Hedgerows

In this neck of the woods, the blossom has been terrific this year - the hedgerows are full of berries & the trees are quite literally burgeoning under the weight of the fruit. The amount of wild flowers I've seen has been amazing.

It's been another great year for all sorts of bees and we've had loads of weird and wonderful bugs. :T

Despite seeing ladybird larvae, I've seen very few ladybirds themselves; loads of caterpillars, but not as many moths or butterflies as I would've thought, and I've only heard grasshoppers about twice.

I suppose it's also been a good year for baby birds too and that's why so few insects?

What's it like/been like where you are?
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  • Davesnave
    Davesnave Posts: 34,741
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    Chris25 wrote: »

    What's it like/been like where you are?
    Too dry in Mid Devon.

    I planted around 80 new hedgerow trees, but I've no proper idea yet of survival rates. Due to being raised and full of vole holes, the hedges are a hostile place to establish new plants at the best of times.

    The rivers are very low, so even if some animals are doing well, aquatic life must be coping with low oxygen levels.

    I would say it's still too early to aseess everything fully.
  • Misslayed
    Misslayed Posts: 14,053
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    Our garden is full of young birds, at least ten sparrows, 8 or so goldfinches, a pair of bullfinches, but green finches are sparse at the mo. We also have daily visits from a wren, robin, black cap, garden warbler, Mr and Mrs blackbird, pair of collared doves, magpies and of course the 'wood ducks' (pigeons, but they look so fat they must have been crossed with mallards). This probably explains my lack of slugs!
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  • I saw my first ladybirds and heard my first crickets yesterday :)

    Loads of baby birds around this year which is great. Didn't get many may flies this year but loads of butterflies
  • Farway
    Farway Posts: 13,070
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    Bit short on butterflies here, but saw my first thrush today [they were very common here once]

    Hover flies are norml numbers .

    Plenty of blackflies ready for the missing ladybirds
    Eight out of ten owners who expressed a preference said their cats preferred other peoples gardens
  • Apodemus
    Apodemus Posts: 3,384
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    It's been a funny year here in the north. Pretty cool and overcast, but reasonably dry. Birds seem to have nested early. Slugs seem to be in short supply so far here and snails much fewer than normal, probably down to the cool spring. It's been a really poor year for my veg patch: lettuces very slow to get going, spinach went straight to seed and courgettes basically have refused to grow beyond the two leaf stage. No sign of any plums on the tree, but good apple numbers (but it is still too early count on them yet!). Gooseberries were looking good through the spring but fruit is tiny, probably down to the dry weather. Even the grass is slow, only needing cut every other week at the moment.

    And now the days are noticably shorter, streetlights on by ten and sun not up at 05.30 which is the only time I usually manage to get out to do my gardening!
  • Too dry in Hampshire, I've seen one butterfly this whole summer, no bees and 1 ladybird.
  • Chris25
    Chris25 Posts: 12,918
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    BBH123 wrote: »
    Too dry in Hampshire, I've seen one butterfly this whole summer, no bees and 1 ladybird.

    that is really sad - I walked alongside a verge one morning a few weeks back which was covered in poppies. I counted about 120 bees.:T
  • Grenage
    Grenage Posts: 2,897
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    Our front garden is full of borage, poppies, cornflowers, etc - there's never less than a dozen bees in sight at any one moment. If you build it, they will come.
  • Chris25
    Chris25 Posts: 12,918
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    so much fruit is dropping on the road or onto the verges - I don't think I've ever seen so much. Some of the hedges are tipping down so much that the ends are snapping off. I've seen a few broken boughs fully laden too.

    I came back from walking the dog with a bag of plums this morning.
  • keith969
    keith969 Posts: 1,571
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    Plenty of bumblebees but then there is a nest under a stone in the garden. Also plenty of birds - a family of a dozen sparrows, several blackbirds, a pair of thrushes, robins, a wren, dunnocks, bluetits, greenfinches, a flock of greedy starlings, a couple of love struck wood pigeons and yesterday a black&white woodpecker.

    Not seen so many ladybirds though this year.
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