The robin is making a regular
appearance in the garden at the moment, but it could easily have been his last
had I not noticed his dilemma recently. It was my own doing of course, he had
spotted a gap in the netting covering the blueberries, I am usually so careful
in pegging it down but in my haste had missed a corner and he had tried unsuccessfully
to hop through and got caught. All this
happened within seconds of watching him fly down from the top of the pea frame
in the kitchen garden. I quickly dashed outside, rubbed dry soil into the palms
of my hands and very carefully held him in one hand whilst removing the netting
from around his head. He was so still whilst I was doing this, it was as though
he knew I was trying to help. On freeing him I placed my other hand over his
face before slowly lowering him onto some open ground. As I let go he flew
straight up onto the pergola, before flying off unscathed. I saw him a short
while later sat on top of the bird table where we had put some left over crumbs
from a blueberry loaf.
The flowers in the garden have
been deadheaded on a regular basis to try and extend the season as long as
possible, so there is a constant supply of material being put onto the compost
heap. To try and get this to break down into a useable material it needs to be
turned on a regular basis and this was one of the tasks that I needed to get
done this weekend. Despite the amount of rain that had fallen the day before, I
found myself caught out by the weather, when whilst turning the heap we had an
unexpected downpour. I wasn’t the only one caught out, a blackbird took cover
on the bird table and some of the bees that had been buzzing around were seen
to be clinging to the sides of the echinop flowers. 
Meanwhile in the kitchen garden
we are still picking courgettes and beetroot, whilst the leeks are hopefully
fattening up. Given the late start to the season they are looking a little on
the lean side. The sweet peas are still hanging in there with the occasionally
flurry of flowers, but they are ready for the compost heap really. I am glad
that I wasn’t too hasty on that front as the other morning a number of sparrows
took a great interest in them, or rather the aphids, and it was entertaining
watching them flitting in and out of the plant.
I now need to be thinking of
ordering my onion sets and garlic for planting out in the next few weeks. I
haven’t made any plans for growing other crops over the winter period, but
before I know it, it will be soon time to reflect on this year and start
planning for the next.
