It’s been a beautiful day here in the North West of England with blue sky and sunshine all round. We’ve done some work in the garden and also made sure we took the time to sit quietly and enjoy the wildlife. Some of us had a little snooze too.
Hundreds of geese flew over our garden this morning. They fly in from countries in the far north and east to spend winters in our warm estuaries here on the west coast of northern England. It’s an amazing sight to see them fly in V formations. The sound of them honking and calling to each other reminds me that cold weather on the way.
I came across a brilliant young blogger today. Georgia Locock is concerned about British wildlife in decline and she is doing her best to galvanise people to do something about it. She’s based in Staffordshire and certainly gets involved in activities in her local area.
I came across a brilliant young wildlife photographer today. He’s called Will Nicholls and he is from Northumberland in the UK. He has the most beautiful portfolio of owls, red squirrels and mammals on his website. Click his squirrel photo for link.
The UK has just felt the force of hurricane Gonzalo which hit Bermuda earlier this week. It brought gale force winds and torrential downpours which had a big impact on both the humans and wildlife around here. The Tawny Owls have left their daytime perch in the Horse Chestnut tree. I hope they found somewhere warm and dry to shelter.
Two tawny owls are sitting in a tree just a few feet from my garden studio. I spotted them about a week ago when the leaves started to fall. They sit close together completely still and snoozing for most of the day. Occasionally they stretch their wings and have a good old feather shake and preen.
This year some Tawny Owls in our country garden have been active during the daytime. I’m not sure why.
We hear them often.
We spotted a fat owl chick fluffy with white down sitting in an oak tree a couple of weeks ago in broad daylight.
Did you know that most dragonflies only live for a few weeks as an adult? I spotted one perched by the edge of the pond. It darted around a great deal to catch small flies then returned to the same place to lie in wait for the next victim.
A perfect photo opportunity I thought…
The RSPB stand at the Gardeners World Live Exhibition at the NEC last week was brilliant. They always aim to be educational and inspirational and this year they excelled. They showed how easy it is to create homes for wildlife in your own garden.
There are more than 400,000 different plants in the world. Something like 10,000 plants are in general cultivation and are available to buy from good garden centres and plant nurseries.
No wonder it can be difficult to choose which plants to grow in your garden!