The Dangling Swamp Lover

At the weekend the sun was shining and the garden air was full of hoverflies darting about on the autumnal flowers.  Most of the activity was around my many aster blooms where it looked as if the males were out on patrol duty.  Frozen in the air  they hovered motionless  watching the females on the blooms and deciding whether one would be a suitable mate.  This hoverfly is called a Sun Fly - Heliophilus pendulus and one of its common names is "the dangling swamp lover" as it loves muddy water.  Another common name is "footballer hoverfly", due to its yellow and black striped thorax, a bit like an old-fashioned football jersey. 



For more macros this week please visit NF Macro




© 2010 Centre of Interest

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"Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse." Romans 1:20

Bromeliads, inflorescences and plastic bags.

I'm taking you indoors today and I'm going to let you into a little secret of how to get bromeliads to flower again and it involves the use of a plastic bag. Intrigued? well read on.  

Guzmania and Vriesea bromeliads are favourite houseplants of mine and I love their brightly coloured inflorescences (flower spikes) especially at this time of year in the house.  

I think they bring a little richness and exotica into a room.

This photo below was taken with my old point and shoot camera a few years ago while attending a trade show at IPM Essen, Germany. They had the most amazing collection of bromeliads attached to bamboo canes hanging from the ceiling in one of the 16 exhibition halls (I had sore feet that day!).

Those of you that live in places where bromeliads grow outdoors  like Floridagirl from Peace in the Valley will have no problem getting your bromeliad pups to flower from one generation to the next but over here in the UK and other colder regions of the world its the "air tight plastic bag method" that makes them flower again in the home!  Rosey from Dung hoe will remember that many months ago I wrote what seemed like a blog post in her comment section about how to get a pup to flower and I said that eventually I would write a concise piece on my own blog about it as I've given a few talks on the subject........... so here it is. 

My Bromeliad has finished flowering......

Lets just say that the bromeliad you purchased many many months ago has now finished flowering and has lost most of the colour from its inflorescences and you ask "What do I do with it now?" 

Well firstly don't throw it away. Once your bromeliad has flowered for you it will never flower again from that same rosette of leaves as it's a monocarpic plant. You will notice that at the base of the rosette of leaves at soil level there are little offshoots growing - known otherwise as pups. It's from these pups that the new flowers will come from.  If they are not there don't worry as they will soon appear as the parent plant very slowly dies away.  

Vriesea in full bloom

Cultivating the Pups

Let those pups grow until they are at least a third or preferably half the size of the parent plant. The longer you leave the pups attached to the parent the quicker they will mature.   It's at this stage that the pup has matured enough to be able to survive as an independent plant.  

You can either tease away each pup from the parent plant and re pot or else leave all the pups to flower in the same pot and cut away the parent plant at the base.  

If  you have difficulty teasing the pup away from the parent plant you will need to cut it away with a sharp knife and let the cut dry for a day before re potting.  Its best to grow these pups in a very free draining compost like a cacti and succulent one. 

Since they don't have a proper root system that absorbs nutrients but has anchors or hold fasts instead a pot similar in size to the one the parent plant was grown in will suffice.  

It probably takes on average 12 months to reach the mature plant stage and then you can force it to flower (which is what the commercial growers do except we're going to be doing it au natural).

The air tight plastic bag method

All the tools you need for this are:

1. A mature bromeliad pup not in flower.
2. A  clear plastic bag that has no air holes in it. (Garden centres or pet stores that have an aquatics department will normally have large clear bags and if asked might let you have one).
3. Some ripe fruit like an apple, kiwi or banana.

I wish you could see the looks on peoples faces when I tell them what tools are required - it always brings a smile to my face and sometimes they don't even believe me at first.

The Technique

First empty the water from its funnel/vase, then place the plant in the plastic bag along with a ripe fruit. 

Remember all those fruits that you are told to keep away from flowering plants - its those types that you need as we are going to use the ethylene gas that these fruits give off naturally from their skins to force the bromeliad to flower. 

Make sure the clear bag you use doesn't have any air holes at the sides as many bags have some as a safety feature.  Tie the bag well at the top with a tight knot and leave it for about 7-10 days which should be enough time for the gas to build up inside the bag and to stimulate the plant to flower. 

