On Tue, 7 May 2013 17:58:43 +0100, Sacha wrote:



Hanging bird feeders from affected trees/shrubs does help. The birds
find the feeders but also find the unwanted pests.

Be careful if you have bullfinches! For some reason they migrate from
the feeders to the buds!

As my gardening activity is unfortunately limited at the moment, I'm
being more diligent in my bug-watch. OK, lily beetles at a gradually
increasing rate - I'm now at about 15-20 a day - but no sign of
green- or white-fly at all.

I find some smashed snail shells most mornings but no sign of
slug/snail damage yet. Hostas are all un-nibbled and delphiniums,
which are often gorged as they appear above ground, are sprouting
nicely, despite their emergence co-inciding with the few days I was
confined to my buttocks!

Thanks to my "new" camera, I've been able to satisfy myself that what
I thought might be early wasps, or maybe honey bees, are, in fact, an
abundance of hoverflies.

Can't wait to see my first ladybird of the year though I'm
half-expecting not to find any hedgehog evidence, having found two
dead ones earlier in the year. The sheltered leaf piles I left are
undisturbed and empty.

FWIW, badger has moved on since I built the great badger barrier. I
spread sand behind the fence to check for footprints and have only
found fox ones since about the 3rd day after. There were initial signs
that he was trying to get through the chain-link fencing and to dig
under the concrete but he seems to have given up. The lawn is
recovering nicely, apart from one area which I'm going to have to dig
up completely and re-lay rather than fill and patch.

--
Cheers, Jake
=======================================
Urgling from the East end of Swansea Bay where it's May
and I'm worried about minus zero temperaturess forecast