Nature Notes

Gardening again, I removed about a wheelbarrow load of grass and weeds from the cracks in the garden path, and gave the rough area behind the rose hedge a much needed mowing. This then made the strawberry bed accessible - and that revealed a great infestation of bindweed, a menace I generally associate with August gardening.

The bluebells, choicea and lilacs are past their best now, but the roses are coming into bud - and indeed needed to have some finger and thumb work done (mechanical aphid removal).

Topping up the pond, I see many frogs, and that we still have one deep orange goldfish - the paralysed one expired some while back - and again, for about the third year in a row, no sign of any hatching of any of the copious amounts of frogspawn. :-( But plenty of frogs in various sizes and colours. :-)

And this evening, I for only the second time spotted a female cat standing and spraying in the same manner as males mark their territory. Both cases have been our Burmese females.