Berries

I agree the berries are in full swing which is a good thing but i always thought that this means a hard winter is this true or old wives tale not sure?

We have a buddliea but we have had lots of different butterfies a lot have been cabbage whites but lots of loveley other ones too.

We have put 2 feeders for the birds out at different ends of the garden 1 nut 1 oat based, the birds are going mad for them as soon as refill they are on them as if they lay in wait i think they know the sound ofthe feed tub or something they are not daft by any means. What else can i put out to encourage them there is nothing better than sitting in the garden first thing with a cup of tea watching them.

We have also got a squirrel he or she seems to have a split personality as one time its not shy at all and then the next time it is. The nut feeder which we have is hung on the washing line at the bottom of the garden which he or she could get to via the fence but it does not seem to be getting this it either climbs half way up the prop and then changes its mind or tries to reach from the fence which is quite comical i admit but i'm not sure if we should encourage or discourage its visits as on one occasion it did the wall of death routine up the side of the house and squeeked a lot in a not very nice mannor. Not sure how we would go about encouragment or discouragment either. Tips welcome. I would like to point out at this point that we used to live in a town house before with no garden and now we have big big garden so only learning at mo its not that i'm completly dense although some may argue this point.

Helllo Carmel. Yes I have been very disappointed at absence of Butterflies. I saw a Small White today, tried to take picture but it never spread its wings.. At one time I would have ignored such a common sight. I read that the caterpillars are washed off the foliage by the constant rain. I looked round the whole garden and couldn't find any eaten foliage, even the Willows wre in perfect condition , usually they are nearly eaten away by now. but never mind this is the greenest summer I have known.

same here Carmel regarding butterflies, ive only seen cabbage whites and ive still yet to see a ladybird here this year

I've only seen white butter flies this yr too. and I haven't seen a ladybird for a number of years. It's quite worrying really.
it must be nice living near a country park.
All the best, Hywel.

I have Carmel, In fact my mountain ash was laden ed with berries, not a single one remains. The cotoniaster has still got some berries on, the pyracantha has yet to get Berry's, it's still got the flowers on.

Hi Carmel. Lucky you in my old county of Essex to have lots of blackberries. They're one of the things I miss since we moved here to Northern Spain. We have blackberries, but they are always small and dry, unlike the lovely big squashy ones I used to pick in Britain that turned my fingers purple. There's nothing like Blackberry pie and custard after a Sunday lunch! On the butterfly side, I used to get excited if a butterfly came into my garden in Essex - now I walk through swarms of several different species and when I water the garden I have to watch where I put my feet to avoid the clouds of tiny blue butterflies that appear with the first drop from the hosepipe! We did notice, during our unseasonably cold and wet May and early June, that butterflies had disappeared, so perhaps the bad weather you've been having in Britain has taken its toll of them? Hopefully they'll pick up next year.

This morning the suns out and I have spotted 4 different types of butterflies inc White they were lovely but now you mention it I can't remember the last Ladybird I saw it's such a shame.