The warm summer months were great for pollinating insects with Bumble bees (as seen above) and Hoverflies (seen below) making great use of the abundant nectar provided by this ligularia dentata which I had freshly acquired and planted on to the balcony that year

I’d also introduced this beautiful  Purple Angelica  for the first time to the balcony this year and was equally impressed by it’s ability to attract pollinating insects as I was by its magnificent crimson flowers. It’s glistening, nectar rich florets became a magnet for Bees, Hoverflies and, as can be seen in the photo, Common Wasps. Whilst Wasps are, understandably, unpopular with many people, they actually serve a very important role in the ecosystem: they are great pollinators and also feed on caterpillars, aphids and other common garden “pests”

My Dustbin Lid Meadow continued to evolve and change with Red Clover dominating the mini meadow over 2014’s summer months. The Clover helps to fertilise the meadow naturally, providing nitrogen to the soil through its roots.  The flowers are also a fantastic source of nectar for pollinating insects , such as this Small Skipper Butterfly which can be seen just centre right in the photo

Harlequin Ladybird seen here next to the larval case it’s emerged from. They are an introduced species and one which has reeked havoc on our own, smaller native species ladybirds. I didn’t see as many of them on the balcony this year but nationally they are still spreading rapidly and threatening to wipe out are native species ladybirds.   My newly acquired “Bug Hotel” quickly became a home for solitary wasps: If you look at the top right hand corner, you can see that a Inchuimid or potter wasp has sealed the opening with a plug of clay. It does this after capturing a caterpillar which it then deposits inside the cane and lays an egg on it. It then seals the opening with the clay and makes its departure. Once the egg eventually hatches, the emerging larvae has a “ready made” meal in the form of the poor caterpillar.  “Insect Hotels” or “Bug Houses” are an excellent habitat for bees, ladybirds, hoverfiles and countless other insects which use them for nesting and for hibernation. Most garden centres sell them ready made or they can be bought online. Alternatively,  it’s also very easy to build your own (using cut bamboo canes) and can be as simple or as elaborate as you wish. Here are a few great examples

 Robber Fly (aka the “assassin fly”) eating a parasitic wasp. This ruthlessly efficient predator hunts and eats a wide variety other insects.   Wikipedia says of it:

In general the family attacks a very wide range of prey, including other flies, beetles, butterflies and moths, various bees, ants, dragon and damselflies, ichneumon wasps, grasshoppers, and some spiders. They do so apparently irrespective of any repugnatorial chemicals the prey may have at its disposal.[5]

Many when attacked in turn do not hesitate to defend themselves with their proboscides and may deliver intensely painful bites if handled incautiously.

The antennae are short, 3-segmented, and sometimes bear a bristle-like structure called an arista. The fly attacks its prey by stabbing it with its short, strong proboscis injecting the victim with saliva containing neurotoxic and proteolytic enzymes which very rapidly paralyze the victim and soon digest the insides; the fly then sucks the liquefied material through the proboscis.

The life histories are poorly known. Larvae generally seem to live in soil, rotting wood, leaf mould and similar materials, some being predatory and others detrivorous.[5]

This Sailor Beetle (a member of the soldier beetle family) was seen for the very first time on my balcony in 2014. Whilst the adults are often found feeding on the nectar from umbelliferous flowers (such fennel, yarrow, sweet cicely and angelica) their larvae are known to hunt out snails and slugs….making them another gardeners “best friend”

I was also delighted to see , and for the very first time on the balcony, this exotic looking Ruby Tailed Wasp. It was found lurking around the “bug hotel” , undoubtedly waiting to lay its eggs in the cell of some unsuspecting solitary bee or wasp which had taken up residence in the “bug hotel”.  The Wildlife Trusts Website explains;

The glittering, metallic Ruby-tailed Wasp is one of many species of solitary bee and wasp that can be spotted in a number of habitats from walls to sandy quarries, rocky outcrops to tree trunks. These insects do not live in colonies like Honey Bees; instead the female builds a nest by herself, stocks it with pollen and lays an egg within each cell she has created. However, the adults of the Ruby-tailed Wasp are a little lazier: the females actually lay their eggs in the nests of other solitary bees and wasps, especially Mason Bees. When the eggs hatch, they eat the larvae of the Mason Bees and develop – this gives the Ruby-tailed Wasp its other name of ‘Cuckoo Wasp’

