| Diary: May 2003 |  |
Calendar and diary for May 2003. Weather-wise, a mixed month this, but with plenty of rain.
Diary and calendar
Taste of a wildflower meadowMay 2003 on the gardener's calendar...
Are you attracted to the idea of giving over part of your lawn to a more naturalistic meadow, but not sure about going the whole hog? Chris Baines has a very attractive proposition: create a short term wildflower meadow for a month in late spring.
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Meadow shows promiseMonday 26th May 2003 in the garden diary...
The 'temporary' meadow, which I am making by leaving the lawn of my front garden uncut for six weeks or so, is beginning to bloom.
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Duck pondThursday 8th May 2003 in the garden diary...
More new avian visitors to the garden today: this time a group of three mallards on the pond (two males and a female).
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Living with duckweedSunday 4th May 2003 in the garden diary...
Duckweed (Lemna minor) can be a very invasive plant in ponds. Once you have it, you can't really eradicate it so you must learn to live with it. But it's worth remembering that it has its uses too.
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Round two to the real heron!Saturday 3rd May 2003 in the garden diary...
After April 30th's duel between plastic and real heron, I thought that perhaps we had the 'problem' licked, but it was not to be: the heron was back today and, according to my family, was standing convivially next to our plastic one as it eyed the fish in the pond!
This calls for a dramatic rethink of our heron policy. I think that rather than worry about our few goldfish (if there are indeed any left), we shall let this magnificent bird have its way with them and we'll just enjoy its visits. Special measures may be necessary during next year's frog spawning, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
More unexpected visitorsSaturday 3rd May 2003 in the garden diary... Another new garden tick: guinea fowl!
Although I was out during today's heron visit, I was lucky enough to arrive home at a time of great excitement: there were two guinea fowl in the garden! I should know by now not to be surprised by anything which turns up in this garden.
My wife apparently saw the same two birds in the lane which runs close to our house yesterday. The birds were very tame and allowed me to approach quite close for this shot. Our cat also tried her luck at stalking them, so I had to chase them away - they objected and left with some very raucous squawking. I hope their owners manage to recover them.
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