News / wildlife gardening

Goldfinches are one of Britain's most beautiful birds. If you want to try and attract them to your garden, you can do the following 3 things;

1. Plant a pine or larch tree.

2. Add thistles and teasels to your garden borders. Goldfinches love eating the seeds from these plants.

3. Get some seeds and add them to a birdfeeder. (There is special mixes specifically made to attract goldfinches, the main seed they like is Niger seeds, but also like seeds such as linseed, and hempseed).

Goldfinch singing.

Raw sewage is pouring into our rivers and coastal waters regularly, all across the country. The government got a lot of backlash this week when it voted down an amendment to the Environment Bill, that would have demanded water companies stop releasing sewage into our waters on a regular basis.

I've learnt quite a bit this week about the issue, and one thing stands out is that a major reason for the sewage releases is that the pipes can't cope after heavy rain, so the sewage is released into rivers, otherwise it would start flooding out onto residential streets from manholes. This is because the rainwater shares the same pipes as the sewage. I have made another post a month or so ago about how water butts can help prevent flash floods, and clearly they are a solution in reducing the chance of sewage spills. This is because, using my original example, of a 10,000 homes, if each are fitted with a 200 litre double water butt kit (the bestseller), then that would hold 2 Olympic swimming pools worth of water, after heavy rain. This means that all that rainwater is not going straight into the sewers, so it reduces the chance they will fill so quick, resulting in a raw sewage release into the rivers and coastal seas. 

I have not heard anyone mention this as a quick and easy solution to help the problem. Considering raw sewage is not just poop and wee, but anything that goes down the drains, including bleach, household cleaners, hair dye, medicines etc, it's a massive issue. Only 14% of English rivers are classed as being in a good ecological standard, according to the Ennvironment Agency in 2020. Yet another good reason to buy a water butt!

Weeds are simply wildflowers growing in gardens, that gardeners don't want. Some get sprayed, others get pulled, so you might not even ever see them in flower. So, here is some wildlfowers in August. These are typical are what you might find in any grass verge on a country lane. As you can see, some are quite pretty. Next year, perhaps leave a small part of your garden to grow wild and see what shows up (for example behind the garden shed), and these native plants are great for bees and butterflies.

Dark now an hour later than Christmas Day, snowdrops beginning to emerge in the next couple of weeks, is an early sign the spring season is slowly approaching. All our amphibian friends; frogs, toads and newts will be looking out for a nice pond to lay some spawn and bring some cute little tadpoles into the world.

Now is the time to get ordering and get digging, especially during this boring lockdown! Gardenis sells;

3 sizes of preformed ponds, that are quick and easy to install.

Pond kits, in 3 sizes that include pond liner, underlay and a solar oxygenator

Pond liner and underlay in many sizes

AND

just pond liner in various sizes.

All can help create a lovely pond in your garden that is not only a great place for garden wildlife, they also make an attractive focal point and relaxing feature.

All available in the ponds and water features section;

https://gardenis.co.uk/collections/pond-water-features

If you are planning a traditional English cottage garden border, check out these old cigarette cards, with 1 different plants that are perfect for cottage gardens.