Clematis.

Due to the ineptitude of Blogger my planned wildlife posts have been put on hold plus my outdoor adventures have been slightly disrupted by the lack of wheels (the engineers have discovered that a mounting point for the rear axle on the chassis is very slightly out of alignment causing both the wear on the bearings and the excessive tyre wear - the car may be out of commission for at least a week!) so here is a mini garden update.

Many years ago while working for the RHS I made friends with a customer (who also just happened to be interested in bird watching) and he constantly reminded me that I was responsible for his wife spending far too much money on buying more and more Clematis plants PLUS one of my regular readers, Grammie G, also seems to associate me with Clematis, so here are some very recent images from our small back garden.

This is the first Clematis we every bought and for the life of me I can't remember its name but it might be 'The President' or something very similar. It scrambles its way clinging to the rampant Ivy that surrounds one of the old concrete washing line posts close to the house.

Next up is Clematis montana (possibly Elizabeth). This was a rescued plant and was kept in a container for a few years until it needed to be put in the ground. It is very vigorous and earlier this year I had to severely prune it as most of the growth was actually on my neighbours side of the fence. Despite the late cutting back it is producing some blooms at the moment.

Not in the ideal position this white variety (probably Gillian Blades?), now in a partly shaded part of the border against the fence, is performing far better than I have seen for some years.

This is the only one in a container, Clematis Cezanne, which will very soon be a mass of vibrant blue flowers just outside the dining room window.

I probably won't be posting again until Sunday or Monday as we are attending a family wedding tomorrow, so wherever you are, have an enjoyable wildlife watching weekend.  FAB.

Blue Tit Breeding Update.

During a break from gardening over the weekend I managed a few quickly taken shots to confirm that our pair of Blue Tits are now actively feeding their tiny youngsters inside the nest box.

On most visits with a juicy meal both the male and the female flew directly into the box and then reappeared more often than not with the usual 'poop' sack which they drop as far away as possible to ensure that there is no evidence near the nest site for predators to find.

Waiting for a call from inside the box before entering with another meal. As the chicks grow the frequency of visits will get very frantic.

I thought one of the pair was just topping up its own internal reserves from the fatblock feeder but it actually took some of this mixture into the nest box.

While all this activity was going on one of the Ring-necked Parakeets perched high up on sentry duty but was fortunately looking in totally the wrong direction .....

.... and the Pigeon just sat on the garden fence totally bemused.    FAB

For more images from around the world please look in on WORLD BIRD WEDNESDAY.

Walking Home via Horton C.P.

I delivered the car for its annual MOT just after 9 am this morning and decided to walk home from Epsom via Horton Country Park. So with only my compact Canon S95 in my pocket I have put together a series of collages showing some of the sights throughout my two and a half hours leisurely homeward stroll.

After leaving the hustle and bustle of tarmac pavements behind I entered the park alongside Horton Park Farm where the noise of vehicles was quickly replaced by the calls of Wren, Blackbird, Goldfinch, Goldcrest and Crows. A few of the farm residents were enjoying the fresh green growth or just rooting around in the earth.

The nearby open pasture was a sea of white and yellow ... masses of Daisies and Buttercups plus the odd Magpie.

While listening to Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Garden Warbler, Great Tit and Robin my eyes turned to search out some of the much smaller critters hiding amongst the lush leafy wasteland close to the pathways including beetles, weevils, Wolf Spiders and plenty of Ladybirds hunting their favourite Aphid food.  

The sun and very recent rain has helped the wild flowers to show off all their varied colours and forms including Red Clover, Vetch, Field Speedwell, Cranesbill and Wild Strawberry. (No doubt the experts will let me know if any of the ID's in this post are incorrect.)

As I skirted the Golf Course the local Whitethroats joined in the late morning sing-song together with a few Greenfinch and Chaffinches. The bright violet-blue of the Ground-Ivy shone out from amongst the verdant green carpet around my feet. I did momentarily consider blowing on the Dandelion globe but there was a sufficient breeze for its seed dispersal to happen naturally ... like the millions of others floating around.

 

A slight detour took me across the open grass meadow (Lambert's Mead) to Meadow Pond where I disturbed a very disgruntled Coot but not a Grey Heron who surprisingly was totally unfazed when two dogs entered the water for a swim! I didn't find any Damselflies but a very tatty Comma rested in a nearby hedgerow. Leaving the Irises and the sound of metal thrashing that little white ball behind I finally exited via Church Wood to the squawking calls of several Parakeets and cooing Collared Doves. 

P.S. I won't mention what it finally cost me ( 2 new tyres etc) when I collected the car at 6 pm or the fact that I was stopped by the Police on my way home this evening (suggesting I had a wobbly rear wheel!) ... another visit to the service centre may well be on the cards very shortly!!   FAB.