Bees and butterflies love the flowers of:
Bergenia, Loniceras (even foraging on L. purpusii on cold but bright winter days)
Buddleias, Eupatoriums are insect 3* Michelin restaurants
Asters, Marigolds, Poppies, Sunflowers (birds love the seeds too), Zinnias, Buttercups, Clematis, Cosmos,
Salvias, Crocuses, Dahlias, Echinacea, Ivy, Foxglove, Geraniums, Globe Thistle (again, birds love the seeds), Hollyhocks, Hyacinth, Roses, Sedum, Snowdrops, Tansy, Blackberries, Cucumbers, Peppers, Pumpkins, Raspberries, Strawberries, Borage, Nepeta (Catnip), Coriander/Cilantro, Fennel, Lavender, Mints, Rosemary, Sage, Thyme.
http://www.newtonabbotbees.org.uk/index.htm
http://biobees.com/
If you're interested in keeping bees yourself, get in touch with a local bee keeping society, such as that above. Bee keepers are friendly people and all are keen on recruiting new members and encouraging their interest. Bees need your help! For very little effort you can receive pounds of honey from your colony, rewarding them only by feeding them some sugar syrup in autumn and winter just to keep them going. They're not interested in stinging you, which some people are worried about, so if left to get on with their work in a clear space without interference, the only rule to give your children is "no bare feet on a clover strewn lawn"!
FROGS & TOADS
Sent to us by Lannerman of Cornwall:
Hi Sacha, As an avid angler as well as a plantsman, I follow the
rhythms of nature and I've noticed that certain species can be good
indicators and predictors of future weather! Frogs and toads are one of
these species that i watch very closely and have done for many years.
Down here in Cornwall. normally the frogs will spawn on the first
full moon of the year and the toads the second. If they spawn slightly
late, as they did this year, I've noticed that this is generally followed
by mild weather.
If they spawn very early, it generally means more cold weather still to
come. I remember one year around 1982, I'd taken a day off to go fishing on Christmas Eve only to find the frogs had spawned en masse the night before! Needless to say, we had a lot of snow that year!
Of course, as we all know, in a lot of areas of the UK, populations
of frogs especially have collapsed, mainly due to a disease affecting
the spawn and its the more western areas like Devon and Cornwall that
now are the strongholds of population.
Just out of interest, runs of salmon, or to be more precise the
timing of the runs will indicate and predict the rainfall over the
coming months. For example, I've noticed that if the fish appear to run
early, it generally means a dry autumn, they seem to know there won't be enough rain later. How they know, no one knows, but know they do.
Certainly as an angler and a nurseryman, as you know, nature gives
us all the clues we need if only we just stop and observe. Maybe we are slightly more tuned in than most, we still have some of these abilities and skills that man once relied upon for survival that centuries of urban living has dulled in the vast majority of the population!!
Bergenia, Loniceras (even foraging on L. purpusii on cold but bright winter days)
Buddleias, Eupatoriums are insect 3* Michelin restaurants
Asters, Marigolds, Poppies, Sunflowers (birds love the seeds too), Zinnias, Buttercups, Clematis, Cosmos,
Salvias, Crocuses, Dahlias, Echinacea, Ivy, Foxglove, Geraniums, Globe Thistle (again, birds love the seeds), Hollyhocks, Hyacinth, Roses, Sedum, Snowdrops, Tansy, Blackberries, Cucumbers, Peppers, Pumpkins, Raspberries, Strawberries, Borage, Nepeta (Catnip), Coriander/Cilantro, Fennel, Lavender, Mints, Rosemary, Sage, Thyme.
http://www.newtonabbotbees.org.uk/index.htm
http://biobees.com/
If you're interested in keeping bees yourself, get in touch with a local bee keeping society, such as that above. Bee keepers are friendly people and all are keen on recruiting new members and encouraging their interest. Bees need your help! For very little effort you can receive pounds of honey from your colony, rewarding them only by feeding them some sugar syrup in autumn and winter just to keep them going. They're not interested in stinging you, which some people are worried about, so if left to get on with their work in a clear space without interference, the only rule to give your children is "no bare feet on a clover strewn lawn"!
FROGS & TOADS
Sent to us by Lannerman of Cornwall:
Hi Sacha, As an avid angler as well as a plantsman, I follow the
rhythms of nature and I've noticed that certain species can be good
indicators and predictors of future weather! Frogs and toads are one of
these species that i watch very closely and have done for many years.
Down here in Cornwall. normally the frogs will spawn on the first
full moon of the year and the toads the second. If they spawn slightly
late, as they did this year, I've noticed that this is generally followed
by mild weather.
If they spawn very early, it generally means more cold weather still to
come. I remember one year around 1982, I'd taken a day off to go fishing on Christmas Eve only to find the frogs had spawned en masse the night before! Needless to say, we had a lot of snow that year!
Of course, as we all know, in a lot of areas of the UK, populations
of frogs especially have collapsed, mainly due to a disease affecting
the spawn and its the more western areas like Devon and Cornwall that
now are the strongholds of population.
Just out of interest, runs of salmon, or to be more precise the
timing of the runs will indicate and predict the rainfall over the
coming months. For example, I've noticed that if the fish appear to run
early, it generally means a dry autumn, they seem to know there won't be enough rain later. How they know, no one knows, but know they do.
Certainly as an angler and a nurseryman, as you know, nature gives
us all the clues we need if only we just stop and observe. Maybe we are slightly more tuned in than most, we still have some of these abilities and skills that man once relied upon for survival that centuries of urban living has dulled in the vast majority of the population!!
If we have any sunny days towards the end of summer, we often see these in the garden here. They seem to like the Salvia involucrata, especially. Many people believe they've seen a real humming bird.
Hummingbird Hawk
Moth