September Notes

by David Tidmarsh - 12:19 on 21 September 2012

 Nature Notes

Yesterday we finally had a new visitor in the garden, a coal tit, this makes a pleasant change from the usual house sparrows, not that I begrudge the sparrows but the odd change of bird is very welcome.
While I was out with the dog I saw a group of Magpies, there must have been easily six flying together, I can remember years ago if you saw a pair it was quite rare, it shows how adaptable these birds can be, they don’t seem to have any natural predators to thin them out, which is bad news for the smaller bird population.
On the same day I was checking out some debris that had floated down the Lumley Park Burn and had been caught by a large Willow branch, the debris consisted of two fridges and what was left of a tumble dryer, we are hoping that the Environment Agency will eventually remove them, however it was a “Dipper” that had caught my eye on the opposite bank and it couldn’t have cared less about the mess; and here was I getting all concerned about how we could get the fridges etc.out and how we could contact the council to take them away and all the while the wildlife were just getting along with things, unconcerned, I think I should take a leaf out of their book and not get so rapped up about problems, that will eventually get resolved.
Summer holidays are mainly over now for most of us, so we will be looking forward to the Autumn. Days will be getting cooler and the nights drawing in, time for reflection, things that didn’t get done this year and how to improve on them for next year.
I have been eating some of the Plums at the orchard over at the allotments; I had eaten three which left about six for later on.
Strangely the Cherry Plums which can be seen in hedgerows usually having yellow or red fruit have done really well, this could be that they produced their blossom very early in the season and were successful in having the bees pollinating the flowers before all the rain which must have took its toll on the blossom .
Even the Hawthorn hedges don’t seem to have masses of fruit and the Bird Cherries and the Blackthorn which produce the Sloe berries are similar in having little or no fruit. We will have to ensure that we feed our native birds all year round, more so this year than ever.
The apples are swelling up ok but they were well down on the quantity from last year, there is enough for some pies and crumbles but hardly enough to crush to make apple juice. The willows had done well this year producing a good crop to be cut in the early spring, when you think back about the volumes of water we have had it is hardly surprising that they have done well.
I hope my battle against the Himalayan Balsam in our allotments has been successful, you think you have just pulled up the last plant when you see some more. In the woods and along by the Burn it is a monumental task to try and limit the spread of this invasive plant and as you pull a few up, you look around and you just feel overwhelmed by it all, some in the group have nicknamed them the “Triffids”
I came across a small Hedgehog last week and I was tempted to bring it home to help with the slug and snail invasion, there are enough in our garden to keep it fed for weeks.
Ken

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