Category: wildlife

countryside · crafts & knitting · garden stuff · general stuff · wildlife

Scenes of Summer

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)17 Comments

Hello! And sorry it’s been so long. I just wanted to pop in briefly and say I am still here – it’s just that here the school summer break is full on Toby time, and he remains my focus until school starts up again on September 4th. Even so I have had my camera handy and have captured some favourite moments from the last month…

  • countryside walking – finding breathtakingly fabulous fields of jewel-bright poppies;
  • sky watching – for clouds, techni-colour sunsets, vintage planes and the red kites that have recently moved into the area;
  • bug finding – newly emerged ladybirds, hoverflies and swallow-tail moths;
  • knitting – mostly socks because they are undemanding, but there are a few more things on my needles that I’ll share soon;
  • pic-nicing with Amy, revisiting Hatfield house (after our first visit this time last year) for a lovely day together;

Today it’s pouring with much needed rain, so Toby and I are having a lazy day – he’s watching cbeebies shows on tv and I’m writing this. If the weather is better tomorrow we’ll be off on a welly-boot woodland adventure – it’s good to get him out and about but overall he’s coping pretty well with the lack of routine. I do think though that we’ll both be ready for when school starts up again 3 weeks and once he’s back into routines I’ll have time to call mine again so I’ll see you then with some updates on what I’ve been working on. Hope the rest of August is good for you xxx

 

foxes in my garden · garden stuff · general stuff · wildlife

An early morning encounter

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)25 Comments

Some mornings I wake early and can’t get back to sleep. Sometimes I read, sometimes I knit and sometimes I open the blind and watch the sunrise sky. A couple of weeks back I was leaning out of the bedroom window just after the sun had risen and was sleepily daydreaming as I looked around our garden below. A flash of orange caught my eye, peeking out between the tangle of ivy overgrowing the chicken run and I probably frowned in puzzlement, but it soon became clear that the plastic mesh netting that keeps the chickens safely contained in their run makes a rather comfy hammock for a sleepy fox.

She was completely unbothered by me opening the window and taking pictures of her and carried on dozing in the warmth of the early morning sun for 20 minutes before stretching a little, grooming a little and then setting off on an impressive balancing act along the top edge of the run  – which is a good 9ft above the path. She stopped for a quick sniff and a wistful glance at the now empty bird box that the blue-tits used to raise their family in, before a lithe leap back to the ground and a silent, sure-footed and typically foxy vanishing act.

She still arrives most evenings and some mornings for snacks. We’ve only caught a brief glimpse of one cub and that was a few weeks ago, and though the mortality rate of urban foxes is pretty high I’m hoping they’re safe somewhere and she’s just keeping them well hidden. I’m still thrilled to have the great privilege of her visits, she’s still completely wild, intently alert and intelligently wary of us but she does seem to appreciate the snacks!

 

garden stuff · wildlife

Looking closely

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)36 Comments

We’ve had the perfect growing weather here recently – lots of rain and warm temperatures and everything in the garden and surrounding countryside is green and growing. In my little patch I’ve been planting some new fruit and herb plants. I’ve given up on growing veggies for now as they were lots of work for a rather meagre harvest – mostly thanks to cabbage white butterflies, aphids and a host of other chompers who set about nibbling my homegrown produce. Not that I really mind, planting herbs keeps things simple for me and I like to see creatures in my garden – chives, borage,  thyme and lavender are perfect plants for attracting bees and other wildlife.

I would much rather have a little corner of this Earth that is busy and brimming with life, unlike some of my neighbours it seems – two of them have recently had their ‘gardens’ worked on and carpeted with plastic fake grass – they are now sterile, dead squares surrounded by stark fences. And our immediate next door neighbour has just chopped down every tree and bush in their garden in favour of grass, including a really big and beautiful lilac that was a springtime magnet to so many butterflies and bees emerging from annual hibernation.

So, in an attempt to compensate the local wildlife, I’m happily letting things go a bit more wild in our garden and it lifts my spirits to see some of these tiny creatures that I’m sharing my garden with – lots of different bee species are happily buzzing from one chive head to another; many ladybird larvae are starting to cocoon up and transform into their adult form, and tiny yellow orb-weaver spiderlings that hatched on a hellebore are flinging out their silken strands, leaving their 300 or so siblings and heading out on their own.

Of course I’m very lucky to have larger visitors to my garden too. The fox is still calling in regularly and I’ve got some lovely pictures of her which I’ll share soon.

Hope you find some tiny delights in your own corner of our beautiful Earth – if you have time to, please share what plants or creatures you are co-inhabiting with. ‘Til next time x