THE HUMAN PLAGUE

At last we hear that there are too many people on this planet. All the ecology problems are due to that and human greed - we need urgently to protect large areas of the natural world from human predation.  We need to reduce the world population drastically but there is no political will do do anything much.

Then, at home, it is all go with the fauna including there is the problem of moles and RATS. 

The mole lady has come out and set ten traps - we finally got fed up having more soil than grass on the lawns. And - the mole lady is a actually the daughter of RP who used to run the farm I grew up on on Torver for Dad. He still lives in Torver, gardens and is in his late 80s - titchy world.

 Meanwhile back on the shed roof we have a duck-in, a break from a ducking in the pond, perhaps waiting for the horses next door to be fed?

The pond itself is not looking too bad though muddy and churned after each duck visit.

We are still somewhat short of water despite rain and the pond is a bit low.

The lilac is in full flower and from below the new extension is looking good. 

There is almost nothing so alarming as treading on a hen pheasant but Mr Pheas just struts about squawking chunnering to himself.

Elsewhere the viburnums are getting going, the wild guelder rose and the horizontal flowers of Mariesii.

Knapweed is doing okay in virtually no soil and though we have the white hedge parsley around us I think I prefer this pink version - less aggressive and grows lower.

Going back to rats - should we have the great eco debacle and humanity snuffs it - are rats our natural successors. Their cars would be much smaller and less polluting, their buildings less destructive of the natural world - ??

To Mecanopsis cambrica the Welsh Poppy which sows itself freely, the yellow is the wild one abut we also have the orange and the hybridise a bit. Is that good or bad? 
Pick and boils stem ends for a minute to make them last in a vase.

And the wood is just getting going - campion and pignut en masse.

Off to Gresgarth Hall Gardens tomorrow - the home of Arabella Lennox-Boyd in search of some ideas.

Meanwhile back to trailer loads of manure and breaking up the concrete left by the builders. A new bed on its way but what to put in it?