Bats

About 10.00pm we have bats aplenty in our garden, not every night, but most nights and i don't know what kind they are, but we think they live under the barge boards round our building. I am endevouring to get a video of them & then maybee a clear still of one, watch this space.

Blackbirds nest

A pair of Blackbirds nested in our garden, we saw four eggs in it, then the Magpies raided it & the lot was gone. Then they, or another pair, someone said they only breed once a year, anyhow another pair have been working so hard in another corner of our garden, in the ivy which covers the fence. They have been feeding the nest for a good two weeks & today we have seen two beautiful baby blackbirds, fat & dumpy with no tail, which are still being fed by the parents. We had three successful births last year so we are keeping our fingers crossed for these. There is actually a blackbird on the lawn in the photo opposite.

wildflower meadow

Why are wild flower seeds so expensive. I know you can purchase mixed varieties of  so called wild flower seeds, but they tend to have one plant which tends to take over after a year or two.

pondlife to nature blog

It's now half way thru February & we've had virtually no proper winter here in the north east as yet, apart from a few days of frost & some hail this morning.i know this is called pondlife & as i no longer have a pond there is some info here which may be helpful to someone, & if anyone has a question concerning ponds, either building one, maintaining one, filtation or whatever, just email me , or post  below & i'll get back to you with pleasure. I shall therefore post about nature & the wildlife we have round where i live on this blog

Video of 5 foxes enjoying evening sun

The video of the foxes can be found on my youtube channel. Click on youtube logo on the pond video below, then click "5 videos" next to Rico1052, you will see the foxes video. 

The family of five foxes haven't been seen for a while, but we've heard  one an odd time over the last few months, and one  has been seen on our patio in the last few weeks, so they are still around.  I set a camera up, but it only turrns up when the camera isn't on, watch this space , i'll get it yet.

After the pond

As you can see from the photo, all has changed, the pond has been filled in, and a nice turfed lawn is now settling well in.
The process of draining & filling the pond in was hard work, but slowly bit by bit i got there. Being 66 years of age and having a dodgy back, one has to be aware of ones limits, but doing a few hours at a time & planning it out works wonders.
I did think i would have required loads of top soil, but as it happened i only needed 8 bags. I ordered the turf on the net & have been very pleased with it, the quality & delivery was excellent, but as the weather has been particularly dry recently, you must keep it watered well.
As you can see in the photo above it's looking good.
A few days after draining the pond i was still finding frogs in the greenery, but as we have a nature reserve with a pond on our doorstep, i was able to rehome them.
If anyone has any questions please don't hesitate to contact me, i would love to help.