Good afternoon everyone.
Here's a delightful early autumn update of Saltholme's wildlife garden from Peter Langham, one of the reserve's garden volunteers:
Summer is at an end, but the wildlife garden still has lots to offer. We have had very difficult weather conditions since it was planted a couple of winters ago, but the late summer flowers of the daisy family - sunflowers, rudbeckia, and asters - are at their colouful best, and providing pollen and nectar for the butterflies and hoverflies. The first flowers on the sunflowers are long finished and the seeds now ripe - wonderful food for the finches, so we will not be clearing the prairie flower bed until all of these are gone. Then we will compost the dead growth and dig in last year's compost ready for spring planting. Meanwhile the autumn flowers of the hardy cyclamen are looking cheerful, and feeding late flying bees for a few more weeks yet. More flowers (and berries!) are to come even into winter, but for now let's just enjoy the early autumn colours and wildlife.
Hopefully Peter will give us another update on the goings on in the garden soon.
Bye for now.
Ben.