A Cockchafer on one of the wooden stumps in the wildlife area . They are also known as the May-bug, so it is out and about during the right month.
And finally a caterpillar that I'm not sure of.
Any one got any ideas what it may be???
Here are the three other pictures for you to vote for
This picture is called...Bee And Lavender
This picture Is Called...Orange Tip Butterfly
This Picture Is Called ...Balancing
Good Luck to you all...
If you don't leave a back link to your blog, I would be unable to notify anyone who is new here. To help solve this, could you leave a comment regarding which one you would like to win, or you can E-mail me leaving your blog link and similarly if you do not have a blog and would like to enter could you please do the same thing. The competition will be open until 2359hrs (G.M.T.) on Sunday 25th May 2008.
You can view all the 'Wednesday Wandering' pictures at my web site Dragons and Damsels Wildlife Photography in the Wednesday Wanderings gallery.
This will be the last Wednesday Wandering until the Autumn when it will return.
It took us two days to move the rocks to this part of the green from where they had been dropped, as this was the ideal place to create a rock garden. The bed is right next to the orchard so this will be another habitat you can visit whilst you are down there.
We chose this area as nothing but weeds were growing within the bed. So rather that letting the space go to waste we cleared it of the weeds and started making the rock garden.
We were lucky enough to be assisted by the best wheel barrow operator in Telford. Dayna kept us supplied with the smaller rocks that we used to fill the gaps and she certainly help us get the rock garden built that bit quicker. The whole thing took a couple of hours and I think you will agree looks great. It of course needs to be filled with soil and have alpine plants added but you can see already flowers have started growing amo0ngst the rocks and one new resident has moved in.
Together with the wild flowers areas, the orchard, the habitat tower, the log piles and the brook I think that this will make a very interesting additional habitat, I can now just imagine all the local insects and wildlife vying to get the best gap in the rocks.I just hope they don't disturb the gnome....
Following on from a conversation with the Birse site agent, he was able to tell us that they would be able to put us in a path leading from an existing one over to the orchard. The reason for us asking if they could do this was to enable one of our residents, who is diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, to get to the orchard area, as she loves the blossom.
A few days later the plant machinery arrived and they got to work creating the path.
They were so efficient at making the path and taking away the top soil that within an hour the hard core was being laid.
They also brought some large sandstone boulders, which have been excavated from the surrounding development, with them to create a feature underneath a group of trees.
This is the finished path leading to the orchard and they completed the whole thing in little over two hours. It would have taken months for us to do it and made no where as a good job.
The wider area, at the top, is the place we would like to place a bench to enable visitors to sit and enjoy the orchard.
This is how the boulders ended up and we hope to add some more around the trees so we can have our own magic stone circle.
The work that Birse have done for us has made a massive difference to the whole project and for that all of us will be eternally grateful. Already since laying the path loads more people have been down to the orchard, enjoying the blossom. Apart from the boulders, we had delivered several tons of smaller rocks, I will post tomorrow and show you what we have managed to do with those...so watch this space.
Green Thumb Sunday on Technorati Down at the bottom of our small garden we have a beautiful tree. It is a hawthorn called
Crimson Cloud (crataegus laevigata)
We have had the tree around 4 years now and this has to be the best I have seen it blossom.
As you can see it is covered in these beautiful blossoms, set off with the leaves.
Here they are close up and just after some rain.
What trees are blossoming in your garden?
The first produce of the year,the Scarlet Globe Radishes were ready to eat. After last years effort that was a bit lacking, this year is definitely much better and it's all down to the raised bed.
A quick wash to remove the soil
Then the taste, you couldn't get any fresher than 5 minutes after picking them to eating them. I have not been a fan of radishes before but after tasting these I am now and will be sowing them every 3 weeks from now on to get a nice succession throughout the summer.
I can thoroughly recommend everyone to have a go a growing your own as it is such a thrill to go out into your garden and eat something you have grown.
The theme for this quartet will be ....Wildlife
This picture is called ...Balancing
The Four Spotted Chaser is one of the first dragonflies to appear. I still remember the day when I first became a dragon hunter and came across one of these, I followed it for ages to get a picture of it and was so pleased when I did.
