Wildlife Pond, Wildflowers and Wildlife. Now that's Wild!!....

Here we are again but two moths on since my last post, which I can only apologise for! My lack of writing should actually be seen as a good thing as it generally means that the weather has been good and I've been out enjoying the garden!! I'm pleased to report that this is the case and I have plenty to tell you all about.

So with skin tanned and muscles stretched from all the recent hard work here's an update on the new wildlife pond from where we left it in my last post.

Two months is a long time in nature and just look at how the pond has come on in this time....

Three months after the pond was started it looks really settled with the wildflower area starting to come into bloom around it....

Another view of the pond as it is now, it will continue to improve as the summer goes on!!

 The two pictures  above and below hopefully help to demonstrate how the design of the pond fits into the wider landscape in this part of the garden and will in time look really natural....

With the pond starting to mature really quite quickly I needed to concentrate my attention on the wildflower area that sits along side the pond and will in time surround this water feature making it a little oasis for passing wildlife.

Below I will cover some of the wildflowers that I like to use and I will also try and let you know what wildlife species they attract....

Corn Marigold is one of my favourite wildflowers as it is simple to grow from seed, flowers all summer if deadheaded but best of all is a magnet for hoverflies. We all often forget what important pollinators hoverflies are. I also mix Corn Marigolds in with my perennial plants to provide pollinating bedding plants!!

Common & Greater Knapweed are both superb pollinating wildflowers adored by bumblebees and many butterflies (Large Skipper pictured). As with corn marigold I use them in among my perennial planting schemes and as they are perennial themselves they come back every summer! I like them mixed with Helenium where they make a great mix for Gatekeeper butterflies among others.

Californian Poppy isn't a native wildflower but it's bright colours act like a beacon to passing pollinators which may come down and feed on more suitable flowers. They do however attract some of our smaller flies and hoverflies....

Oxeye Daisy is a cheery early summer plant loved by most pollinators....

Toadflax is a superb bee plant loved by all types of bee. The purple variety is a native wildflower often pulled out by gardeners as it seeds and grows freely but often not where it's wanted! I love this as a bee plant and let it grow where ever it wants! The variety pictured is a cultivated pink form and I have found this to be just as good for bees so worth adding to the wildflower garden.

Wild Mignonette is loved by bees and a food plant for some of the white butterfly caterpillars...

Forget-me-not is one of the most underrated flowers for early pollinators and again pulled out by many gardeners as a free seeding invasive pest! It is one of the earliest flowers along with dandelion that offers pollen for lots of species. In this picture you can see it also offers a hiding place for predators like this pollinator eating Crab-flower spider... 

Birds-foot Trefoil is probably our best butterfly plant attracting many different species including this Brown Argus and the Common Blue among many others...

Perennial Flax is a strange one as it shouldn't really grow on my heavy soil as it's a chalkland plant but it seems to be doing well and will attract pollinators...

Cuckoo-Flower is a spring wildflower of damp ground and is superb for Orange-tip and Green-veined White butterflies. It grows well on our heavy clay soil here....

Mixed Grasses are vitally important to include in a wildflower mix as there are many species of moth and butterfly that lay their eggs among the grass and then their caterpillars feed on it.... 

Corn Chamomile is from the daisy family and is a little annual plant that will self seed and is visited by bees and other pollinators....

Cornflower is a blue flower that everyone knows, visited by bees and other pollinating insects but there are other colour variations such as this white version...

Field Scabious is simply superb for bees and butterflies. I have actually found that all Scabious species to be top rate pollinator plants including cultivated versions that can give you something a little different....

The above demonstrates a small selection of the wildflowers that we have growing in the garden and most are in flower now. As the season moves on more will come into flower providing a rich source of nectar for pollinating insects. I will post up another selection of my favourite wildflowers that I grow here in future posts. I hope that these at least give you a few ideas for your own patch.

Before I leave I will post a small selection of wildlife that has been visiting this area of the garden and the new pond....

The new pond has attracted really high numbers of Damselflies and I'm including a selection below so that you can see the difference in colouration and the difficulty in identifying species....

Azure Damselfly

 Azure Damselfly

Azure Damselfly

Azure Damselfly

 Azure Damselfly

As you can see the Azure Damselfly comes in many different colour forms!

Here are other types that visit the garden....

Blue-tailed Damselfly...

Large Red Damselfly

Common Blue Damselfly...

Dragonflies showing in the garden at this early stage of the summer are...

Broad-bodied Chaser....

And Southern Hawker....

There have been lots more exciting sightings in the garden over the last couple of months but unfortunately too many to list on here. I will leave you with a picture of our latest success story which has been the arrival of a family of Hedgehogs! This is really great news as the Hedgehog is under major decline and I know that we have a family of at least 4 hogs! 

One member of a new family to the wildlife garden busily mopping up fallen meal worms that have proved irresistible to the hogs!...

That's about it for this post so I will bid you all farewell and many thanks for taking the time to read my blog. Please do feel free to comment or pass on any suggestions that you may have for the blog or my garden.

Best

Higgy