Then take the plant out of the bag and within 6-14 weeks hopefully you should have glorious coloured bromeliads in your home again.

Guzmania

Looking after a bromeliad

If you've never grown a Guzmania or Vriesea before then here are some cultural instructions on how to look after them.

In their native habitat which is in the tropical rain forests of South America and the southern states of the USA they are epiphytes clinging to the branches of trees or lodged in rock crevices collecting rainwater in their funnels.  While here in the northern hemisphere they are normally grown indoors in pots of compost or else mounted with wire onto wood and covered in sphagnum moss.

Bromeliad water funnel/vase

Their Features

• Bromeliads just like orchids will outlast a bunch of flowers any day - so are good value for money.
• They are resilient and very adaptable houseplants.
• They have health benefits as they give out oxygen during the day and absorb lots of nasty toxins around our homes during the night.

Light Levels

• They don't mind growing in shadier areas around the home but filtered light is best.

 Watering

• You keep their funnels/vases in the centre of the rosette of leaves filled with water during Spring, Summer and Autumn months while during the Winter you keep the funnel dry but add a little water around the compost so that it doesn't dry out completely.
• Change the water in the funnel every so often and when watering let the water spill over the vase so that it moistens the compost as well. Soft water or rain water is best.
• Don't water again until the top surface of the compost is dry to the touch as too much water around the roots will encourage root rot especially during the winter.

Temperature and Humidity

• They grow best at 55°F but can take shot periods less than this. They love to have their foliage misted especially if temperatures exceed 85°F as they love hot humid air rather than hot dry air. Misting is also beneficial during the winter months when its funnel/vase is kept dry.

Feeding

• They only require 1/4 or 1/3 strength of balanced fertilizer during Spring and Summer months added each month into the funnel/vase. They don't absorb nutrients from roots.
• Avoid high nitrogen feeds as they elongate the leaves.

   ............

Tell me who else has a love for bromeliads and how do you treat yours after flowering?

If you would like to read some more tips on inducing the flowering of Bromeliads you can read this post from AutumnBelle from My Nice Garden where she induced the flowering of a shop bought pineapple.

For more hot, loud and proud blooms this month please pop over to Noel at A plant fanatic in Hawaii.

Thank you for taking the time to visit today.

© 2010 on all text and photographs by Rosie at www.leavesnbloom.blogspot.com
First photo on this blog post taken from Curtis's Blotanical magazine 1848 - public domain 

"Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse." Romans 1:20

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Dot to dot with black

Black is today's colour over at Jen's Colour on Monday mini meme and as I was walking along the lade on Saturday I noticed some of the last blackberries left on the bushes but it was the little red ladybird that really caught my attention as I have not seen too many of these in my garden at all this season.

Then this morning we woke up to frost on the windows thank goodness we turned the central heating back on on Saturday night!   I was sure that I wouldn't get any more butterfly photos - but how wrong I was.......... there were Peacock and Great Whites in the garden on Sunday afternoon.  There are alot more shadows in the garden now so more difficult to photograph the wildlife without casting a shadow on them  but above is a photo of a Great White and you can see the speckles of black along with the black eye on his wing.


Now this week a friend sent me this video link which relates to the true story behind the black keys on the piano and negro spirituals so I thought it too would be appropriate to share today aswell on the meme.  Little did this friend realise that I am reading just now  "John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace" by Johnathan Aiken










Editing to add this video after reading about Mildred's dear cat called Magic playing all by himself during the night unlike this cat in the video.  These are black and white animated cartoons about Simon's Cat and they're a great fun set of videos to watch.  Bookmark the channel  if you don't have time to watch today.








Have a lovely week everyone,


Rosie

© 2010 Centre of Interest

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"Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse." Romans 1:20

Thats very admiral of you! For Macro Flowers Saturday

Vanessa atalanta/ Red Admiral

This Red Admiral butterfly had alluded my camera all season until last Saturday - I could see it nectaring on one of my many verbena bonariensis plants - so I ran for the camera and hoped that once I was outside it would still be there.  It was but not for too long!  I'm not sure how many more butterfly visits I'll witness in the garden this year as the weather is turning very autumnal here.




