Well I suppose it would have to be the Petunia, the majority around campus are surfinia, liquid feed at half strength each time they are watered so they should flower for months cascading down, no need to dead head this type just enjoy.
Pond Action
Lots of activity around the pond over the last week or so with damselflies and dragonflies in abundance, here is a picture of a female common darter on one of the floating reed beds
Where have all the flowers gone?
It’s near the end of June now and we are still waiting for our supplier to install the summer bedding in the planters at the Eastern Gateway, there have been a number of problems with germination this year with selected varieties so later sowing had to be made. Time for another push on refurbishment/replacement on our dilapidated greenhouse maybe.
Pond
Plenty of activity around the pond at the moment look out for the dragonflies and Damselflies flying just above the water, here is a picture of an Azure Damselfly at rest.
plant of the month
To get the best flowering from Lavatera or tree mallow as its sometimes known is to cut it back hard in mid spring as it flowers on the new vigorous growth.
Bat walk/survey
Brunel Wildlife and Environmental Conservation Society took part over a couple of nights monitoring and listening to the Bats of Brunel, collecting data from the heterodyne detectors and recording the frequencies. This is the initial start to assess bat activity on campus at key locations and to see how healthy the population of bats are. More detailed studies are being planned where correct identification of species can be carried out and action plans put into place to protect these fascinating creatures .
Snow or is it?
Poplars shedding the seeds
Plant of the Month
Here is an evergreen plant that could feature twice, Pyracantha, a wildlife food store with bees loving the flowers and birds the berries later on in the year.The white flowers can have a scent that some find a bit overbearing and of course watch out for the thorns!
Wildlife
With all the recent activity around the John Crank and lecture Centre with the major excavation for the relocation of a data Centre and power cable in readiness for the demolition of the John Crank building ,it may seem odd for a female mallard to nest so close ,still she seems content with the choice.
Excavation work for cabling and data
quiet please
Mallard
Bird survey
Here something people may not be aware of and that is how diverse the campus is when it comes to the variety of bird life around them from robins to ring necked parakeets, grey heron in the pond to kingfisher along the river, mistle thrush nesting in the Trachycarpus to mallards nesting in the courtyard of Marie Jahoda . So keep you eyes open as you may be surprised on what you see, also later on in the year we intend to carry out part of the bird survey to help monitor what’s on site so if you feel like helping look out for more information later on and if you are a keen photographer how about taking a few pictures I am sure you can do better than the Administrators attempts!
Grey heron Little Egret Kingfisher