The sun has shone today letting me enjoy those little odd jobs that need to be done in the Wildlife Garden and on the reserve. The Autumn Sun in the garden really attracts the butterflies as can be seen from the Rudbeckia 'Herbstsonne' which I think translates as autumn sun. A tall plant for big gardens it fit well into ours. It get noticed by visitors and Small Tortoiseshell butterflies and by many visitors with cameras.
More unusual is the perennial sunflower next to the Rudbeckia in the prairie bed. There is a little doubt about its name but it is a Helianthus from North America, and quite unlike the annual sunflowers which all got eaten by sligs this wet year.
The many small flowers are full of nectar for the bees, butterflies and hoverflies. All sunflowers thrive in well drained soil so I am very pleased that this is flowering so well in our very heavy, wet clay.
It is not the only perennial sunflower as can be seen on Adrian Thomas's Gardening for Wildlife blog. What really helps the butterflies and bees is to have a large area of plants with open flowers and we have these two as well as Michaelmas daisies and Calendula marigolds. If your garden is small, it is still worth planting these nectar rich plants especially if your neighbours do the same - a lot of small gardens can add up to one large food source.
As well as birds and insects there are mamals to be seen. The hares were mentioned in Adam's blog and the fox is often seen - crossing the road by the entrance on thursday, and today was very much hedgehog day with one being seen by many visitors in the Discovery zone and two on the wildflower walk as I was locking up the reseve. Help the hedgehog by forming a hegdehog street with neighbours.
Peter