If you would like to see more macro's this weekend of all things autumnal you can visit Maia over at Macro Flowers Saturday #29.

Oops if you're here from Laura's  Blogging from Bolivia then you should be viewing this



© 2010 Centre of Interest

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"Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse." Romans 1:20

Wildflower Wednesday down by the lade

The wildflower blooms are very few during the autumn months down along the lade with just some white trumpet shaped blooms from the bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis) weaving their way through the hedgerows and the odd clump of white dead nettle flowers (Lamium album)  growing through the grasses.

Picture to the left of the old sluice gate mechanisms along the lade channels.

The Harvest From The Fields

Since our last Wildflower Wednesday visit the combine harvester has been out gathering in the wheat, bales of hay have been gathered in, while drills of potatoes still await their first glimpses of daylight. 

New Buds Appearing

A precious source of nectar and pollen in the form of yellowish green buds have appeared in the form of ivy (Hedera helix) flowers  which will be of great benefit to the remaining bees, butterflies and hover flies of the season once the flowers open.  

Autumnal Colours

horse chestnut leaves changing colour

The trees are getting into the autumnal mood with slight hues of orange, red and yellow when viewed from a distance.  Get closer to the leaves and the autumnal colours are much more dramatic.  

Conkers from the horse chestnut tree

The first of the spiny husks from the horse chestnut trees (Aesculus hippocastanum)  have fallen to the ground with just a few split open revealing their brown shiny conkers  (buckeyes to the readers from North America). 

A Mob Attack

There  has been some mobbing in the area witnessed by myself.  The attack took place about 10 feet above me when a mob of crows decided in flight to attack a buzzard that was encroaching on their territory.  I never realised that a crow would attack a bird of prey the size of a buzzard  but that buzzard hastily retreated making its distinctive cry to its nesting site after being nipped in the leg by one of the crows.

Berries Are A Plenty

Elderberries

The elderberries (Sambucus) gleam like little jewels hanging in clusters from pink stems. The branches of the dog rose (Rosa canina) are bending over with the weight of the orange red rose hips.

While there are still plenty of juicy blackberries (Rubus fruticosus) glistening in the hedgerows along with an abundance of hawthorn (Crataegus) berries.  

Ribes sanguineum

One garden escapee along the lade is a red flowering currant (Ribes sanguineum) which is now displaying its beautiful blue spotted currants.

Seed heads And Curiosities

thistle seed heads

There is the shake and rattle from the many seedheads that line the little paths along the lade and a plentiful supply of thistle seed awaits the many goldfinches.  

A Bedeguar gall

Finally some of the robins pincushions have changed colour to brown (you can read about those here).  Its amazing that inside each of these little matted hair-like spheres are chambers full of the larvae of gall wasps.

Thank you for taking the time to visit today. For more Wildflower Wednesday posts today you can visit Gail over at Clay and Limestone.

Related posts on Perth lade and its wildflowers throughout the year can be viewed here.

© 2010 on all text and photographs by Rosie at www.leavesnbloom.blogspot.com

"Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse." Romans 1:20

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Magenta Blotches for Macro Friday

A tiny Cyclamen hederifolium  in flower in my garden Sept 2010

These autumn flowering cyclamen hederifolium are few in number in my garden and are only a about 3 inches in height above soil level. Over the years instead of increasing in number they have been decreasing for some unknown reason and  I am blaming the squirrels!  The tiny little flowers each have magenta blotches at the base of their petals.

I've not been so good at adding new posts here this week so its got to be one post for all of these great macro memes this week.

Macro Monday
Happy Monday
NF Macro
and
Macro Friday (some of you might have been here already from Happy Monday)







© 2010 Centre of Interest

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"Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse." Romans 1:20

Fuzzy Wuzzy Caterpillar

Phragmatobia fuliginosa borealis

Is a caterpillar ticklish?
Well, it's my belief
That he giggles
As he wiggles
Across a hairy leaf! 

