Friday, July 26, 2013

Drama, droppings and satisfaction

Way through the clouds, a dramatic interlude during the recent heatwave.

It has seemed to me over the years that the appearance of a yew sapling in the middle of the established privet hedge which borders the garden must be no more than chance.  That this could be other than fortuitous doesn't cross my mind until today, until I see an infant beech pushing into the privet.  Then  I spot an explanation. Birds sit in hedges. Birds' droppings contain seeds. In this way different species of trees are distributed from woodland to hedgerow and from hedgerow to hedgerow.

"No insect around this year," says a builder from the site next door to the vegetable garden. I point to the broad strips of bee and butterfly attracting plants behind me. A couple of years ago he would have been right. Today bees there are in plenty. I am supposed to be growing vegetables, but the bees now give me greater satisfaction.

2 comments:

The Crow said...

Do you have a skep in your garden? Wouldn't have to be huge to serve the bees - and your plants.

Unknown said...

No, dear Crow. Until I looked it up I didn't know what a skep was - an old Norse word for a basket used as a bee hive, I discover. Thank you for the introduction. I wish I did have one. Another step forward in bee-care. My daughter Pippa has been on a bee-keeping course but has has yet not found the means to keep them herself.