Invasion

We've been invaded by foxgloves, some 6 feet tall, taking us completely by surprise yesterday evening. Mixed in with these are 5 foot bracken and hundreds of ragwort, their heads about to burst into yellow. Why the invasion, we've no idea. Although quite spectacular, I feel hemmed in, claustrophic. Our bird feeders are dwarfed. White-tailed bees are busy in the foxglove and the bank is alive with humming. I wanted to cut down some of the foxglove and the ragwort. It's made outside look overgrown and uncared for. But after learning that the ragwort can host up to 40 different varieties of wildlife, I decided to leave it as it is. It is ironic that in Spring I planted 1000 wild flower seeds and none have taken. But my wildflowers are there on the bank, ragwort, bramble, honeysuckle and foxglove. No need for seeds...

Taking a walk down to our pond, we came across a 'Beautiful Demoiselle'. It was very exciting as it means he found enough food from the pond area. Also present were 3 'Meadow Brown' butterflies. Skaters, boatmen and flies on the pond. We planted some foxglove there.

We came across another surprise, a rock-rose, Cistus Laxus 'Snow white'. A native of the Mediterranean, how did it find itself in our wood?