Monica Shannon

Its brown today over a Jen's  "Colour on Monday" and for today I'm sharing a photo of a Ruby Tiger moth larvae that was crawling along the footpath as I was taking one of my walks along the lade.  Its not a great photo as there was no way I was going to lie on the footpath to get an eye to lens view - cars were passing by and I'm sure if one of them had seen me lying on the footpath it would have raised a few concerns.

I used to love finding these fuzzy wuzzy ones when I was a child though I would never touch them - we had a nickname for them "Hairy Mary's" though when checking on google tonight that's a completely different type of caterpillar to this one. This little caterpillar will stay like this all winter only to emerge in spring as a reddish coloured moth though I've never seen one.





© 2010 Centre of Interest

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Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come.

2 Corinthians 5: 17

Beauty Berries

Callicarpa bodinieri var. giraldii 'Profusion'

The birds are patiently awaiting for these flowers in my garden to soon turn into beauty berries. This photo was taken in August 2010 of one of my Callicarpa bodinieri var. giraldii 'Profusion' 7 foot high shrubs. 


Soon berries that look like amethyst gem stones will array the branches in little clusters.  This is a native from North West China which is more cold tolerant than the C. americana seen throughout the USA.

Submitted this week to   
NF Macro
Macro Friday

and Macro Flowers Saturday

© 2010 Centre of Interest

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"Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse." Romans 1:20

No flowers need apply

Foliage takes centre stage in my garden during the autumn season. The flowers don't really get a look in unless its Garden bloggers bloom day as I now appreciate how valuable foliage colours are in the garden all year round.

Sunlight is the natural back lighting on the garden stage. That's when we get any and there hasn't been much of that in the past week.

Phormium "Jester"

The Phormium "Jester" which is my favourite of all the phormiums was new to the garden this spring as the last "Jester" succumbed to our harsh winter. OK I confess there are a few flowers in the picture but they accompany lovely green gold leaves from the Fuchsia magellanica "Mountain Gold".  I had emptied  the compost out of a summer container late last year right on top of this fuchsia  as I didn't want to waste the compost and it provided a 8 inch deep layer of mulch  that kept the fuchsia nice and cosy over the winter months. Just as well I did!

Heuchera's

Silver Scrolls, Caramel, Georgia Peach and Lime Ricky heucheras planted as a statement to detract from my husbands  Davis weather station that towers  6 feet above them.

Then there are the various coloured heucheras,  purple ajugas, white spotted pulmonarias, downy leafed sages, succulent sedums, woolly stachys, leathery bergenia leaves edged with red and the silver spikey leaves from the dianthus that carpet the floors of the borders with their interesting textures, shades and shapes.

Azalea luteum 

This is Azalea luteum which has the most amazing foliage during the Autumn.  I bought this plant last September as I loved its foliage colours. It was one of those impulse buys and it has yet to flower for me in the garden.

Rhus typhina " Tiger Eyes" 

I also have a Rhus typhina "Tiger Eyes" and at this time of year it has lovely coloured deeply dissected foliage. Now Rhus better known as Staghorn Sumac gets a bad press at times due to its aggressive suckers which can penetrate through tarmac.   I'll never forget listening one Sunday to Gardener's Question Time on BBC radio 4 and the late John Cushnie was telling a humorous story (as usual) about the worst case of rhus suckers he had ever come across when they were penetrating through the living room floor in someones house.  I hasten to add that mine is nowhere near the house and this variety doesn't sucker that much!

Euonymus alatus

Then there's my favourite Euonymus alatus which changes its leaf colour every single day during the autumn until finally the leaves drop to reveal its amazing corky bark. You can read more about this shrub here in a previous post.

Bronze Fennel

While just outside my kitchen window there's a large clump of  feathery tactile leaves on the 5 foot tall stems from the bronze fennel that sway in the slightest of breezes.

Foeniculum vulgare "Giant Bronze" / Bronze Fennel

Cercis canadensis "Forest Pansy"

Finally a new addition to my garden earlier this year  -  a young Cercis canadensis "Forest Pansy" which has deep burgundy heart shaped leaves which are starting to change colour to hues of orange and cinnamon and are the size of the palm of my hand.

photo taken in poor light conditions last night

 

What type of foliage is looking good in your garden just now?  