   This Great Pied Hoverfly (volucella pellucens) flew in from the balcony one evening and landed on my lampshade, apparently attracted by the light.  Like all hoverflys, they are completely harmless to us and only mimic the appearance of bees and wasps in order to deter predators from eating them

This delightful Small Skipper Butterfly , spotted for the first time on my balcony,  can be seen sipping nectar from the equally colourful Purple Toadflax. Although the Toadflax is somewhat invasive it really “earns its keep” on the balcony with its very long flowering period and copious supplies of nectar for bees and butterflies alike.

Of course, it wasn’t just insects which benefited from the Wildlife Garden Balcony in 2014. Blue Tits, Coal Tits and , as seen above,  Great Tits were regular visitors to my home made birdfeeder and whose images were captured on my Birdcam.  Unfortunately, as  you can see from the above photo, the Birdcam camera seems to have developed a fault with the date and time display and which has proven impossible to fix – unless of course, it really is 2019?  So, if the nice folks at Wingscapes (who make the Birdcam ) want to exploit the excellent promotional opportunities afforded by my blog site, then please feel free to send me a replacement Birdcam. And yes, this really is a shameless blag for a freebie

 In  the early part of 2014, researchers wanting  to film an episode about wildlife gardens for the BBC’s The Great British Garden Revival contacted me and asked if they could come and film my balcony! As the whole point of this blog is to encourage and inspire other people to create wildlife balcony gardens of their own, I obviously said YES!

So, in June a camera crew descended on my flat and filmed part of the episode which was eventually broadcast on BBC 2 on the 21st January  –  the following year. To see it,  just follow the iplayer link HERE. The balcony makes an appearance 27 mins and 30 secs into the episode. Following the broadcast , I had lots of enthusiastic twitter mentions from people feeling really inspired to create their own mini-wildlife gardens as well as hundreds of hits on this blog site.  What a great end to 2014 and a fantastic beginning to 2015 for the Wildlife Garden Balcony!

My Dustbin Lid Meadow really came into its own during 2013 with wild clover (seen above) proving itself to be an irresistible source of nectar to visiting bumblebees

I was really delighted to see this shield bug resting on a clover leaf which was growing on my Dustbin Lid Meadow. They take their name from their distinctive “shield shaped” bodies. It was  first time I’d ever seen one visiting my balcony and hopefully means there will be many more to make an appearance in the future.

This profusely self-seeding toadflax with its long flowering period (from spring to early autumn ) was constantly visited by bees foraging for nectar. The plant is such a prolific self-seeder that it’s gradually colonising the other Bucket Planters on my balcony. Nevertheless, its such a great source of nectar for bees (as well as a food plant for several moths) , I don’t have the heart to curtail its rapid expansion.

The warmer, drier weather this year helped to see an increase in the number of bumble bees visiting the balcony. No matter what sort of space you have, whether its a small balcony like mine or a tiny window box, its easy to attract these beautiful and threatened pollinators with the right combination of flowers. Click here and here to see my recommendations on what to plant in your tiny outdoor space.

This St Johns Wort flower growing in my my Dustbin Lid Meadow not only provided a source of nectar for visiting insects , it also became a source of food for several caterpillars, including this one.

Whilst providing a source of food for caterpillars, bumble bees also feasted on the St Johns Wort’s abundant supply of nectar

It’s not just  the daylight hours when wildlife can be seen visiting the balcony.  This moth was captured  taking nectar from Red Campion  growing in my Dustbin Lid Meadow . The campion releases its scent at night specifically in order to attract pollinating moths.

A blue tit enjoying the fat ball I’d put out for it. The birdcam continues to capture some great images of visiting birds. In fact, its been such a great device for recording visiting wildlife that I’m giving some thought to getting another one just to record those “feathered friends” who visit the  balcony’s birdbath.

Ichneumonid Wasp resting on a honeysuckle leaf. These wasps don’t have stings and are completely harmless to humans – and also help to keep down both aphids and caterpillars in the garden which their larvae feed upon.

