Do we have a Wildlife/Nature/Conservation topic?

[kinkytoes]

If so, where is it please?

If not, could we have one please?

We have a big garden so we mow but don’t have proper borders so leave all edges long and have a large section under trees where we just mow a path and leave the rest of it long. We get so many bugs and birds around there it’s lovely. I planted loads of bulbs this year so hopefully next year we get some colours on there too and get lots of bees. We love getting the bugs in the garden.

I would love our own board! Great idea.
Is it worth doing the blackbird survey for one nesting pair does anyone know?

I would have thought so!

Great username btw! 😂

We have a long narrow garden (terraced house) and need to use the whole length path several times a day so we mow a half a metre or so ether side of the path but by about the third week the non mown bit looks awful. It’s been slower the year because of the dryness but, we don’t get any attractive grass seedheads or any other wldflowers in the long grass. Whereas in the short part we have masses of speedwell and daisies. I have only just started weeding the borders but again they went from attractively overgrown to wilderness almost overnight and look a total mess. Overall the garden just looks neglected. I don’t manicure it and am pretty relaxed about it all generally but don’t like it looking as though it has been totally abandoned. So I am likely to cave and cut it all in another week or so. But we do garden for wildlife, we have a logpile, allow nettles and dandelions to grow, lots of ivy, lots of bee friendly flowers, gaps in the fences for hedgehogs etc.

The other problem with the long grass is that it allows the cats to sneak up on birds more easily as they are hidden in the grass. I worry about my blackbird as he is always hopping about on the ground.

I’ve given up on No Mow May, because the long grass had so many insects in it that I could no longer walk through my garden without getting bitten all over! I react badly to insect bites, so unfortunately the long grass had to go, but clearly it’s great for insects, if not wildflowers.

All of these things are about balance though, aren’t they? I only have a small area of lawn, because most of my garden is messy flowerbeds, which are packed with wildlife friendly plants. So if I keep my lawn a bit shorter than ideal for insects, it’s not the end of the world.

And, while some insects may prefer longer grass, the blackbirds certainly do not. Every time I cut the lawn, they show up in droves to have a look at what exciting food they can find in the shorter grass!

What No Mow May is definitely good for though is changing (some) people’s mindset about what a garden should look like. It doesn’t HAVE to be manicured to perfection. Other options are available 🙂

Speaking of wildlife friendly gardening, my Ceanothus has been heaving with bees & hoverflies all week.

I only planted it last year, so this is the first time I’ve seen it in full bloom. I had no idea it was going to be such an insect magnet!

Can I suggest a title of 'the Sir David Attenborough appreciation board'?

Are us overseas people welcome?

Beautiful @RainOnTins the blue and purple flowers really seem to attract the insects. I let borage self seed in between my plants on the allotment and once it starts flowering you can hear a steady hum from all the insects on it, and it's so pretty. I agree about changing the mindset, no one bats an eyelid at overgrown grass verges now whereas when it first started local FB was full of people moaning about it. But there is a small green in front of some houses near me (about 10x10m) when it was mowed regularly it always used to have children playing on it, now it's a foot high most of the time the children have all vanished which is a shame.

All welcome @thelittlestkiwi are you in NZ?

@RainOnTins my ceanothus is always alive with bees and other insects buzzing all round it. They love it. They also love my orange ball buddleia when that flowers.

I saw house martins in the park this morning, a little egret flew over my head and my Merlin app picked up a greater spotted woodpecker as well.

Also I found hedgehog poo in my garden and I’m really excited because I didn’t think they could get into my garden.

I took this photo yesterday of a bee on my lupin. We are currently in rental between moves, but I’ve added some bee friendly plants like this one that I’ll leave behind.

Just adding my support for this topic too.. I have a fairly wildlife friendly garden and try to do my bit.. feed the birds, hedgehogs and sometimes the fox family. I am surrounded by plastic lawns, low
maintenance gardens apart from one. This
is the badly neglected and overgrown one that all the wildlife seem to live in, visiting me to be fed!

Have we made a strong enough case yet, do you think?

🙏🙏🙏

I hope so @kinkytoes 🤞

I hope so.

I feel like I’m in a hide awaiting @mumsetto appear from the bushes with their answer 😃

I've just got back from a walk and a look through a hide, loads of birds on my Merlin app too.

I love Merlin.

Much nicer weather where you are than where I am!

I didn't answer this yesterday sorry.

Yes! I think we could all learn so much from each other.

Since you're antipodean (I assume from your name) you may know more about the poor Tasmanian Devils and how they are getting on with the awful facial tumour disease they've been suffering from in recent years?

All wildlife, all over the world would be welcome, absolutely 🙏

Wrong thread @GALASmith ?

It's clouded over now, looks like I picked a good time for my walk.

It’s greyer here today too but the birds are still singing. We live near a nature reserve and have two trail cameras we keep out. We have Otters round our way which are our favourites to spot.

I'd support this new topic, though I tell most 'what is this nature thing' people to download iNaturalist 😅

I'm also on eBird (top contributor for a local site in fact, haha), don't really need to use Merlin for visual ID in the UK, but am shit at bird calls so do use BirdNET for that. Not a morning person otherwise I'd consider becoming a ringer like @SorrowsPrayers (very jealous).

Alas not a dicky blackbird in my London garden, but no observation is still an observation! Plenty of holly blue butterflies though, and soon probably some more...

Ooh, yes please from me too. I spend all my days looking at nature, listening to the birds, enjoying the outdoors and marvelling at the plants and trees growing.

Here's a pic I took on Tuesday whilst wandering our local nature reserve of a bee laden with pollen.

Your wish is my command.😁