The leavesnbloom garden is full of Scottish wildlife activity at certain times of the year. Just outside my back door is a wild bees nest. They give me no trouble as long as I keep out of their flight path. It's lovely to hear their buzzing ... happy bees indeed! But in the surrounding Perthshire countryside there’s even more wildlife to catch a glimpse of.
Wee, sleekit, cowran, tim'rous beastie, O, what a panic's in thy breastie! ~ Robert Burns
- Here are the archive posts on leavesnbloom that cover Scottish wildlife sightings in my garden. You can click on the Scottish wildlife tag which will show you most posts relating to that topic.
- You can use the search bar at the top of the blog. Just type in particular keywords relating to your search.
- Or you can scroll down the links here and choose whichever blog post is appropriate.
Scottish Wildlife Awakes!
There is little wildlife in the garden from late autumn until the end of March. Nevertheless if we’ve some warm weather in early March we’ll see the Peacock butterflies that hibernated over the winter months. A well as some of the solitary bees. Late spring onwards is when all the action starts with our Scottish wildlife!
Hover flies adore Shirley poppies and flock to them in huge numbers! The air can be full of them so don’t inhale with your mouth open when you photograph them.
- Rich Nectar Flowers - my back garden can sometimes literally be a nectar bar.
I have a small wildlife pond and the most exciting occupants are the nymph large red damselflies. One year I managed to photograph them at the nymph stage. Similarly the stage where they are crawling out of the nymph skin. Then drying their wings before they flew off into the garden. In all honesty it was fascinating to watch.
- Pyrrhosoma nymphula Large Red Damselfly and its Gradual Metamorphosis
- Red Damselfly Pyrrhosoma nymphula
Great Scottish Outdoors
In the autumn time the Wild Salmon swim up our local river to spawn. The tourists go to Buchanty Spout to watch them leaping but us locals know where to go to get just as good a view.
I'm a Lady
- Ladybird survey
- Harlequin Ladybird
- Photographing ladybirds
- Ladybird winter diapause
- 7 spot ladybird winter Scotland
Lacewings are a rare sight in my garden too. For the past few years I've had a 'bug hotel' for them to hibernate in over the winter months. I wrote a very whimsical post about its installation a few years ago. Just imagine how the Scottish Tourist Board would convince a lacewing to hibernate in the garden!
Fleeting Visitors
When we first moved here the building site was full of wild flowers. Consequently we had lots of butterflies visiting the garden. Nowadays their numbers have dwindled. We usually only have the Large White, Small White, Meadow Brown, Painted Lady, Red Admiral, Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell, Small Copper and Orange Tip. Unfortunately visiting in very small numbers.
- Anthocharis cardamines butterfly - Orange Tips
- Squatters Rights - Blackbird Nesting Watch