“Dear Mike and Jenny.
It Is amazing just how much is still flowering in the garden; I have plenty of salvias doing well. This autumn has reminded me how important ivy is as a late food source, nearby the flowers have been alive with different bees including lots of a small furry bodied one with black and yellow striped abdomen, my FSC identity chart tells me they are ivy mining bees. I noticed this large bush cricket on a leaf, I think it is a dark bush cricket – photo attached. A neighbour has had a patch of the earthstars as in the photo, we assumed they had been brought in on some wood chippings. Hope all is well with you. Regards, Mary”
“Hija,
Just a few pictures of fungi found this week, nothing unusual. some rose hips that the squirrels and the wood pigeons are eating (not seen this before, but there are no acorns on my trees this year!) only wasps and flies on the ivy flowers so far. Chris”
More from Chris:
“Another few images, perhaps these go with the fairy rings sent before. The knobbly tree is along the Blackwater river.“
And this amazing photo from Ian Middleton of a pigeon ‘hit’ on a window of their house. I have taken the liberty of highlighting the clearly defined detail of the birds’ head.
“Hi Mike
I suppose it’s not surprising that you are getting fewer reports at this time of year; however, I thought folk might like to see this photo I have taken of our sitting room window.
There was a Sparrow hawk involved in a chase, but Bernard thinks it was the pursued Pidgeon that hit the window. Viv and I hope all you CNHS members are well. Kind regards Ian”
One from me of a couple of squirrels clearing up beneath the bird feeders
Finally, I thought I’d show you our ‘early flowering’ clematis again, now with five blooms. For the second morning in a row now we have woken to frost covered lawns so doubt whether the flowers will last much longer!
