© 2000 - 2021 Langham Village History Group - Langham in Rutland
Notes from a Field & Garden -
October 2020
Once
again
the
weather
has
been
a
series
of
contrasts.
July
seemed
quite
normal,
the
rainfall
was
about
average,
spread
over
the
month
and
temperatures
were
also
about
average.
Then
at
the
end
of
the
month
we
had
some
very
hot
days.
August
was
a
month
of
two
halves,
warm
and
dry
for
the
first
half,
then
cool
and
double
the
average
rainfall
in
the
second
half.
No
wonder
the
garden
plants don't seem to know where they are.
One
thing
that
does
not
seem
have
been
affected
by
the
weather
is
the
number
of
insects
and
spiders
in
the
field.
Every
day
birds
are
busy
working
their
way
around
the
field
pecking
away
at
anything
that
moves.
There
must
be
thousands
of
tiny
creatures
that
are
constantly
being
replaced.
The
most
common
visitors
are
the
jackdaws
and
it
is
not
uncommon
to
see
flocks
of
twenty
or
more
all
very
busy.
One
day
I
surprised
to
see
two
white
birds
in
the
middle
of
the
flock.
At
first
I
thought
they
might
be
albino
jackdaws
as
they
were
quite
happy
within
the
flock
but
they
turned
out
to
be
a
pair
if
white
doves!
So
far
this
has
been
their
only
appearance.
The
pair
of
crows
are
always
around
but
they
seem
to
have
failed
to
breed
this
year
as
I
have
seen
no
youngsters.
The
rooks
are
rarer
visitors
but
one
day
in
July
there
were
fifteen
of
them,
both
parents
and
their
young.
I
haven't
seen
any
rooks
since.
A
few
pigeons
and
magpies
are
always
around.
A
green
woodpecker
can
often
be
seen
searching
ants
nests
for
its
favourite
food.
Overhead
buzzards
and
kites
are
frequent
visitors.
The
tawny
owls
are
still
in
the
trees
at
the
back
of
the
house.
The
female
continues
to
call
with
her
familiar
Ke-wick
but
the
male
has
started
to
answer
with
a
long
rippling
Hooooo
rather
than
his
usual
Ho-Hoo.
I
was
pleased
to
see
a
young
thrush
in
the
garden
being
fed
by
its
parent.
The
adult
bird
was
busy
hammering
a
snail
on
a
convenient
stone
to
remove
the
shell
before
feeding
it
to
the
youngster.
Sadly
there
have
been
no
swallows
nesting
in
the
barn
this
year.
Other
sightings
have
been
bullfinches
feeding
on
honeysuckle
berries,
little
egret
and
heron.
Best
of all a pair of kingfishers were seen flying along the brook.
The
buddleia
bushes
are
almost
finished
flowering,
but
as
usual
they
have
been
a
magnet
for
butterflies.
Incidentally
I
have
just
found
out
why
buddleia
is
sometimes
written
with
a
j
instead
of
the
i.
Apparently
when
Linnaeus
named
the
plant
the
i
was
given
a
long
tail
and
others
mis-
recorded
it
as
a
j.
By
convention
the
latin
name
uses
the
j
as
in
Buddleja
davidii
while
the
common
name
uses
the
correct
buddleia.
The
most
common
butterflies
were
the
usual
whites
along
with
large
numbers
of
tortoiseshells.
Fewer
in
number
were
peacocks,
red
admirals,
meadow
browns,
a
few
painted
ladies
and
a
single
ringlet.
There
were
plenty
of
speckled
woods
in
Munday's
Close.
The
buddleias
also
attracted
large
numbers
of
bumble
bees
although
they
seem
to
prefer
the
orange
flowered
one.
I
was
sitting
outside
early
one
evening,
everything
was
still
and
so
quiet
I
became
aware
of
a
rasping
sound.
I
tracked
it
down
to
some
wood
a
few
feet
away
and
found
a
wasp
busily
collecting
wood
fibres.
Amazing
that
it
sounded
quite
so
loud.
This
was
not
the
only
contact
with
wasps.
I
was
sitting
in
the
study
and
kept
hearing
a
rustling
noise
similar
to
an
insect
caught
in
a
lampshade.
I
couldn't
find
anything
but
I
kept
hearing
it.
Eventually
I
found
that
it
seemed
to
be
coming
from
the
ceiling.
Obviously
not
mice
or
squirrels
at
it
remained
in
one
place.
Could
it
be
a
sparrow's
nest?
I
went
outside
with
the
binoculars
to
look
at
the
spot
where
they
could
get
in
and
soon
spotted
the
problem.
Dozens
of
wasps
were
flying
in
and
out.
Noisy
little
things are these wasps.
In
the
garden
some
plants
have
relished
the
weather
conditions,
others
have
not.
The
biggest
disappointment
has
been
the
cannas.
They
started
off
really
well
but,
despite
watering,
the
dry
spell
didn't
suit
them.
They
hardly
grew
at
all
and
still
show
no
sign
of
flowering.
On
the
other
hand
the
sunflowers
loved
it
and
rocketed
up.
An
old
clematis
gave
up
the
ghost
and
left
me
with
a
vacant
panel
of
trellis.
Looking
for
something
to
cover
it
rapidly
and
flower
late
into
the
year
I
decided
to
try
Cobaea
scandens,
the
cup
and
saucer
vine.
Although
a
little
late
to
sow
the
seeds
they
geminated
rapidly
and
were
soon
ready
to
plant
out.
I
planted
two
young
plants
by
the
trellis
and
after
a
short
while
they
started
to
grow
rapidly
and
soon
reached
the
top
of
the
trellis.
I
had
chosen
the
white
variety
Cobaea
scandens
alba
and
the
first
flowers
have
now
appeared.
The
flowers
are
large
and
bell
shaped
and
quite
impressive.
I
am
going
to
grow
it
again
next
year.
Normally
it
is
treated
as
an
annual
and
grown
from
seed
each
year
but
it
is
actually
a
perennial
so
I
will leave the plants over winter to see if they survive.
I am always interested in other people’s sightings and comments so don’t forget to
email me
.
Langham & Barleythorpe WI