Thank you Pam for letting me share my favourite pieces of foliage in the garden this month with your readers for Foliage Follow up.

Related Post

Beauty without bloom

© 2010 on all text and photographs by Rosie at www.leavesnbloom.blogspot.com

"Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse." Romans 1:20

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GBBD September 2010 at leavesnbloom

September time is still quite a colourful month of the year in the leavesnbloom garden. There is no shortage of rain in this garden and many garden plants featured in last months Garden bloggers bloom day are still in flower ..........

• Like my red "Flowering carpet standard rose and now there's a 2nd flush of flowers from the peachy pink "Abraham Darby" climbling rose. 

• With the shrubs its perovskia, various coloured potentillas, hebe "Pixie" and spireas.  

• While with the herbaceous perennials and climbers it's oestospermum, various types of sedums, crocosmia, hardy gladioli, hardy geraniums, dianthus, clematis and rudbeckia. Along with sporadic blooms from the hemerocalis, prunella, diascia and pretty little violas. 

• Finally with herbs it's bronze fennel, catmint and chives that are still in flower along with Origanum vulgare aureum.
  

There would probably be even more in bloom if I was pro active in deadheading and had a little more sunshine! but whats in bloom is still keeping the wildlife happy.

I've put together a little slideshow of my favourite plants in the garden in September.

I'm still looking forward to the little autumn crocus blooming along with the colchiciums, asters and the firey foliage displays from the shrubs and trees. But for now its off to scarify the lawn, spike, possibly topdress it and then add some autumn fertilizer to prepare it for the winter though I don't want to focus on that word or season just yet!

For more GBBD posts from across the world please visit Carol over at May Dreams Gardens.

© 2010 on all text and photographs by Rosie at www.leavesnbloom.blogspot.com

"Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse." Romans 1:20

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Glamour Glads

The glamour glads or should I say hardy gladioli are out on display in my September garden in the form of Gladioli flevo "Bambino". Now I have to say at the outset that I am not the biggest of gladiola fans as I think that they are quite an old fashioned plant.  Who else has childhood memories of them dot planted in borders in a kaleidoscope of colours held upright with bamboo canes about 4 feet tall or worse still without any plant support, leaning over and eventually breaking. 

That's certainly not my idea of glamour in the garden but have you ever considered the smaller hardy ones for your autumn borders?

photo taken September 2010

Three years ago at Easter time I bought 3 packets of the corms as I thought that fresh blooms in the border around September time would be a very welcome addition to the border plus I have to admit that the picture on the packet attracted me as well along with the added feature of them being hardy.

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That same border had large shrubs growing there so I needed to have enough corms to make quite a statement and decided that 3 packets (60 corms) would make quite a substantial drift and have a greater impact in the border. I planted each packet at  2 week intervals so that the next year they wouldn't flower all at the same time. After they have been in the ground for a year you can't really manipulate when they will flower thereafter.

 Here are a few more of their attributes:

• They are compact and never need staking as they are about 60 inches tall. 
• They don't need lifted and stored over the winter time.
• They  definitely are fully hardy up here in Scotland as they survived our lowest temperature of -17.3 ° centigrade.
• They have lovely creamy yellow flowers with lilac markings. 

Whats looking glamourous in your garden in September?

© 2010 on all text and photographs by Rosie at www.leavesnbloom.blogspot.com

"Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse." Romans 1:20

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Preferences, desires and aspirations in nature

September 2010

There is a flower that bees prefer,
And butterflies desire;
To gain the purple democrat
The humming birds aspire.
Emily Dickinson

A little bombus bee visiting one of the many  6 ft stems from the Verbena bonariensis plants in the garden.  There is usually lots of activity around these plants as the hoverflies, butterflies and many types of bombus grace its nectar rich blooms.  Place your tripod near one of these plants and you're sure to get some great wildlife photos.




My submission for this weeks Macro Friday.






© 2010 Centre of Interest

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"Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse." Romans 1:20

Trichomonosis and Finches

There seems to be a disease in a few of our wild birds in my locality as one of them visited my garden yesterday.  It looks as if my little visitor has Trichomonosis which is a single cell parasite that lives in the birds throat.  The disease can affect birds right across the UK with finches and sparrows being very prone to it and its at this is the time of year that you will see affected birds flying into your garden.  

