Mindly.Social @root

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**All for Gardening** @afg@vive.im · 11h

Gardeners urged to leave grated cheese on bird tables https://www.allforgardening.com/1289321/gardeners-urged-to-leave-grated-cheese-on-bird-tables/ #BirdFeeding #garden #gardener #gardening #GratedCheese #pigeons #ROBINS #WildlifeGardening

**Sisyphus with a Hat** @louisffourie@c.im · Apr 28

Apr 28

Sisyphus with a Hat @louisffourie@c.im

A very lucky shot this afternoon! Two species that are often mistaken for each other - a male purple finch on the left - and a male house finch on the right.

The photo shows a tall, cylindrical feeder with sunflower seed. The background is a reddish wooden fence. Peeking out from the left is a finch with a pinkish-red head and breast. On the right is finch with a large red patch on its breast and a partially red head, mainly the top of the head and the chin. The rest is a pale brown colour.

#yxe #birds #gardenbirds

**elbowcrooker** @elbowcrooker@toot.wales · Apr 26

Apr 26

elbowcrooker @elbowcrooker@toot.wales

Today I did some 'pond dipping ': dragging a net through our tiny garden pond to see what's in there (as well as 100s of common frog tadpoles- see previous posts).
I fished out two newts and at first thought they were the usual smooth newts, also known as common newts, but it turns out they are palmate newts.
The 2 identifying features of this species are male has webbed rear feet and a spike on the end of his tail.
#amphibians #newts #gardenwildlife #gardens #wildlifegardening #ponds #pondlife

Male palmate newt, about 65 mm in length, showing webbed rear foot.

Palmate newt, male, showing the spike or filament on the end of his tail.

**Sisyphus with a Hat** @louisffourie@c.im · Apr 25

Apr 25

Sisyphus with a Hat @louisffourie@c.im

My daughter just spotted the first bumblebee of the season! The Hunt's bumblebee was exploring her garden, next to some flowering Siberian Squill.

Picture shows a Hunt's bumblebee, it's tell-tale rusty red abdomen just visible, among some straw. To left we see a leaf and the small flowers of a Siberian squill - mostly white, with a vertical blue grey line in the middle of each petal. The center is pale yellow.

#wildlifegardening #pollinators #bumblebees

**LionelB** @lionelb@expressional.social · Apr 17

Apr 17

LionelB @lionelb@expressional.social

More action in my raised bed meadow. This delicate short-lived perennial grass is Vernal Sweet Grass (Anthoxamthemum odoratum). Tasty for us and other creatures. If I am very lucky, butterflies will lay eggs on it.

Thin, fresh stalks of grass with a narrow flowering head angled away the stem

#grasses #wildlifegardening

**LionelB** @lionelb@expressional.social · Apr 13 *

Apr 13 *

LionelB @lionelb@expressional.social

An update from my raised bed flower meadow. The bird's foot trefoil is very comfortably established now. Good news for lots of different invertebrates.

Far from taking over, grass is barely evident and there is a lot of dry soil. When we get some rain it will no doubt green up quickly.

Slightly greyish green small leaves in clusters. New growth on perennial tufts of this pea relative

#wildlifegardening #WildflowerHour

**Jake Rayson** @natureworks@mas.to · Apr 8

Apr 8

Jake Rayson @natureworks@mas.to

Building a #wildlife #pond out of half a barrel surrounded by circular gabion using recycled slate. Testing barrel for waterproofness and within a day, there's a pond skater!

red timber in barrel of water, escape route for wildlife that falls in, reflection of sun and blue sky and contrail, shadow of the rim and a darned pond skater

#WildlifeGardening #gardening

**Sisyphus with a Hat** @louisffourie@c.im · Apr 8

Apr 8

Sisyphus with a Hat @louisffourie@c.im

The first Dark-eyed juncos of early spring stopped by today.

#birds ##wildlifegardening #junco #spring #yxe

A small bird sits on a wooden fence, facing the camera. It has a white breast, a dark grey head and wings, and a little pink beak.

**elbowcrooker** @elbowcrooker@toot.wales · Apr 4

Apr 4

elbowcrooker @elbowcrooker@toot.wales

Further to my recent post about frogspawn, I'm happy to report that it has all hatched out. Hundreds of juvenile tadpoles have wriggled free of the 'jelly' and can now be seen feeding on it. They have been joined by a pond snail which is also tucking into this nutritious substance. The red caterpillar-like things are catkins from the silver birch and poplar trees that overlook the pond.
#frogs #tadpoles #pond #pondlife #ponds #gardening #wildlifegardening

Hundreds of tiny tadpoles can be seen at the surface of the pond.
Due to natural predation only a small proportion of them will emerge weeks later as froglets.

