Well, another interesting year in the Garden comes to a close. We started 2023 with 524 species on the overall species list. As of 31st December 2023 this figure now sits at 582. The number itself isn’t important, it’s the diversity it represents and we certainly recorded some amazing new species this year, as always dominated by the terrestrial invertebrates, like this little lot below…
Like most people, we have our favourite animals and it was in July that one we’d been wanting to see in the Garden finally made an appearance. The Ruby-tailed Wasp.
In 2023 we’ve seen hairy snails, rare spiders, a sparrow hawk and lots more besides. We managed to photograph or video many of these new species. Perhaps our most fortunate video of all was of the Hummingbird Hawk Moth…
Amazing as all these animals are, the true highlight for us was seeing the success of the wildflower areas. If we could recommend just two features a wildlife garden should have, it would be a pond (or three) and a meadow area. And of all the meadow flowers the oxeye daisy was by far the most prolific in terms of growth and attracting pollinators. It grows very well in pots we discovered for ourselves, so if you only have a limited amount of space then oxeye could be a good choice for you.
We do have a few new species to record for December 2023. The Sparrow Hawk and the Common Chrysalis Snail, as both already mentioned recently in our blog. Plus these little guys…
The springtail is the 9th species of springtail we have added to our list. We have no reasons to doubt that all 9 are permanent residents and we know there are more to identify.
The “Rotifer” represents a whole new phyla of animals for our Garden and likely a source of new discoveries as we learn more about these tiny organisms. We are putting together a page for this phyla and will continue to build it up as we find the time, click HERE.
Looking forward to 2024, work should hopefully be finished on the new pond, once the weather dries up a little. We are opting this time around for a gravel substrate rather than having the water in direct contact with surrounding soil. The idea being to keep the water nutrient levels as low as possible. Whether it will be attractive to amphibians by March is another matter, but fingers crossed.
As we write this on new years day 2024 a quick look in the garden may have already provided two more species to the list which we will post as we identify them. Possibly another good start to what we hope will be another great year in the Garden.
DC: 01/01/2024
Wildlife Garden 