You can view all the 'Wednesday Wandering' pictures at my web site Dragons and Damsels Wildlife Photography in the Wednesday Wanderings gallery
Meanwhile back in the various areas work has continued, in the wildflower area we have removed large amounts of grass that was starting to choke out the wild flowers. You can see from the above picture, that the top bit has had the grass removed and the bottom bit hasn't. This has been planned this way, as the grass is just as important, and over a 2 year cycle parts will have the grass removed and other areas it will be left. The area that has had the grass removed has also been seeded with a wildflower mix.
This is a picture of the hedgehog house and as you can see it is well camouflaged with the wildflowers starting to grow around it. We have several children who have become unofficial hedgehog house checkers. They will check the house on a daily basis and are eager to see its' first resident. To me this is what the whole project is about and it is very satisfying to see the children so keen.
With some of the funds raised we have purchase a large number of native wildflowers to supplement the ones from Wiggly Wigglers . We have planted these in all of the areas and are now awaiting a good downpour to help water them in. Butterfly Conservation have also helped by donating Alder Buckthorn trees. These are the food plant for Brimstone Butterflies, and not long after being planted a Brimstone payed them a visit, so it is hoped that it laid eggs on them.
The habitat towers roof is coming along very nicely and shouldn't be that long before it is in flower.
As you can see the orchard is in full bloom with every tree either in leaf or full of blossom. It is hoped that we have one or two fruits this year as already children are asking to come and pick them when they are ready, so no pressure there then....
Just in case you are wondering what the red addition is that has just appeared in the orchard.
It is a Ladybird house
It has been made by our Neighbourhood Watch coordinator, who has recently become an avid Eco Warrior. He was ably supported with this project by his three small assistants and his dad.Green Thumb Sunday on Technorati
The Green Roof on my shed has surpassed all my expectations even before any of the seeds have come into flower.
Their is so much colour and every day when I pop up to have a look something different has come into flower or the seeds are that bit further on.
It will be interesting from this point on to see how the plants cope with the drier weather, this might be the best that it will do, or if we have a little rain every now and then it will only get better.
My neighbours are loving it to and it causes quite a lot of comment from the ones that can see it.
The vegetable patch is also doing very nicely and it wont be long before the first veggies sampled. The radishes are growing by the minute and I reckon we will be eating them by next weekend.
I do seem to be suffering a little from sudden veggie death syndrome. After a bit of investigation I discovered it was leatherjackets who were destroying the vegetables by eating their roots. I don't know of any way to stop them at the moment and all I can do is be vigilant. If any one knows of a way to deal with them and would still allow me to eat the vegetables I would be grateful for the information.
Finally, whilst checking out the garden for slugs and other unwanted pests I did come across a bit of worm loving taking place at the foot of the vegetable patch.
I shall wish you all a good gardening day and enjoy those cold beers at the end of another lovely spring day.
photohunt on Technorati. 
The theme for this quartet will be ....Wildlife
This picture is called ...Orange Tip Butterfly
You can view all the 'Wednesday Wandering' pictures at my web site Dragons and Damsels Wildlife Photography in the Wednesday Wanderings gallery
These mauve bells have done well this year and look great mixed in with the bluebells. The Red ants seem to like them and were crawling all over them.
Bugloss is a member of the Forget-me-not family that does really well on the poor soil and comes up all over the place. I love its flowers and provides a nice splash of colour. The ants were all over this to, I guess they were looking for aphids.
I don't know what it has been like by you , but this year the primroses and cowslips have excelled themselves. Their is great big yellow patches all over the wildlife area. With it being a more normal April, they have lasted longer to.
It was also good to see my friends the Brown Lipped and the White Lipped banded snails, they even brought their babies to show me, as this would have been the first time some of us had met.
The insect that made my wander down by the tracks worthwhile was this Green-Veined White butterfly. The sun had just been clouded over and it sat on these Forget-me-nots for ages while I took a load of shots of it. I'm sure as the weather warms up this week many more insects will be making themselves known and it wont be long before I can start Dragon and Damselfly hunting again.
 |
