I wrote 600 words in the last blog. I'm aiming for 200 today. Just a dip-in-and-out nibble of wildlife gardening' a bloglet.
The first is an unashamed brag. Look what visited my pond this week.
Ok, so some of my tadpoles copped it, but there are still hundreds and hundreds of them.Amazing to think that Little Egrets didn't breed in the UK until 1996. Now, 20 years on, they are doing so well. And, as many of you will know, egrets go back right to the roots of the RSPB when thousands were being slaughtered in Europe for the hat trade. And you can see that this adult bird has 'aigrettes', the once-coveted head plumes.
I pushed myself with my pond, physically and in terms of ambitious, going larger than I'd dared before. What with the egret, and with the four bats that every dusk descend to swoop and take drinks on the wing from the pond surface, I'm feeling the effort is paying off.
But I also wanted to share a link to this wonderful blog here which is called Growing Family and is all about "all about making the most of busy family life, indoors and out". This month I'm urging everyone to get planting flowers ready for July's flush of butterflies, and I think you'll be impressed to see one young family already putting it all into action.
Darn it, that's 230 words. I'm off to look for whatever is next going to surprise me in the pond...
If you want to drop by my RSPB wildlife gardening blog, it is updated every Friday, and I'd love to see you there - www.rspb.org.uk/community/blogs/hfw
Hi Yas.
I'm in Year One of the pond, so I am getting some blanketweed. But the key to keeping ponds algae free is restricting the amount of nutrients getting in. These can come from: people putting soil in the pond (this is the biggie); using tapwater; run off from fertilised lawns; fish; ducks. Any of these the case with you?