The Food Chain

I have a list of gardening things to do over the next few days. I am way behind, there have been too many other things to think about.

So first thing, to Bents for compost bags - without those, I’m stuck.

Then in the afternoon, planting seed potatoes in containers. It’s a first for me, and I think I’ve left the seed potatoes far too long. They are well beyond chitting. So it may not go well, but here’s hoping.

My time in the garden was delayed by the arrival of the starling flock for the second afternoon running. I watched fascinated as they fed on the back lawn - a feast of leatherjackets. Judging by the birds heavy mouthfuls, we have a lot of leatherjackets, the larvae of craneflies/daddy long legs. The starlings were jumpy at times, and who can blame them. All the feasting ended abruptly with an explosion of birds into the air as a female Sparrowhawk careered into the garden, missing the birds and smashing into our small apple tree. It then flew up onto the top of our hedge surveying the scene and looking for the next ambush opportunity (extra). They are magnificent predators.