Check out my Autumnwatch nature notes at BBC Berkshire online…
I’m building a modest photo gallery for autumn, and adding notes each week. Having this little mission for the BBC gets me out shooting, which is good, although I didn’t have the right lens for the Red Kite, Buzzard and Kestrel which came tantalisingly close!
Autumn Hawkbit (click to enlarge)
An ornithologist asked me if I might have some photos for his presentations. He wasn’t after clear, obvious pictures – rather, he wanted images to help with bird identification exercises for his audience. Nothing too easy for everyone!
My lenses aren’t really suited to great bird photography, so it didn’t take me long to gather a collection of ‘not great but useful’ photos! Fancy yourself as a good birdwatcher? Find my bird ID slideshow on Zenfolio.
http://wp.me/p1RVZ-8Z
What’s the spirit of a landscape? What makes the landscape itself, and what makes it alive? The broad horizons of the Lambourn Downs are walked by livestock, and have been for thousands of years. Cattle and sheep were central to the ‘domestication’ of the countryside in these parts.
In some ways, the livestock helped to shape the character of this landscape, and they are part of the living, working environment. Just as agriculture has changed with the times, so have the breeds of cattle, but a drover from the Iron Age might recognise this scene today.
My point is, I took photos of the landscape in this same field without these cattle, but I think the picture is all the richer for the animals being present.
(Click the picture to see it larger.)
Great for wildlife
I also call this wildflower seed mixture my ’Small Blue mix’ because Kidney Vetch is the foodplant for the caterpillar of the Small Blue butterfly. Small Blue is on the priority list for UK Biodiversity and the famous wildlife charity Butterfly Conservation. You can download a Small Blue factsheet from the Butterfly Conservation website.
Bees just love Kidney Vetch and when you see bumblebees delving into the vetch for nectar, you can see how well adapted the flowers are – it fits snugly, and daubs the visitor with pollen. This and other members of the pea family – like Gorse – are important nectar sources in May and early June. Wildlife gardeners know that wild bees need our help, and they are so useful to a garden, as pollinators.
Growing hints
Kidney Vetch likes alkaline/limey conditions and it does best as a coloniser of bare patches and gravelly areas. It even germinates in the hoofprints left by cattle, the ideal grazing companion. Beware – they get eaten out by sheep and rabbits.
Because this is a mixture of seeds it could be something you sow anywhere, but alkaline soils, and especially chalky soils will be best.
I’ve been very pleased to see Kidney Vetch has successfully germinated in a ‘butterfly scrape’ which I excavated to expose bare chalk. I raked over the ground to create a shallow seed bed. After sprinkling the seed I raked it over again and stamped over the whole area to ensure good seed-soil contact. Watering is a good idea, of course, or sow when plenty of rain is due.
