Rambling Russells

Having visited Threave Gardens before, we put our names down for a guided tour of the house this time. The name Threave is most likely derived from the Old Welsh Tref , meaning homestead.       The estate is one of the most diverse properties in the care of the National Trust for Scotland, supporting farming, forestry, horticulture, wildlife conservation and outdoor recreation. The National Trust has its School of Practical Gardening at Threave and provides residential courses here. Parts of the house are excluded from the tour because residential students live in flats in the house! The 3000 acre estate was bought by William Gordon, a Liverpool businessman, who then decided to build a summer home for his large family. Threave House was designed by architect Charles Kinnear and is based on Castle Fraser in Aberdeenshire. It was built in the early 1870's from red sandstone. It has an impressive drum tower, housing the entrance to the house ...

The variety of birds in the garden is still quite disappointing again this month. Summer is always a quiet time for birds but the number of sparrows is encouraging  - they seem to enjoy sitting next to one another around the top of the holly bush! Some baby sparrows are even still being fed by parents. We have enjoyed watching the goldfinches feeding too.      Monthly max of birds is as follows: Blackbird - 1 Male, 1 female, 2 young Blue tit - 1 young Collared dove - 1 Dunnock - 2 adult, 2 young Goldfinch - 4 adult, 1 young House sparrow - 30 adults and young Rook - 1 Starling - 8 Swift - 45 Woodpigeon - 2 Wren - 1 Moths have finally started to appear in greater numbers this month: 3rd July saw 64 moths of 32 different species. 11th July saw 43 moths of 22 different species. 16th July saw 80 moths of 41 different species. 20th July saw 58 moths of 33 different species. 25th July saw 72 moths of 26 different species. 3 new micro moths for the garden thi...

We are now half way through the year! How quickly time goes. It was a very showery start to the month - and very heavy showers at times! Some of the flowers in the garden have already gone over and it is time to cut back the dead flowers and foliage. The compost bins are going to fill up quite quickly. It is also time to prune things like the weigela as they finish flowering - I should have probably have done it already but..... There has been masses of growth and it seems a shame to cut it all back, but if I don't we shall get no new growth for the flowers to bloom on next year.     The sweet peas are just beginning to flower - the smell is just delicious. Couldn't wait to pick the first bunch to put in the kitchen window where they sit in the sun smelling fantastic.     The hydrangeas are also coming up to flower. Ours in the front garden is pink and has huge blooms. I cut out some of the main...

Canonbie had been chosen as a host location because there are very few moth records from this part of the county. With the help of Mark Pollitt of DGERC, we borrowed traps and set them in different gardens around the village with the permission of volunteer villagers. We were helped by Joanne & Stuart at North Lodge B&B who acted as hosts and local contact.   Next morning, we returned to North Lodge to meet up with local moth experts and recorders to empty the traps, identify and record them for the county and national database.   Some of the locals stayed as they returned their traps to see what had been in their trap. They were surprised by the number and variety of moths and were not afraid to say they had been fascinated by the effect the light had attracting the insects to the boxes.     We caught so many species that it took some time to empty the first 3 traps and although nothing special turned up there were many species ...

Butterfly Conservation have an annual visit to the region to check on the Essex Skipper population in Birkshaw Forest. The weather forecast was for sunshine and showers so we set off with fingers crossed that the showers would stay away and the butterflies would fly.     When the grey clouds parted the intrepid spotters were treated to glimpses of butterflies (and Moths!) on the wing but conditions meant there were not the prolific numbers we would expect at this time of year. One or two of the species cooperated and landed in convenient locations to be photographed or inspected more closely. The Peacock Butterfly sat still and the lizard was a bonus. Ragwort had a few 6 spot Burnet moths and numerous juicy caterpillars of the Cinnabar Moth.       We managed to catch a Skipper or two and confirmed that the Essex Skipper is still in the location.     We were pleased to find a few other things on our wander...