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I live in suburbia on a small estate. I've a small garden that we've tended for veg and the like and have lots of small but interesting plants and flowers. Nothing fancy, lavender, daisy things and a few wildflowers.
I just went to the shed and the bees are going beserk over the lavender, maybe 20 bees all going for it. Same again on the other flower bed, Bees just getting drunk on flowers! Never seen so many in one spot, and lots of different types from what I can tell
On top of that we've got a toad in the long grass and hedgehogs living under the shed. Blackbird's nesting in the hedge. The icing on the cake is the BADGER that I catch on the camera ransacking every thing like a viking raider.
It is staggering what the right environment can attract
What wildlife gems are in your garden?
Hedgehogs and Roe Deer are our big ticket visitors, the occasional fox.
We temporarily had a colong of Beed visit last year but they ended up picking another spot.
Sounds like youve a nice garden, weve just put in a wildlife pond and replaced the small amount of grass we did have with wildflowers which are just coming through, the shed roof is also planted with wild flowers and is packed full of bugs.
I would like a pond but we don't really have room. Now and again when I have been up early I have seen deer walking down the road, I think they would go for the veg if they could get in but so far they haven't tried
Hedgehogs are great, slugs don't get a look in at the moment
Bees love lavender. We've some large lavender at the caravan and we get dozens of bees on them all day long. Bees currently enjoying the lavender at home, plus a handful of Rosemary Beetles (these have an awesome paint job - google them).
Aye,simple pleasures an all that 👍
Have a bumble bee nest underneath the flag at my shed.
I could honestly drift into a trance watching them land and take off,love seeing them line up for the nest entrance,like wee jumpjets with wings instead of thrusters 😃
Very busy just now.
The moral of the story is that nature can thrive in close proximity to humans if the environment is managed sympathetically.
Imagine what could be done for the state of nature if local authorities, farmers and landowners could be convinced to manage nature in a more sustainable way instead of cutting and spraying every plant in sight...
Went to a talk by the swift conservation people a couple of weeks ago.
Quoted a study showing there is more biodiversity in suburban and semirural areas that in intensively farmed crops where it effectively becomes a monocrop desert with pesticides and herbicides.
A sparrow.
House, tree or dunnock?
My parents lavendar was that like that and more all through the 70s. Ours get bees but nothing like 20 🙁
Yes I was at school in the 70s and remember bees all over the lavender beside the play ground. This is the first time I have seen so many since. The buzzing is really loud!
Ours get bees but nothing like 20
Depends what's around you. We have loads of bee-friendly flowers but most of our neighbours don't. Then nearby there's a bit of woodland and whilst that's rich and diverse it has dense canopy so outside of early spring there aren't many actual flowers most of the summer. So it's not worth many bees making the trek from wherever they are to our garden. When we do get bees it's usually solitary ones.
Lavender hedge at the front positively hums. Giant bird feeder brings in the flocks. Found a stag beetle emerging from the soil this week.
We put up a bee box years ago, not much happened in the first year - second year, every hole was filled, so we bought a couple more and the year after that, they were ALL filled. We were made up, but the crops of bees dropped off after that. Turns out Mr Woodpecker is very grateful for us serving up lunch. 🙁
One day I'll get round to making one with holes longer than a woodpecker's beak.
Bird feeders are insanely busy right now - saw a bullfinch at the weekend on them, only the second one I've seen in 11 years being here. 🙂
Just had a coffee sat on the patio and a happy little bee was going mad for the clover flowering on the lawn. Coffee break may have been extended to enjoy it for longer.
that white lavender hedge in full. About 20 bees of all sorts on it as I type.
Herring gulls & Pigeons.
We've tried and tried for years but nothing sticks around.
We had a moth morning at the Allotments Sunday. They left a moth trap out the night before and the expert named 50 makes of moth in there from that one night.
They have really cool names some of them, most of which I'd never heard of.
The expert said there might have been more, but on Sundays many of them would be worshipping at the local mothsque*
.
.
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*I can only apologise.
Cool moths! They look incredible, you tend to forget what's going on in the garden overnight
A bloke went into a Doctor's and said he thinks he's a moth. The Dr said you don't need a doctor, you need a psychiatrist. I know he said, but your light was on
We have a big Cotoneaster bush and the bees go mad when thats in flower
Like MCTD's, our Cotoneaster is covered in Bumbles.
Too much to mention. I plant insect friendly flowers that will bloom from February (primrose) through to October (verbena or sedum). Atm a self seeded hogweed, lavender, Valerian and one or two flowering herbs are buzzing
OP - you can have a pond, an old 'washing up bowl' sunk into the ground can be filled with pebbles and just a few pond plants.
We get, badger, hedgehog, toad, frog, fox, many insects, butterflies and moths (I leave a nettle patch to flower and don't cut), bird species, beetles, bugs, and bees.
Our wild patch has long grass, a few wild flowers, I let herbs flower and some veg gets to bolt. We have two hedges, a pond a couple of fruit trees, and some bushes.
In any garden a tree, some water, a hedge and/or some dead wood and a wild patch will attract many creatures.
OP your garden sounds amazing.
Within 30 seconds of opening this thread a bumble bee buzzed in through the balcony door (city centre flat).
Bees seem to be doing really well over the last couple of years after what seemed like a decade or more of declining numbers. Good thing obvs.