Wild Thing

This week our garden has become a veritable haven for wildlife. The noise never stops. From around 4.30am the birds are at it- I love to wake up to the sound of birds, which is why even when its freezing I sleep with the curtains and the windows open...the tawny owls which are nesting in the woodland behind our house hoot and screech from about chicken bed time, till the time the other birds wake up. This week alone my garden has played regular host to four baby nuthatches, a great spotted woodpecker family, hundreds of baby starlings, parakeets and some gorgeous fluffy blue tit fledglings along with all the usual suspects.

I’ve also had some less cute and furry visitors. On Monday night a stag beetle practically ran into me. He was huge- like mega big. The boyf whimpered and scampered off- weed. Leaving me to catch the wild beast- he probably didn’t need to be caught but I really wanted a closer look! I released him into the woodland area and he scampered off happy enough. We’ve seen him a few times since flying around looking menacing. I love him. 

Whilst digging over the compost heap the dad stumbled upon a slow worm, which I grabbed (I know- I just can’t resist, I’d keep them all in glass jars if I could!) and snapped some photos before returning to his warm cosy nest. Unfortunately this is  the only beastie I managed to snap, wildlife always happens to me when I’m not carrying a camera or my phone- typical. I will endeavour to be more Attenborough-like and document the wildlife better- not just stand there going “Oh my god, oh my god!” with my mouth open...

 

My project for this weekend- all four days of it (oooh yeah!) is to build a wildlife area in my allotment. I’m going for log pile, little wash tub pond, rock pile, bee house...I may get carried away...