A “daddy long legs”  or Harvestman discovered for the first time this year on my balcony and a great indicator of a burgeoning insect population which it needs to feed on.

Hoverflys were regular visitors to the balcony this year, attracted by umbelliferous flowers  including yarrow, angelica and fennel . Hoverflys  don’t sting and are completely harmless to people yet have the clever gimmick of disguising themselves as stinging wasps in order to deter potential predators such as birds. The Hoverflys’ larvae are also a great asset to the gardener as they feed, voraciously, on  aphids and is another very good reason why I never try to eradicate aphids using insecticides.

Spiders, such as this one seen feeding on an aphid, are a great indicator of the Wildlife Garden Balcony’s increasing biodiversity  – as more and more insects make their home here and provide food for arachnids and other predators.

In addition to providing a great source of food for visiting blue tits, my balcony’s home made bird-table also attracted their slightly larger cousins , the  great tits too. This pair, who were regular visitors, were captured on my Birdcam during March to May and no doubt found the peanuts helped to boost up their energy levels whilst they were busy rearing their young back at the nest.

 This Acanthus Spinosus or “Bears Breaches” had been planted a couple of years earlier and had never flowered until this year. After seeing the number of bumble bees it attracted, such as this one above,  it was well worth the wait.

This Buddleja Globosa or “orange ball” tree  originated from a small  cutting which I’d taken from another garden and introduced to the balcony earlier in the year. After witnessing the number of visiting bees hungry to feed on its abundant nectar, it turned out to be a very welcome introduction to the balcony.

This colourful beauty is the larvae of the equally colourful harlequin ladybird  and can be seen here feeding on aphids.
In addition to lending a fantastically unusual and architectural presence to the balcony, this Teasel  became a “nectar magnet” for bumble bees, hoverflys and butterflies alike. It’s seeds are also an important food source for goldfinches in the winter  – who’s conical beaks are  particularly adept at reaching the seeds usually inaccessible to other birds.

No sooner had I planted this verbena on the balcony, it was swamped by nectar hungry bees such as this one.

This Elecampane (also known as elfwort and horseheal) not only looked stunning with its large floppy leaves and big plates of ragged yellow flowers , it also attracted numerous pollinating insects, such as this small white butterfly.

After opening my curtains one morning,  I was really pleased to see this moth on my balcony window. Looking at this photo later on, I was far less pleased to realise that my window was long overdue a good clean!

No matter what sort of space you have, whether its a small balcony like mine or a tiny window box, its easy to attract all sorts of wildlife with the right combination of flowers, food plants and shelter. To get started click here and check out how I went about creating a “Wildlife Garden Balcony”….and see how you can easily do the same!

In my last post I was really pleased to report that my balcony birdcam had finally captured some images of  a visiting bird (a solitary great tit) following a “drought” of photos during the previous 8 months. Well, it seems that birds visiting my balcony are a little like buses; you wait around for one for ages and then 2 turn up at once. These two great tits have been daily visitors to my balcony bird feeder table since the beginning of March, often visiting twice a day, to feed on the peanuts, fat ball and mealworms which I’d put out for them.

To see a short video clip of them feeding, taken by the birdcam, click here

Hopefully, this pair might well take up residence in the bird box I’ve attached to the outside of my balcony.

It just goes to show that If you’ve got a tiny balcony its still entirely possible to attract birds to it as long as you put out the right food for them and remember to regularly replenish it,  and, of course,  dispose of any remaining food once it starts to go off.

For great advice and tips on attracting birds to your outdoor space, have a look at this RSPB page

This hungry great tit is helping itself to some dried meal worms which I’d put out earlier in the year. They will also eat peanuts and sunflower seeds.