I suppose it really does show that when humans start to intervene in nature that there can be consequences - and sadly in this case its got to do with bird feeders and contamination.  The bird was a green finch and it was so much bigger than the others that were coming into the garden.  It was all puffed up - and looked as if it had wet feathers.  He seemed to be having problems feeding and at first was trying to eat a few morsels that had fallen on my patio furniture. It then went to my feeders and then went and drank from my bird bath.   I took a few photos of this unaware at this stage that the bird was really sick and that his saliva had just contaminated every feeder in the garden.  I've read some blogs where folk go out and chase these birds away from their feeders - but I can't patrol my bird feeders every hour of the day.

I sit beside the large patio windows each morning and it always brings such pleasure to watch the little birds feeding at the station.  I also grow lots of plants that produce berries for the birds and along with being an organic gardener  there are always plenty of caterpillars and worms about.  But even with that you can't stop a diseased bird from flying into your garden.


I'm still waiting to get some advice from the RSPB but for now I won't be feeding the birds for maybe a  month and all the feeders have been cleaned and the food disposed of. After 1 month if another sick one appears at the feeders I have to take the feeders away again.  Thankfully I've just seen that one bird yesterday  - but that one visit has meant that I have had to disinfect all the feeders and birdbath just to make sure that it won't infect any other birds.  There is no cure for this and the little bird will sadly die as the parasite closes their throats and they starve to death.


Now I know why the RSPB tell everyone to have good hygiene practices when feeding the wild birds and not to leave stale food in feeders and keep the feeders clean.  I don't normally place the same story on my 2 blogs but I think this message is vital to get across to the different readers I have at each blog.  Please be on the look out for sick birds at this time of the year in your locality and take immediate action if you think your birds are ill.


More useful information from the RSPB can be read here





© 2010 Centre of Interest

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"Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse." Romans 1:20

Trichomonosis, Green Finches and good hygiene

This is not a pleasant post today but it is one that has a vital message to all who regularly feed wild birds and the importance of good hygiene.  Today I had plenty of time to bird watch today in the garden due to the wet weather.  Finally the goldfinches started to queue at the niger feeder and I was quite excited watching all their antics.  

Then another bird arrived in the garden.  At first I thought that a little juvenile goldfinch had arrived in the garden as well but the one noticeable thing about this bird was its size - he was so big compared to the other birds but looked like a juvenile.  He was all puffed up and was trying unsuccessfully to eat some seed I had spilt on the patio furniture after refilling the feeders earlier.   He went to the bird bath to have a drink and then he tried to feed from the niger feeder.  I took some photos of him and this evening submitted them to the Wild about Britain forum for an ID as I couldn't figure out what type of bird it was.  

Well what a shock I got tonight - the poor little bird isn't a juvenile at all but a sick adult that possibly has Trichomonosis.  I filed a report with the RSBP and at midnight (its now 1.20 am as I type this) went out and turned my birdbath on its side as the sick birds like to stay near to a water source and took away all the bird feeders.  All the feed in those feeders will be destroyed and the feeders will be disinfected as my feeders and bird bath are now contaminated with that little birds saliva. I also brushed the paving around the bird station and collected any fallen seed from the feeders.

Even after 1 month I will still have to be on the look out once I put the feeders out again. If I notice another sick bird I'm supposed to take the feeders down again.  I cannot say for sure that this bird has the parasite - as that can only be determined by a post mortem but it certainly is showing signs of it. 

Trichomnosis is a single cell parasite that was first seen in the finch species in the summer of 2005. Previously it was only known to affect pigeons and doves but it jumped the species barrier in 2005.   The disease seems to peak at this time of year right across the UK with greenfinches, chaffinches and sparrows being most frequently affected.  The parasite lives in the birds throat and eventually it blocks the throat so that the bird cannot swallow food.

