Making our Meadow Blog

Death Chillies

I have moved my two chillies of death (Assam Bhut Jolokia type) back inside for some tlc - I cleaned them, de-aphidised them, fed and watered them and hand pollinated them with a brush. I counted 56 buds, 8 flowers, 3 pollinated flowers and...a chilli! One step closer to my own private chemical weapons grade chilli sauce...

Pondcam Update

Recent viewers to the pondcam will have noticed that the image is looking remarkably clear. That'll be because it is currently about a foot above the water level. I would drop it down back into the water but the vegetation by the pond is now so high I can't get to the cable.

Composters and squashes

Our triple bay composter one of which has a thriving pair of butternut squashes!

I saw a trully weird 'hoverfly' in the garden yesterday. It seems it is Physocephala rufipes, a bumblebee parasite. I have attached a picture I found on the web, since I was too slow to get a picture with my own camera. I also saw the first flying ant of the year.

Cherries

Ten kilos of cherries picked by Nicole this evening. Still plenty more to go...

Orchids...round three

Now I'm a member of the Hardy Orchid Society (Rawk and Roll!) I'm all enthusiatic about growing wild orchids again, so I have ordered some online and can't wait to get them, pot them up and, as Eddie Izzard would say, watch them rot...

Although I missed the Cambridge Bioblitz due to my bad back I have managed to increase the dragonfly count over the weekend to include:
Common Darter (female), Common Blue Damselfly (male and female), Banded Demoiselle (male), Emerald Damselfly and Four Spotted Chaser. The butterfly count also increased with Small Skipper, Common Blue Meadow Brown, Large and Small White, Small Tortoiseshell and Speckled Wood seen and after much chasing a picture of a Ringlet (see below).

I cut the meadow beneath the cherry tree to improve access for picking and will cut the top part of the dry meadow for the same reason. I will remove and compost the cuttings rather than turn it to make hay to encourage immediate regrowth and because I  need compost more than I need hay, and then gradually cut towards the pond to allow invertabrates to recolonise. I was goingto cut down the cardoons bacasue they are infested with blackfly until I got close enough to see that they were also infested with ladybird larvae. I counted 25 on a single golf ball sized flower bud! I also say 3 different parasitic wasps patrolling them. So they are staying for the moment, at least until the larvae have pupated. By which point the flowers will be out an covered in bees...

Emerald damselfly

Just saw a male emerald damselfly by the pond. Too fast to get a picture.

Pond and meadow activity

While walking about I noted large numbers of grasshoppers, which stridulated when the sun came out. The pond was a hive of activity and I saw frogs and toads resting in the water and large numbers of smooth newts basking in the warm water, up to 12 at one time. There are numerous nesting webs for spiders. The wild carrots are starting to flower and the ladies bedstraw is just about to bloom, for the first time since we started the meadow. Clearly cutting it all now would be a shame. I will leave along with the pond.

So what is happening?

Quite a lot. There is a small skipper butterfly defending his territory, several meadow browns and a speckled wood. For the first time this year I have seen dragonflies in the garden with a female common darter, a male and female common blue damselfly and best of all a splendid male banded demoiselle. I also counted over 30 species of wasps and bees, although my bad back meant I was not quick enough to get any pictures.