As mentioned in my previous post, throughout April and May of 2012  my  bird cam recorded a fair few birds visiting the balcony feeder on an almost daily basis but didn’t record any visits from them whatsoever from June onwards. I assumed that their sudden absence tied in with their need for live food such as caterpillars and beetles ( instead of nuts) for their newly hatched chicks and so would make a welcome return to my feeder, once again, in the colder winter months when food was scarcer.   From October onwards I would eagerly check my bird cam, on a daily basis,  to see if it had snapped any visiting birds only to become increasingly disappointed that no photos had been taken whatsoever.  It was great then to come back from work the other evening and to discover that my bird cam,  for the first time since June last year, had actually captured 4 images.  I was even more delighted to see that the hungry visitor was a great tit – a bird which previously hadn’t been recorded visiting my balcony. Hopefully, it might well have noticed one of the bird boxes I’d attached to the outside of my balcony and decide to raise a family here in  the spring. Fingers crossed!  For more information about great tits, and to hear their songs and calls, check out this page

Great tits are renowned for their intelligence and for their agility on feeders, as can be seen on this bag of peanuts which is attached to my home made bird table

On a sadder note, great tits have become increasingly affected by a form of avian pox which is believed to have been introduced by european mosquitoes.It causes unsightly growths on the great tits body, which can then impede their ability to feed and makes them more obvious to potential predators.

This pox, which can’t  be caught by humans, can be fatal to great tits though research has also shown that individual birds can recover from it – which hopefully  means the bird population will eventually build up some degree of immunity to the disease. The most important thing we can do as gardeners is to ensure that we regularly clean out and disinfect our  bird feeders in order to minimize the chances of birds catching diseases from one another. For more information on cleaning feeders have a look at RSPB’s web page here

Vine Weevils loved the incessant wet weather, this year, which led to a population explosion on my balcony. The adults prefer damp soil into which to lay their eggs with the emerging grubs eating through the roots of many of my plants.

Vine Weevils certainly loved the incessantly wet weather this year and had a population explosion on my balcony. The adult beetles prefer damp soil into which to lay their eggs with the emerging grubs eating through the roots of many of my plants.

Whilst herbaceous plants can survive the adult beetles’ savage nibbling of their leaves ,  a number of my plants weren’t able to survive the voracious appetite of their grubs who eagerly munched their way through the plants entire root systems . Whilst weevils are often the bane of many  gardeners(especially those who garden in containers) the damage they have caused to a number of my plants raises some interesting  philosophical issues for me.

I introduced these lovely native cowslips to the balcony garden in the spring. Unfortunately, the weevils also thought they were lovely too. They did seem to survive the worst of their predations, however,  so hopefully will bloom again next spring .

The balcony’s main purpose, after all,  is to provide a wildlife habitat for a diverse range of plants and creatures.

The weevils were certainly able to make good use of the habitat I’d provided for them but their population boom also resulted in the severe stunting and/or death of a number of plants which could have provided much-needed nectar to hoverflies, bees and butterflies.

However, the vine weevil’s population explosion also provided a potential source of food for any visiting birds and predatory ground beetles. Equally, the weevils premature destruction of herbaceous flowering plants helped to deprive seed eating birds of a source of winter food on my balcony.  Whilst I want to ensure that I achieve as much  biodiversity as possible on the balcony , if the weevils were to succeed in wiping out most of my plants then that would almost certainly  undermine what I wanted to achieve.  Though I would  never resort to using insecticides on the wildlife garden balcony, I am giving some thought to using an organic option which would involve introducing the weevils natural predators in the form of microscopic nematode worms. Their introduction would at least help provide a more “natural” solution to reducing the weevils population and  help to promote a bio-diverse habitat for a wider range of creatures on the balcony .

This year’s  relentless rain  not only encouraged an  explosion in the weevil population but also  brought about a dramatic decline in the number of bees, butterflies and hoverflies visiting my garden, with the balcony  effectively becoming a microcosm of what appeared to be happening in the wider natural world.

Of course, 2012 wasn’t entirely just one long heavy shower (even if it seemed like it!). In March, spring appeared to have well and truly arrived with unseasonably high temperatures (sometimes reaching into the mid 20s) being recorded towards the end of the month.  The unusually warm weather at this time encouraged a population boom in aphids which in turn encouraged the arrival of their predators, ladybirds. After the end of the brief warm spell in March, however, I can’t recall seeing another ladybird on the balcony until September.