  Clinical signs of Trichomnosis

In addition to showing signs of general illness, for example lethargy and fluffed-up plumage,
affected birds may drool saliva, regurgitate food, have difficulty in swallowing or show laboured
breathing. Finches are frequently seen to have matted wet plumage around the face and beak. In
some cases, swelling of the neck may be visible from a distance. The disease may progress over
several days or even weeks, consequently affected birds are often emaciated.

My only concern is that now I am not feeding the birds - will they go to a feeder elsewhere that also could be contaminated?

So if any of my neighbours are reading this before I can get a chance to visit them could they please take similar action with their bird feeders aswell.

Has anyone had a similar experience in their garden?

Related articles
Press Release 2010
RSPB: Trichomonosis in finches and other garden birds

© 2010 on all text and photographs by Rosie at www.leavesnbloom.blogspot.com

"Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse." Romans 1:20

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A Berry Fruit Bounty for the Birds

Joy is a fruit of the Spirit that's always in season

No flowers this weekend but a little taster of berry macro photography instead.  This Cotoneaster horizontalis grows up the wall of my house.  It was covered earlier in the season with little nectar rich white flowers which the bees simply adored.  Now they have turned into these beautiful rich red coloured berries which are nestled in next to the leaves.  There must be thousands of berries on the climber just now.   Usually by the time winter is over some of the berries are still left of the leafless horizontal stems.  Last January was the exception -  every single berry was devoured by the birds........ but last winter was the coldest in 30 years for us here in Scotland.  I hope we don't get the same type of winter again!  

For more wonderful macros this weekend please visit  Maia.

For those of you visiting from Laura's  site - I never got posting last week as I've been working behind the scenes on making both of my blogs faster.  The photos on the screen from now on will have been optimized for the web so that they load faster.








© 2010 Centre of Interest

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"Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse." Romans 1:20

Orchid Sunset

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When two friends understand each other totally, the words are soft and strong like an orchid's perfume. 

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© 2010 Centre of Interest

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"Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse." Romans 1:20

Eye catching displays with foliage'n feathers

My eyes are drawn to one particular shrub in my garden just now.  Its an Euonymus  alatus commonly known as the Winged spindle bush or Burning bush and its a real eye catcher. Its leaves are just starting to turn to the most splendid of colours.

I never bought this deciduous shrub for its flowers but for its autumnal foliage colours and its ridges of corky bark that are great for giving winter interest in the garden.

The display in my garden today

winged corky stems

The colours of the leaves are turning from green to shrimp pink to red more intensely each day.

I don't think there is a single plant in my garden that can rival these autumnal colours at the moment.

But there might be a bird!

At breakfast time each morning I sit next to my patio door windows  watching the little sparrows, chaffinches, green finches, and the great tits merrily devouring the seed in my bird feeders. 

Earlier I had been outside filling up one of the feeders and noticed that there was a different bird song in the garden mingling with the others.  A bird flew near my boundary fence and the yellow bars on its wings caught my eye. I commented on these new occurrences once back in the house - but I don't think anyone was even listening to me.  

feeding on niger seed

Well I soon discovered who my new visitor to the garden was as I looked out the window a few minutes later. I exclaimed to all in the room that we had a goldfinch in the garden, quickly  grabbed my camera and starting taking photos through the glass panes hoping the sudden movement wouldn't disturb it.

My friend M. had kindly given me some of his niger seed during the holidays in July to see if I could entice the goldfinches into my garden as he had lots visiting his garden and I knew we had plenty in our locality. I bought a feeder, filled it up and waited for the goldfinches to arrive.  Well I waited and waited and after 7 weeks there was hardly a morsel of niger seed taken from the feeder.  The niger seed didn't seem to even interest the rest of the visiting birds as they could just take the odd morsel from the feeder as their beaks were not thin enough to use the feeder properly.

Posing for the camera

Well the word must have gone out across the birdie twitter network with a little tweet here and there and finally one of those little beauties has graced his/her presence in my garden.  I think he/she looks ever so eye catching and quite tropical looking with a red face along with the black and white markings on his/her head and yellow bands on the wings.   

European goldfinch:Carduelis carduelis

What eye catching displays are there in your garden these days?

© 2010 on all text and photographs by Rosie at www.leavesnbloom.blogspot.com

"Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse." Romans 1:20

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