Birds in the garden

A few weeks ago I set up a Kodak Zi6 in the garden and left it to record the birds feeding and drinking. Its taken a while to edit but here is 90 seconds of sparrows and a couple of magpies.

Caterpillar visitor

Over the last few days I have noticed a number of large brightly coloured caterpillars wandering around the garden. I photographed one as it sheltered under a potato leaf. I was going to remove it thinking the leaves were about to be munched. Instead I left the caterpillar were it was but kept an eye out for any damage.

Later that day the caterpillar was still there with no damage to the leaf. The next day the caterpillar was replaced by a silky ball holding two potato leaves together. The caterpillar had formed a cacoon. It is now changing slowly into a moth or butterfly.

I have since found out the caterpillar is in fact a species called Lackey Moth Caterpillar. Although the caterpillar is brightly coloured the moth that it becomes is a very dull brown.

Blooming lovely

The warm bank holiday weekend weather has really brought the garden to life. For the first time in 4 years the clematis has flowered displaying a wonderful purple bloom. Each autumn I have pruned the branches of the clematis, as instructed in the books and each year I have been disappointed by the amount of growth and lack of flowers.

Last autumn I decided not to prune to see what happens and if it still did not flower it would be removed. Without pruning the leaves grew back much quicker this spring and there are a number of flower buds ready to burst open.

Also in flower now are Iris, Thyme, Purple Broccoli (was left to flower) and the Violet Heuchera.