Can you see it ? During one of the rare sunny days this year, I managed to get a great shot of this caterpillar munching its way through my nasturtium plant (and flower!)  They disguise themselves to resemble the stalks of their host plants in order to avoid detection by predators such as birds. Amazing!

As expected, the warm weather didn’t last and as we entered April the temperatures plummeted and the bees and hoverfiies ,which had only just started to visit the balcony, became conspicuous by their absence.

Around the same time in April, I’d installed a motion activated “bird cam” on my balcony to try and capture images of birds visiting the bird feeder. I was very pleased with the results, particularity with so many great shots of the numerous  blue tits visiting the balcony.

Interestingly, throughout April and May the birdcam recorded blue tits visiting the balcony feeder on an almost daily basis but didn’t record any visits from them whatsoever from June onwards. I guess this would tie in with the adult tits having established nests by then and so requiring  live food in the form of grubs and insects for their chicks rather than peanuts or seeds from my feeder.

Although many of my plants were badly affected by the incessant rain and weevil epidemic this year, this verbena (which I’d purchased from bud garden centre in burnage) was a “star performer” and has been providing hard-pressed bees with nectar from June right until late October.

Other birds seen on my balcony have included Robins and Blackbirds (both seen feeding on the honeysuckle berries) Dunnocks , Collared Doves and Magpies. I’m sure there are other types of birds which visit too, and which I’ve yet to see or capture on my birdcam.  Hopefully, now that the winter is virtually upon us,  visits to the balcony’s feeder will begin again and allow the “bird cam” to reveal even more about our feathered visitors . I’ve also put out a nest box and a few rattan nesting pouches on the more secluded, outside areas of the balcony which hopefully will provide  nesting sites (if not winter shelter) to some of our feathered friends.   

The garden spider (araneus diadematus) took up residence on my balcony this year with at least 8 of them stringing up separate webs amongst my plants.

The soggy weather this year certainly doesn’t t seem to have curtailed the presence of spiders on my balcony, who seem to have had something of a population explosion here. Last year I was lucky if I  saw one or two spiders, usually lurking around the shadowy, more inaccessible areas of the balcony floor.  This year I’ve seen at least 8 different Garden Spiders (araneus diadematus) with their individual webs strung out between my plants .

The tiny jumping spider (pseudeuophrys lanigera) making good use of a (rare)sunny day to sunbathe on one of the balcony’s planter buckets

I also noticed, for the first time, the presence of the jumping spider (pseudeuophrys lanigera) which is renowned for hunting down and pouncing on its prey instead of weaving a web to ensnare its victims.

Out to Lunch! I think this spider may well have attempted to bite off far more than it could ever have possibly chewed. Fortunately for the bee, it managed to wriggle out of the web just before the spider got to it.

The increase in the number of spiders here is a  good indicator, I hope, that the balcony is becoming increasingly bio-diverse,  attracting sufficient numbers of other insect prey to sustain and increase  their presence.

I really hope that our next summer will be a warmer(and drier) one which would certainly help our essential pollinators start to make a recovery of sorts. Nationally (and globally) our bees are in massive decline and there is emerging evidence that this is related to insecticide use, which will be compounded by loss of suitable habitat.

As can be seen in the above photo, there is (or was) a very large area of wild urban greenery known locally as birley fields  which is situated just across the road from my balcony garden. This  “brownfield site” undoubtedly provided a refuge and breeding area for bumble bees, butterflies, hoverflies , birds and countless other creatures. Now that it’s just been dug up and large trees felled to make way for a massive university campus, it will be interesting to see what effect this has, in the future,  on  the sort of wildlife which currently visits my balcony.

In the meantime, I will press on with trying to  support our local urban nature with  the  “Wildlife  Garden Balcony” as a tiny, aerial refuge.  Finally,  my (very early) new year’s resolution is that I will update this blog on at least a monthly basis from now on. Promise!

click to enlarge image

BBC Nature says of earwigs:

” Earwigs are 8-18mm long.

A small smooth elongated brown insect with a pairof pincer-like appendages at the end of its abdomen. They have a pair of fan-like hindwings that are normally folded away behind the thorax and hidden under their short leathery forewings.

Males and females can be distinguished by their tail pincers, which are more curved in males than females.

