Janet Smith was unable to talk to us about the Drovers as she was poorly. We send her our best wishes for a speedy
recovery and hope to hear her talk at a later date.
Our Treasurer, Hilary Reid, is a lady of many talents and she stepped swiftly into the breach. Her topic was Wildlife in
the Garden, and as Hilary is a great observer as well as gardener her stories of little critters were fascinating.
She began alphabetically with ants. She watches the 3 kinds so common in gardens - red, black and brown. They
communicate by touching antennae and leave minute pathways through the lawn. Bats come next and she has piperstrels
living in her roof. Bumble bees are well worth watching as they bounce and hum from flower to flower early in the year. The
solitary queens make tubes of leaves with a hard base where they deposit egg and food and then plug the top. Beeflies
are around now, distinguishable from true bees by their fly-like flight and single pair of wings. They take nectar
but don't disperse pollen. Cheats! Butterflies are abundant in Hilary's garden throughout the summer. The overwintering
peacocks came out in the warm April weather, but have disappeared now it's so cold again. Later she expects to see
orange tips and blues as well as admirals. As she has a pond damselflies and dragonflies are summer visitors when they
lay their eggs. Dragonfly larvae in particular are large and ferocious to smaller creatures, and they take about 3
years to grow to maturity. Then they climb the reeds, inflate their wings and fly away. She also has frogs. They
take four years to become adult. The males are most likely to hibernate at the bottom of ponds while females prefer
damp parts of the garden. Though not many people like flies, Hilary persuaded us to take a closer look at the careful way
they clean themselves, rubbing antennae, legs and wings.
A larger visitor was a thin young vixen. Hilary fed it dog food and was pleased to see it regain its strength. She
was not so pleased when two other foxes began to dig holes in her garden. After consultation with friends she tried
the old remedy - human urine - and the foxes went to dig elsewhere!
Hilary noticed many Harlequin ladybirds hibernating in confer centres and heather. This alien is spreading through
Britain rapidly and is a danger to our own species (we have 46). The Harlequin Ladybird Survey requests us to contact
them whenever we find them. Their website has details of their variations and the native ones that may be mistaken
for them. (harlequin-survey.org)
Mice, muntjac and rabbits all cause problems, but Hilary has a very relaxed attitude to the animals who share her plot. She
has even managed to solve the ravenous squirrel problem by surrounding her bird feed pole with a column of privet. She loves
watching little spiderlings hatch and the hunting spiders jump after their prey and told us an amusing story about the effects
of cannabis smokers (not Hilary, I hasten to add!) on web building spiders - they went dolally.
All in all a fascinating evening where we learned a great deal about our animal neighbours. When asked however she
managed to find time for her observations, Hilary responded that when she paused in her gardening for a cuppa she'd watch
the little critters.
Our next meeting is for members in Marie Crane's garden at East Carlton on June 8th at 7.30pm
Kentwell Hall. The Society's day out is on Wednesday 16th June, when we visit Kentwell Hall, Long
Melford. The cost is £19.50 which includes coach and entry to the moated Tudor Hall and the extensive grounds. There
are ponds and walled, sunken, rose and herb gardens, topiary and tree avenues, and a Tudor Rose maze. The Rare Breed Farm
has all the usual animals and also working Suffolk Punches. There's a picnic area or you can buy light refreshments
in the tea room. There'll be a meal on the way home.
Nonmembers welcome. For further details contact Mary (453417) or Hilary (451861)