Floral Favourites Nov 2016

The month began with the sighting of a Red Admiral butterfly at Caerlaverock - not our garden I know but worth a mention!

The gardening month began dry with many leaves still on the trees in all their glorious colours - the rich red of the acer, reds and golds on azalea bushes, green and yellow on fruit trees and dark reds and oranges on the berberis hedge. Those that have fallen are crisp and dry as they pile-up against gates, fences and other plants making colourful "litter"

 

 

Some plants have still been flowering - we have picked scented roses as they open and brought them indoors to have a spectacular late show! Wild orange poppies and calendulas have been abundant in the mild weather bringing a lovely burst of colour in the garden.

 

 

Himalayan honeysuckle and sedum have been looking spectacular and even the heads of the hydrangea are pretty as they fade.

 

 

Despite looking good at the beginning of the month we then had our first frosts at the end of the first week - and plants and flowers suddenly looked dead and dying. The days were still, however, beautifully sunny. Love days like that when the air is crisp and fresh. The conservatory roof looked spectacular on one particular morning - remember the days before central heating when the windows were frosted in the mornings? Well our glass roof in the conservatory looked like that on the outside! Lovely feathery fronds of frost.

 

Then on the 8th we had the first snow too! The rain turned to snow in the evening leaving a good covering everywhere - but by the morning there was hardly any left.

More severe frosts followed during the rest of the month but a combination of frosts, high winds and late sunshine made for an interesting mixture of weather for November and the opportunity for some "frosty" photos.

 

 

November

 

November crept in and then showed its might,

Frost turned everything white overnight.

Crisp, fallen leaves all over the ground,

Berries and seeds for when the birds come around.

The wind is chilly - No! - Freezing cold,

The snow fluttering down was a sight to behold!

Winter's arrived, no ifs, no buts,

Gardening now? You'd have to be nuts!!

 



November Wildlife Sightings from a garden in Annan

We continue to see plenty of birds in the garden - breakfast and a cup of tea in the afternoon seem to take longer and longer as we sit and record the number of birds we see each day! Very welcome visitors this month were a brambling, a bird we have never seen before, and long-tailed tits, which are a favourite for me.

 

Photos from NE Wildlife

 

 

Our monthly max for Nov is therefore as follows:-

Blackbird - 1 male, 3 female

Blue tit - 4

Brambling - 1

Carrion crow - 1

Chaffinch - 5 male, 4 female

Coal tit - 2

Collared dove - 3

Dunnock - 4

Goldfinch - 20

Goose - 500+ flying over

Great tit - 3

House sparrow - 28 male, 20 female

Jackdaw - 4

Long-tailed tit - 3

Pied wagtail - 1

Robin - 1

Starling - 40

Woodpigeon - 3

Wren - 2

Our last sighting of a butterfly was in November too! Although we saw it fly across the garden, we couldn't see which species it was!

 

We did manage to see DGERC species of the month for Nov too - admittedly not in our garden - but it is nice to find examples of Mark's highlighted species. Last month he wanted records of Candlesnuff fungus which we found at Dyke Farm Wildlife Club Reserve at Moffat. Some members may remember visiting this reserve with Mark last year?

 

 

DGERC species of the month to look for next month are a small, but easily identified fern and a yellow-green lichen. They can both be found all year round.

 

Maidenhair Spleenwort  (Asplenium trichomanes)

Maidenhair Spleenwort can often be found on old walls. It has fronds that can be up to 20cm long - made up of leaflets in opposite pairs on either side of a black stalk. The leaflets get smaller towards the end of the stalk.

There are two similar species it could be confused with - Green Spleenwort and Rustyback - both of which have a green central rib to each frond.

 

Map Lichen (Rhizocarpon geographicum)

Map Lichen is a yellow-green crust-forming lichen growing on many common rock types across D&G. Lichens are not a single organism, but a stable symbiotic relationship between a fungi and an algae. Map Lichen can reach up to 15cm in size and the black cracks in the lichen body form regular patterns which give it its common name. Sometimes flat, black, disc-shaped structures are present on the surface of the lichen. It is worth looking closely at these to see the patterns and structure.

 

 

This species is common in D&G but there are very few local recorders so all records are especially welcome. Please accompany all records with a photo to help with verification.

Information and photos via DGERC, who welcome all records from the region.