![]() Ground beetlesīy day, glossy black ground beetles hide under flowerpots or rocks. It’s a hardy, succulent-leaved plant that needs no soil. Starburst blooms among cracks in walls and concrete are biting stonecrop, which flowers between May and July and is loved by bees. Lays her yellow eggs shaped like tiny bowling skittles. They are drawn to the smell of brassica plants, on which the female ![]() ![]() Large white butterfliesįrom mid-April, female Large whites are fluttering around gardens. They will feed up, pair up, and only then begin collecting mud to build or repair their cup-shaped nests under the eaves. House martinĪpril brings fork-tailed house martins back to surburban skies. They beg for food from the male for a couple more weeks. Gawky young blackbirds fledge at 13–14 days old, before they can fly. Unless he dies, she only helps to feed the year’s final brood (often the third), produced when sun-baked lawns make it harder for one parent to find enough earthworms. Where is his mate? Blackbirds adopt a division of labour, so while the male cares for the juveniles, the female is incubating the next clutch. Watch an adult stuffing worms and insects into the youngsters’ bright yellow gapes and you’ll notice that it is always the male. It’s a tall order for any bird to keep its fledged young fed, but complicated domestic arrangements make it doubly so for this species. Garden wildlife to see in April Blackbirdīlackbirds may have two, three or even four hungry mouths to feed this month. It has a hover-and-dart flight as it feeds from primrose and other low-growing flowers. They hatch from eggs laid four to six weeks earlier, in a sheltered spot such as a compost heap or under loose soil.Ī disconcertingly long proboscis gives the dark-bordered bee-fly the look of an insect unicorn. Rising temperatures trigger the emergence of baby large black slugs. The females will soon hunt for birch and oak leaves on which to lay their eggs. One March moth to look for is the chestnut, which has distinctive round-edged wings and often visits sallow blossom. If it’s a mild month, they may start their full song: a tumbling jumble of notes with a final flourish. Male chaffinchesare now tuning up for spring, delivering ‘weet’ calls from prominent perches. Breeding occurs year-round, so the young can be seen in any month. Halfway between a man’s shout and a throaty cough, these have earned the species its other name: the barking deer. It hides for much of the day, lying up in thick undergrowth, but bucks give themselves away with courtship calls. This diminutive deer, about the size of a border collie, steals into gardens to browse blooms and shoots. An introduction from Asia, it has not only pattered on tiny feet as far north as Hadrian’s Wall, but has also developed a taste for suburbia. The muntjac deerhas been an adept, highly mobile coloniser ever since it first escaped from Bedfordshire country estates in the 1930s. In a growing number of gardens, the first flowers of spring are being nipped from the bud by a cloven-hoofed invader. Your plants may be supplied as 'plugs', slightly smaller than our usual tubestock but with a healthy root system ready for planting or potting on.Garden wildlife to see in March Muntjac deer YOUR PLANTS: These are tubestock plants with a healthy young root system and will establish quickly in your garden. HEIGHT & WIDTH: Up to 50 cm H x up to 60 cm W Feed in the growing seasons with slow release food for container plants. ![]() Very happy in rocky sandy soils and exposed locations.ĬARE: Water sparingly when the soil is dry to touch, and reduce watering in winter when temperatures drop. LOCATION: Plant in free-draining gritty soil in bright sunlight. Hardy and very drought tolerant once established. USE IN: Great for rockeries, pots and indoors in bright light. Happy plants produce bell flowers in orange shades, usually in spring. ladismithiensis 'Bear Paws' DESCRIPTION: Small succulent with fat round green fuzzy leaves, each with crenellations along the top edge that look like bear claws.
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