It has not been much of a summer so far, but the wild flowers that were sown last autumn on an ugly heap of clay have loved it. What was once an ugly scare is now covered in wild carrots, yarrow, ox eye daisies and knapweeds. The butterflies, bees and hoverflies love it, and so do I!
Not everything in the garden is as good though; the squirrels have been even more trouble than usual. Not only have they raided my strawberries and pinched all of the Worcester apples long before they are ripe, this year they have damaged our beech tree more than ever and have probably killed a 15 year old Scarlet Oak by ring barking it. At some time in June the rising sap is so sweet just beneath the bark that the squirrels pick it off and suck it before discarding it to the ground. Our lovely beech has lost branches because of this in the past and is no longer the shape it once was.The Scarlet Oak has lost all of its bark from the top 7 feet and if it does survive it will be terribly disfigured. I can put up with the rabbits, they are part of the food chain and without them there would be no buzzards, but squirrels have no predators and do no good at all. They have gone too far – this is WAR! Wendy Bathurst