain at Biddulph Grange Country Park.  The country park is next door to the National Trust's Biddulph Grange Gardens and was originally part of the same estate.

It is 35 hectares of landscaped views and natural features designed by Victorian industrialists James Bateman and Robert Heath. 

There are both original and newly laid out paths through both meadow and woodland leading to the lake and it's boathouse built in 1903.

A Hydro-electric scheme begun in 1904 was reinstated in 2000 and provides sustainable power for local use.

We walked as far as the lake, you can see the boathouse in the distance and the rain on the lake.

Back at the visitor centre we spotted the Wallaby.  There are ten in all and they are part of the Where's Wallaby trail around the towns and beauty spots of the Staffordshire Moorlands.  Why wallabies? There is a story to tell.  

At the time of the second world war five Bennett's wallabies escaped into the wild from a zoo at Roaches Hall run by a man called Henry Courtney Brocklehurst.  Sadly he lost his life in Burma during the war.  The wallabies bred and at one time as many as fifty were counted on and around the Roaches.

There are now wallabies at the Peak Wildlife Park who are celebrating their 10th Anniversary this year.  Hence ten wallabies.  They have joined with Outside, Wild in Art and the Staffordshire Moorlands Council to commission ten artists to work with ten community groups to create the wallabies.

The Wallaby above is called Berry B painted by Clare Ash and the Biddulph Youth and Community Zone.

Above a Wallaby and Joey taken at Peak Wildlife Park in February this year.

The exhibition runs from 18th July to 5th September so we have plenty of time to seek out the other nine over the summer.

The last few days

 Five happy moments over the last few days captured by my camera.

First butterfly visit this year to our garden, well the first I've spotted. I think it is a Comma.  It was sharing the heather with all the bees.

A couple of hours later the second butterfly appeared.  I think it's a Small Tortoiseshell.

Tuesday was Shrove Tuesday and also Pancake Day,  We had pancakes for lunch and squeezed orange juice all over them. 

The Asian Short-Clawed Otters at the Peak Wildlife Park have a new compound with two lakes.  It will mature with time and be a lovely new home for them.

They are beautiful creatures.  

Wednesday we visited Kedleston Hall near Derby.  We had a lovely walk in the grounds, there were lots of wonderful views of both countryside and the hall and church. 

More on this visit in a later post.

Suddenly Snowdrops are disappearing and Daffodils are popping up everywhere with their bright yellow cheerfulness.

All for now.  Take care.