28/08/2007

Towards the end of summer

It feels like the sunshine has only just appeared, but for many plants and animals the summer is already over. Some of our flowers are coming to the end of their flowering season and annuals such as the pot marigolds are beginning to look a little past their best!

We won't be cutting many of the dead stems down as insects such as ladybirds and lacewings use these for hibernating in. Also many of the plants' seedheads will be providing food for animals for a while to come yet!

The pond is the only place where we will remove most of the dead vegetation and this is because we don't want too much of it falling into the pond. Too much rotting vegetation causes the pond to become depleted of oxygen, which isn't good news for the pond animals.

During August it has been more difficult to see the birds as many of them go through their moult. However this period has nearly past and we are starting to see the wrens and dunnocks looking for food again in our flower beds.

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