Our dilapidated old glass-house has Ivy invading through the broken panes and stacks of old but 'perhaps- useful-oneday' plastic pots and containers stacked in the corners. Usually just slugs, snails and variously sized rodents occupy these inviting hidey-holes.
This spring a rather tacky old plastic hanging basket has been occupied by a Blackbird who now has three youngsters. For the last three weeks or so we have been working in shifts of about 15 mins maximum to be sure that the bird didn't abandon her clutch of eggs.
The youngsters have grown quickly and should leave the nest in a week or so - then we can get back to normal activity.
What lovely visitors; you were certainly correct in assuming the bric-a-brac in the glasshouse would be useful one day.
Ivy flowers (which only grow from unlobed rather than 5-pointed leaves) have an abundance of pollen quite late in the season, which might explain why the glasshouse sometimes serves as a pit-stop for bugs. And if blackbirds are conversant in the language of flowers, they might also have chosen to stop by because of the ivy, which welcomingly connotes 'friendship'.
Posted by: Pollen Nation | April 03, 2007 at 10:50 AM