They are found all over Europe but have been introduced to many other parts of the world.

Earwigs can be found in damp crevices in houses, gardens and woodland.

They feed on decaying plant and animal matter and other insects.

Earwigs rest during the day inside damp crevices such as under bark or in hollow plant stems. They are scavengers and emerge at night.

Their pincers can give a small nip to a human but they are normally used to scare away predators and to help them tuck their wings away.

The female lays eggs under stones and in crevices and will stay with her eggs guarding them. From time to time she will gently clean the eggs with her mouthparts to prevent fungal infection. She will continue guarding her young, which look like miniature versions of their parents, until they have grown large enough to fend for themselves.

Conservation status
They are not listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List.

click image to enlarge

The name earwig is derived from the old English ‘earwicga’ which means ‘ear beetle’. It was once commonly believed that earwigs would burrow into people’s ears at night and lay eggs in their brains. In fact the story still circulates as an urban myth. Earwigs are not parasitic and would rather lay their eggs under a stone. The human ear, though about the right size for an earwig, is not an ideal resting place. So if one were to crawl into someone’s ear it would not be typical behaviour but the actions of one very confused and lost earwig “

A dustbin lid meadow of course!

Wildflower Meadows are some of the best wildlife habitats we have , supporting countless bees, butterflies and many other insects, (not to mention mammals, reptiles and birds ) yet its estimated that we have lost over 95% of  our wildflower rich meadows  during the past 60 years or so. We rightly criticize the loss of ancient rainforests in far flung corners of the world yet we’ve somehow allowed our own vast “reservoirs of  biodiversity” to be virtually ploughed and poisoned out of existence by modern farming practices. Fortunately,  the last remaining remnants of our ancient meadows are now mostly protected and, in some instances, being extended, whilst new meadows are being created elsewhere. In our suburbs and towns, many ecologically aware gardeners have dug up their sterile , old lawns in order to create small meadows of their own. Others are simply allowing their existing lawns to grow a little longer and so enable the wildflowers( already in them) to rise up and blossom.

Whilst it wasn’t possible to reproduce large swathes of species rich grassland on my tiny little balcony (I wish!), I was certainly intrigued with the idea of creating a mixture of grass and nectar rich wildflowers which, at the very least, tried to capture something of the meadow’s colourful aesthetic as well as its ability to feed a range of invertebrates.

So, inspired by a redundant dustbin lid, ( leftover from a galvanised dustbin which I’d just converted into a planter), I set about creating a mini-meadow on my balcony.

The project was surprisingly straightforward and was achieved in a few simple steps:

Turning the lid upside down, I simply drilled a few small holes in to its centre, for drainage, which I then covered with a few bits of broken crockery to help prevent soil blocking up the newly drilled holes. I then sat the lid (still upside down of course) on top of a small galvanised metal plant-pot which I then sat on the balcony’s rail. Using strong galvanised wire, (obtainable  from most garden centres and DIY shops), I secured it to my balcony’s outer rail.  I then simply filled the lid with “peat free compost ” into which I’d mixed in some water retention granules (obtainable from most garden centres). Whilst I would usually add an organic fertiliser to my compost, in this instance I didn’t as meadows actually thrive on soil which has very poor fertility as this helps to prevent the grasses from out competing and smothering the wildflowers.  Once the compost was in place I sowed a mixture of colourful  cornfield annual seeds (for first year colour) as well as  some traditional perennial  wildflower seeds which I hoped would  establish themselves in the longer term.  I was very surprised  and delighted with the results!

Wildflower Meadow – in a dustbin lid!  During the  first summer after sowing , the cornfield annuals made a colourful instant splash and were a magnet for bees and hoverflies. The lovely blue annual cornflower can be seen in the foreground  with a vibrant red poppy in the background. These annuals would eventually be succeeded by the perennial meadow flowers which I’d also sowed at the same time.

