Common water plants suitable for small garden ponds.

Deeper water.

Hornwort, Water-crowfoot, Spiked water-milfoil, Curled pondweed, Willowmoss. Try to avoid plants that will quickly take over like Canadian pondweed, New zealand stonecrop and azolla.

Floating leaved plants.

Fringed, Yellow and white water Lily's, Water soldier, Potamogeton.

Shallow/ Ledge plants.

Water forget me-nots, Water mint, Yellow flag iris, Water plantain, Branched bur reed and arrowhead.

Marsh/sedge plants.

Meadowsweet, Purple loosestrife, Lady`s smock, Gipsywort, Ragged-robin, Marsh marigold, Brooklime and rushes and sedges.

After you have planted some of these plants then you should then start to attract, Mayflies, Dragonflies, Damselflies, Pond skaters, Lesser water boatmen, Great diving beetles, Whirligig beetles, Common frogs, Frog-spawn, smooth newts, Eggs from newts(Newts individually wrap their eggs in water plant leaves), Aquatic snails and maybe even grass snakes.

Making room for wildlife.

In the past fifty years, the countryside has changed dramatically with the destruction of much of our ancient woodlands, meadows and wetlands. We can`t replace these losses but we can help wildlife in our gardens and also enjoy watching it at the same time. Individual gardens may be small but together they form a living landscape, Linking urban green spaces with nature reserves and our wider countryside. I want to try and encourage people to get out into their individual gardens and rethink what they are planting. Making our fifteen million gardens wildlife-friendly will help the plants and animals that make the UK so special, and ensure that they are there for future generations. Wildlife gardening is about creating places for animals and plants to thrive alongside people. This is something that i have tried to achieve at my wildlife garden that i have created at the chawson barn as previously spoken about in a previous blog. You can practise it on a large or small scale depending on the area you have to work with. Wildlife gardening brings life to your gardens. Small ponds and meadows are easy to create and quickly become focal points. Being wildlife-friendly also means using fewer chemicals, including ant powder and slug pellets. This will then save you money and also helping the environment. Together we can create bio-diversity, This is a big word but while i was out recruiting the other night i asked people that i spoke to if they new what it meant. Know one did but when i explained that all it mean`s is the number of different species living in anyone given area everyone understood.

Things to look for for in July.

A marbled white butterfly.

Bees are in their element during July, Look into brambles in any hedge row and you can see them going about their business. The buff-tailed bumble bee (bombus terrestris) is our largest bumble bee. Bumble bees have much thicker bodies than honey bees, they are hairier than honey bees as well. They pollinate flowers as they are foraging for food, They do this to make honey for the larva as they grow. The queen make her colony along the hedgerow during spring. She then lays her eggs in wax cells and eventually feeds the honey to her young. A honey bee will have up to 50,000 eggs in her colony whereas a bumble bee will have up to one hundred and fifty in their colony. Their are up to twenty eight species of bumble bees in Britain of which six are really struggling. July is a good month to see young birds of prey including common buzzards,kestrels and sparrowhawks. When you are walking through a wood or along a footpath look out for them in trees or sat on fence posts. They normally draw attention to themselves by constantly wailing for food from their parent birds. Young tawny owls can be seen in groups during the day in woodlands.

Hoverflies on a newly opened sunflower.

Pipistrelle bats can be seen at dusk, They have a very random flight and they are Europe's smallest bat. The pipistrelle bat is Britain's most commonest bat. Marbled white butterflies can be seen darting around long grass in meadows during July. They are black and white but are actually part of the brown family. The marbled white is unusual because she lays her eggs while flying(Ringlet butterflies also do this). The grasses they are hoping the egg will land on is either cocks-foot or sheep's fescue, When the caterpillar emerges they eat around the grasses, They then hibernate from autumn onwards and reemerge during February and form a chrysalis in June or July, Then emerging as a butterfly during July or august. Stone chats can be seen in the heathland calling out chat,chat whoeet which is their alarm call. The stone chat calls its name when it calls out, It sounds like flint stones being jarred together. Wheatears, whinchats, yellowhammers and skylarks may be seen in heathland or meadows during July. Sky larks have an amazing sustained song flight, The skylark will sing on the wing while hovering, It will also sing while rising from the ground or while returning to the ground. Its my favourite bird song, I have been lucky enough to watch skylarks on many occasions during the summer. Sky larks nest on the ground in short grass, Their chicks(The sky lark will have up to five) have evolved to grow short light green grass looking feathers on their heads, They do this for camouflage so they are protected at the mouth of the nest. Common blue damsleflies can be seen along slow flowing river beds during July, They have a very nervous looking weak flight because of their size. I have also seen them in my garden as well so you don`t have to go miles to enjoy wildlife. Knapweed,Field poppies, Lady's bedstaw, Yellow rattle and ox eye daisies can be seen moving in the wind in meadows in Worcestershire. Finally take a magnifying glass from your pack and go and find some long grass and have a look at what you can find.

Ways to help you look for snakes.

1, When looking for snakes(grass or adders) its crucial to make an early start, You must start looking no later than one and a half hours after sunrise. Late march through to early june is the best time to look for snakes.

2, It must be a sunny day, Snakes will not come out if it is raining.

3, Always walk with a gentle heel-toe movement.

4, Always keep an eye on where your shadow is falling.

5, Remember its not the noise you make that they can hear, Its the vibration through the ground that will affect the snake.

6, An adder will find a basking point, After she has found it,she will then flatten her body down so she can then maximise the amount of solar radiation she can absorb.

7, After a snake has sluffed its skin it stays in the vegetation, Look out for the sluffed skin as its a good field skill to show you that there are snakes in the area.

8, An adder is our only venomous reptile, But don`t be afraid of the adder. Be cautious when you are near them. Don`t go picking them up just respect them and you will be fine.

9, They won`t come out at you, They will try and disappear as they are not aggressive .

10, Remember to look in a habitat that might suit a snake, A heathland, A wood or low lying vegetation are good places to start.