**Joe Wynne** @joewynne · Mar 27

Mar 27

Joe Wynne @joewynne

What a beautiful bug! Check out those striped legs!

First time this species has been seen in my garden. It's common in North America, though.

Looks like it flew out of a Beetlejuice movie. I would have named it the stripy-leg bug, but someone named it Orange Assassin Bug. (Just because it has a fang to repeatedly stab other insects.)

I have probably increased the total amount of insects through my #gardening with native plants so that these predators will be more common.

An insect with black and white striped antennae, black and orange horizontally-striped legs, and a bright orange body, except on the outer edges of the abdomen which are black and orange-striped. Translucent wings overlap along the center of the back (abdomen). The insect is on an opaque surface.

#InsectThursday #BiodiversityGardening #Wildlifegardening

**Joe Wynne** @joewynne · Mar 18

Mar 18

Joe Wynne @joewynne

A Tiger Swallowtail has recently emerged at a time when there are few preferred #wildflowers for it to feed on. Luckily, a #NativePlants gardener planted Carolina Jessamine years ago and it already has cascades of yellow flowers.

So the gardener gets to enjoy the flowers and the #butterfly.

The neighbors, however, must treat traditional lawns with chemicals to kill weeds.

#BiodiversityGardening #WildlifeGardening #HabitatGardening

**Joe Wynne** @joewynne · Mar 11

Mar 11

Joe Wynne @joewynne

#Blueberries are awakening!

It's my first Spring with these shrubs. Very exciting. I wonder if the Mockingbird I caught eating them last summer remembers.

#Gardening ##NativePlants #WildlifeGardening #BiodiversityGardening

The end of a blueberry bush stem. Light brown stem with five buds, all have and red base, pale yellow section beyond the base and rose-colored sections emerging. Blurry green background in distance.

**Jake Rayson** @natureworks@mas.to · Mar 5

Mar 5

Jake Rayson @natureworks@mas.to

Latest photo of #HopeGarden, a #wildlife #ForestGarden. Needs some plants!

Drone photo of curvey garden with raised beds and plastic mulching

#GardenDesign #WildlifeGardening #Gardening

**Sisyphus with a Hat** @louisffourie@c.im · Feb 2

Feb 2

Sisyphus with a Hat @louisffourie@c.im

A small flock of white- winged crossbills descended on my spruce trees just now, gorging on spruce cones. A first for the garden (and me). The photo isn't the best, but here is one of the males. The windchill outside is -37°C.

A slightly fuzzy photo of a small bird (slightly larger than a house sparrow), with a bright red head and chest, and black wings with white stripes. It is sitting on a branch close to the trunk of a mature spruce.

#whitewingedcrossbill #yxe #winterbirds

**Sisyphus with a Hat** @louisffourie@c.im · Dec 20, 2024 *

Dec 20, 2024 *

Sisyphus with a Hat @louisffourie@c.im

A little while ago I looked outside and lo and behold, a Grey Partridge in my little city garden! For awhile it was digging and scratching and picking, apparently going after the native grasses I planted (and didn't mow in the fall) under the snow. Good wildlife gardening practices brings in the creatures! It is still there, having settled down for a siesta in the snow.

A grey bird with brown speckles, all puffed up, is sitting in the blinding white snow, against a small snowbank in which it had excavated a small hollow. It has orange cheeks and neck. The eyes are three quarters closed.

#greypartridge #wildlifegardening #winterbirds

**Earthandabove** @earthandabove@pixelfed.social · Dec 17, 2024

Dec 17, 2024

Earthandabove @earthandabove@pixelfed.social

Columbine
Akelei
Aquileria sp.

#bloomscrolling #tuesdayred #flowers #flowerphotography #florespondence #wildlifegardening #naturgarten #gardening #garden #garten

#garten

**Sisyphus with a Hat** @louisffourie@c.im · Nov 6, 2024

Nov 6, 2024

Sisyphus with a Hat @louisffourie@c.im

An American Robin from some weeks ago. They are all gone now.

An American Robin with its rusty red breast, grey wings, dark head and white eye stripes is sitting on a spruce branch, staring right at the camera.

#birds #wildlifegardening #americanrobin

**Sisyphus with a Hat** @louisffourie@c.im · Oct 27, 2024

Oct 27, 2024

Sisyphus with a Hat @louisffourie@c.im

@loren , I noticed some activity in the spruce trees earlier today. Grabbed my camera and discovered it was a Golden-crowned kinglet, a first for mee and for the garden. I guess they are passing through from their breeding grounds up north. All the other passerines have been gone for a while. The photo isn't the best, but it was cool!