SPOT THE BEE FLY ETC. ETC. UPDATE 18th AUGUST 2023
Hello again, happy to say that the contributions keep coming in.
We kick off this update with a patiently awaited horticultural success story for Pat and Mary….
6th August: “Dear Mike, More nice pictures! Here’s my contribution.
Long ago the CNHS presented me with a mulberry tree. It was about 6 ft tall and grew nothing but leaves for many years. I decided several times to dig it up but never got around to doing so. Last year it produced some berries and this year quite a lot of them. They are a bit small, but delicious.
Also long ago, I bought Mary a fig tree (she likes them). It was a small cutting from a big tree at Polesden Lacey (National Trust) and I haven’t seen any for sale there since. It was about knee high in a small pot. I planted it on our patio and it grew some figs last year, but Mary kept picking them “to see if they were ripe”. This year it has gone made. Lots of figs suddenly ripened, went soft and burst. But there are plenty more. Now I will have to cut the thing back or it will block our patio windows! Pat”
Next we have Irene, or more correctly a contribution from her daughter….
14 August: “These are the photos my daughter took with her iPhone of the butterflies on the buddleia in her garden. She only has a small area of garden but has planted it with flowers to attract insects and has had several different butterflies and lots of bees. Regards Irene.”
I’ll tuck one of my own in the gap, this lovely patch of Harebells when out with Ken at Warren Heath on Tuesday:
Mike Clift has been delving through his photo archives and came across the following bunch of characters .. Can anyone identify the occasion and/or date please, presumably a Royal one...?
Ken and I decided to re-visit the recent fire damaged area at Warren Heath on Tuesday and were amazed to see how quickly the burnt area has ‘greened’ up. The young saplings have probably succumbed but it looks as though most of the mature trees at the edges of the burn will probably survive.
A selection from me:
