We have watched spellbound as the wrens 
garnered up countless small insects and spiders for their young, working along the banks of the stream and on the bridge in late afternoon. Then we were treated to the sight of six babies fledging and they have stayed around in a group foraging. Did you know that it is only the female which sings?
Last year I mentioned a tiny trial wildflower patch sown with seed-balls. This did quite well except that this year the Ox-eye Daisies had really taken over and had to be thinned out. I elongated the strip by about 15m and sowed a varied assortment of seeds. Having spoken to many people about the creation of wildflower meadows it seems to me that the holy-grail is all about getting Yellow Rattle to grow. Well, the seed sourced from Goren Farm germinated spectacularly well. It will be interesting to see how matters develop next year.
This has been an amazing year for the number of bee swarms. We have managed
to capture and keep two which landed in the garden and both are doing well. Andrew and Cherry captured a massive swarm, one that took considerable effort to capture and house, but they are delighted with the result.
What an incredible year it is turning out to be for growing flowers, fruit and vegetables, that is if you managed to cover everything on the few nights 
when the temperatures fell down to freezing. We had two large feeds of strawberries before the end of May – they are grown uncovered out in the open – and everything seems to be several weeks earlier than usual. Our Candelabra Primulas have put on a spectacular display in the bog garden and the moisture loving worts and Astilbes will soon be putting on their own, having purchased several new varieties last year when we revisited Marwood Hill Gardens near Barnstaple. My latest 
project has been to create a large circular bed near the wildlife pond, the backbone to which is a wide variety of Heucheras, all purchased from High Garden Nurseries at Kenton, that gorgeous garden near Powderham Castle.
Andrew and Cherry have been telling me for some time about seeing Red Kites hunting across their paddock at Mousehole Farm and now Francis has seen one at Upton. Let us hope that these birds will settle in the area.
All the best,
Paul (841696)