Scentless Mayweed was another of the colourful annual wildflowers which helped to attract numerous pollinators, such as this hoverfly, to the “dustbin lid meadow”

As anticipated, the cornfield annuals  made a really colourful splash within a few months of being sown in to the dustbin lid. Blue cornflowers, crimson poppies ,yellow/white chamomiles, corn marigolds  and lanky, purple corncockles all vied for the attention of  foraging bees, hoverflies and beetles. These colourful annual wildflowers were once very common in our countryside, thanks to the age-old practice of  ploughing cornfields annually, but are now very scarce due to modern farming practices which includes the liberal use of weedkillers.

Mid Summer. After the colourful annual cornfield flowers had ceased flowering and started to die down, the perennial wildflowers which I’d also sown into the dustbin lid started to come through and flower. The lovely yellow flowers of birds-foot-trefoil can be seen here and positively hummed with an endless procession of visiting bees. The plant not only flowers over a long period but is also an important food plant for the caterpillars of the common blue butterfly

Even the leaves of the meadow’s corn marigolds provided food and shelter for microscopic “leaf miners” who’s tiny size allowed them to burrow in between the leave’s inner tissues – as can be seen here by their pale “track marks”.

Once the cornfield annuals had finished flowering and  had started to die down, it was possible to see the emerging perennial wildflowers which I’d also sown at the same time. These included birds-foot-trefoil(a magnet for bees) as well as white and red campion and self-heal which all helped the meadow to buzz with bees and helped to attract many other insects, too. Aphids certainly seemed to enjoy the meadow flowers’ sappy stems who’s subsequent population boom attracted predators in the form of ladybirds and hoverflies who’s larvae then preyed on the aphids.

A whole world in a dustbin lid! The meadow flowers not only provided nectar and pollen for pollinating insects but also attracted sap sucking aphids who’s presence then attracted predators, such as this ladybird larvae which can be seen hunting aphids on a birds-foot-trefoil flower

Although the dustbin lid meadow was created over 2 years ago, it’s still fascinating to see how it continues to develop and evolve over the seasons.

As expected, the cornfield annuals eventually stopped flowering as they need continually disturbed soil in order for their seeds to germinate. The perennial wildflowers, however, continued to thrive with  birds-foot-trefoil becoming the dominant species but with other species, like  ribwort plantain  , beginning to emerge and flower within the meadow, too.

Of course, as the dustbin lid meadow continues to develop and evolve I’ll be certain to blog about its ongoing progress and the amazing range of wildlife it continues  to attract and support.

A visiting Blue Tit checking out the peanuts and mealworms on offer at the balcony. After setting it up yesterday, this is the very first bird photo taken by my wingscapes birdcam! I’m very excited with the results so far and with its other possible uses in capturing other wildlife activity on the balcony, such as which birds are using the birdbath and using its time-lapse option to record chrysalis metamorphosing in to adult butterflies, etc. Exciting stuff!

An important goal for me when originally setting up the Wildlife Garden Balcony was to try and attract and support some of our numerous  feathered friends  and knew that if I wanted to succeed  it was important to provide the right conditions for them, namely: sources of food and water, shelter and potential nesting sites – all of which are now in place on the balcony.

I already knew that some birds were visiting my balcony garden on a fairly regular basis having glimpsed them on quite a few occasions  – usually when opening my blinds or passing though the  living room. I also suspected that the variety and numbers of visiting birds was probably much greater than I would ever  get to see given that they would almost certainly be visiting when I was still tucked up in bed or out at work.  So, determined to get a better idea of  which particular feathered friends were actually  making use of the balcony garden, I’d been giving some serious thought to buying a specialist,  weatherproof,  motion-activated camera which I could set up on the balcony to capture their images.  After a bit of research,   and checking out other people’s reviews on the net,  I decided to buy the Birdcam from the RSPB  online shop; thereby helping me to establish which birds were visiting the balcony AND supporting a very worthwhile conservation charity at the same time. Win – Win!   Once the birdcam arrived it was pretty straightforward setting it up with the only slightly fidly bit being in trying to attach it to the outside of my frenchdoors in order that it directly faced the birdfeeder. After checking out the camera the very next morning,  I was very impressed with the very first picture it grabbed (of a blue tit) which can be seen above.  This will be the first of many, many more birdcam photos to feature on the blog, I’m sure, and I’m really excited with the possibilities it has in recording other wildlife activity on the balcony, too.