Wildflowers & jam!

In an attempt to support local wildlife I planted a variety of wildflower seeds on the area taken up by the large filter bed for the fosse septic system which is situated in the field at the rear of the house. This filter area, covering 11metres x 6 metres and nearly one metre deep consists of layers of gravel, special sand and volcanic rock with waste water from the house and cottage entering at one side and clean water leaving at the other side on its way to the roadside ditch.

This is the filter under construction in 2007, Poppy appears to be checking the ground for bumps!

The flowers have just started to come out in the past few days and already the butterflys and bees are visiting

The ducklings that arrived several weeks ago are growing fast and taking full advantage of the duckpond although when I took the photo they appeared to be having a rest period.

This year has been a bumper year for all sorts of fruits so jam production has been in full swing for some time. This morning Maureen has been busy making gooseberry and raspberry along with more blackcurrant.