Dragons and Damsels……..

A week away from my garden means lots of catching up when I return. Not just in terms of maintenance, but also in terms of what is around. A week ago we had a new butterfly in the garden – dark green fritillary – feeding on the knapweed in the meadow. Today there is no sign of this beauty, but other species have appeared including some red admirals, painted ladies and small skippers. The big meadow is also a good place to find dragonflies, probably because there is a plentiful supply of food in terms of the insects there. The emperor dragonflies are still mating and laying, as are several species of damselfly. Our most numerous species is the azure damselfly with more than 60 counted on one sunny day. They mate and lay constantly in the shallow water on the pond edge – wonderful to see these beautiful, delicate creatures in abundance.

About wildlifegardening

Jenny Steel was a Plant Ecologist at Oxford University before becoming a writer. She has more than 20 years experience of writing about and teaching ecology, natural history and wildlife gardening. She is also a photographer, journalist and former plant nursery owner, and a lecturer and tutor in adult education. She has appeared on a variety of radio and television programmes including Gardener’s World with Alan Titchmarsh, and she presented a series of items on the BBC 2 gardening show, How Does Your Garden Grow. She has worked with and written for a variety of organisations including the Royal Horticultural Society, Natural England, Atropos, Ernest Charles, the Adult Residential Colleges Association (ARCA), Haiths, Usborne Books, Complete Gardens, Oxfordshire County Council, the charity Growing Native and several of the Wildlife Trusts. She is also the Garden Bird Guru for the wild bird food company JustAddBirds of which she was a co-founder. The Emmy Award winning film company Panache Productions are currently making a film about her wildlife garden in South Shropshire. She has written 10 books on wildlife gardening. Her website can be found at www.wildlife-gardening.co.uk and her bird food company at www.JustAddBirds.co.uk

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