The Garden

August 2005
 
Once again, Mr S. with his very powerful camera and a tripod was able to capture some exciting pictures of visitors to his garden. We had both heard the 'tap-tap-tap' of the Green Woodpecker many times in his garden, but had never been able to spot him (her?). On a calm, sunny summer holiday day, the woodpecker made a visit to the garden. Luckily Mr S. already had his camera set up.
 

Sneaking Into The Garden

The Green Woodpecker is a very shy bird and will probably fly off as soon as it spots anyone. Here, it thought it was hopping around unnoticed. Little did it know that Mr S. was watching very carefully...
 

What's Over There Then?

The Green Woodpecker is a very nosey bird, and wants to know everything that's going on around it. If it spots something interesting, it would stop, turn its head and stare at it for a while before deciding what to do next.
 

What's Over Here Then?

The Green Woodpecker enjoyed spending time in the Garden and wandered around, exploring every nook and cranny.
 

Do I Look Good?

You could almost thin that the Woodpecker was posing for photographs at times. It would hop around, then stop still for a while (presumably to have a photo taken) and then hop on again.
 

What W Wonderful Garden

Even the Woodpecker had to stop and admire the Vegetable Garden, looking at all of the wonderful things we are growing there. He was no doubt having a good long chat with his friend, the Mini Garden Hippo, probably discussing that we need to weed and clean up the garden and the best way to pick our harvests.
 

I Can See You!

Mr S. said the Woodpecker did know that he was keeping an eye on him. They spent a long time looking at each other (again, the Woopecker was no doubt making sure that Mr S. took a photo of his best side). At times, neither of them moved, each waiting for the other to make the next move. It almost sounds like a wildlife version of chess.
 

I'm Back For My Dinner

The rabbit returned a few more times to catch up with the latest food offers going in the garden. Having eaten all of the Broccolli, it was wondering what to feast on next.

 

Buzz...Zip...?

Mr S. was looking around his garden on sunny day when a fast moving blur of wings zipped around the Buddleja bush. It took Mr S. quite a while to see it clearly as it never stayed still. He found out that it was a Hummingbird Moth feasting on the nectar from the flowers of the bush.
 

Slurp...Zip!

You can see that it beats its wings really fast to hover above the flowers whilst its tongue (its proboscis) slides down the the bottom of the flower (which is shaped like a trumpet with a long tube) and sucks out the sweet nectar at the bottom.
 

Butter-rest

Flying is such hard work on a hot day. It's no wonder that the Butterflies could often be seen having a quick rest before going on to collect more nectar for their meal.
 

Sound The Trumpets

A stunning new addition to Mr S.'s garden is this Brugmansia, loaned to him by Mrs R. It started off as a few stump in spring and has grown to hold this fantastic display of trumpets. All we need now is a brass band to play them...
 
Bring It On Moth

If Hummingbird Moths and Butterflies enjoy feeding from the small trumpets of the Buddleja bush, just think of the feast they could have with these flowers. Mind you, different insects like and dislike different flowers (just like we like and don't like different foods). I can't see any Butterflies near here.
 
Thank you to Mr S. for his kind permission to use his photos on the SonicMattC Website
 
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© Copyright M. J. Clark 2005