PREDATOR MEETS MY ARM - CLEGGED!!

I have just been out a-mowing and have got clegged. At least I got the b*****. Great big weal on my right arm and boy does it itch.
(For those who do not know what a cleg is - it is another name for the horsefly.)

This is another one but does not bite as badly being a Liberal Democrat and Deputy Prime Minister of somewhere or other.


Other larger predators have been about in the garden notably a local cat - a headless bunny as evidence - and feathers that denote a sparrowhawk has caught a dove.

So here is - what? Oh! Yes, somewhere under there is the top settling pond - smothered in watercress, newt land - well where we introduced them though they will be off into undergrowth once they have spawned.

The tall bits are reed mace - you know the furry brown things. If that does not help put it into google and select images - it will look nothing like this but that is what it is.

 To the left we have yellow loosetrife - wild plant or garden escape - not sure. To the right primula vera a yellow candelabra type down by the pond, well both down there.

And both are spreading, the loosetrife by root runners and the other by seed - which reminds me to collect some to sow in the early spring and then plant out after the new pond is built.

And this is a clematis I put on a trellis at the back of the decked seating area by the Wendy House writing shed - what a colour.

And finally to one of my favourite plants - so tactile - feeling the hairy leaves one can understand why it is called lambs' lugs.

It loves its dry position in the bank bed below the house spreading out to make a big clump - and good ground cover suppressing weeds.

BANG!

Myself as predator has just caught another squiggle and it is growling at me from inside the cage.

Time for a trip out - and today of all days.

Happy Birthday to me! (One of too many).