I do hope it stops raining soon....

I can't believe that I've just written that but it has just been SO wet this last 2 weeks - we've had the odd dry day here, but the garden and woodland are just a soggy mess and it's making it really difficult to do much outside which if I'm honest has really been getting to me... I'm one of these people who just likes to have things a bit more organised before the end of the year - that way if bad weather arrives in the New Year I can take that time to properly chill out and relax! Looks as if I'm going to just have to make the most of this situation and focus on the beautiful autumn colours we have - I most enjoyed these during the one sunny day that we had on Monday this week.

There's still an amazing amount of things in flower for this time of year and still the odd bee and butterfly around too... these were the last sightings of butterflies I had this week before the storms arrived in yesterday - a beautiful Speckled Wood, a Red Admiral and a picture of a picture of a Clouded Yellow (not easy to photo as they never seem to keep still for a minute!).

Plants out in our garden include Borage, Verbena Bonariensis, Campanula not to forget copious amounts of Ivy which keeps flowering the longest and was recently mentioned in the BBC's Autumnwatch as a real must for a wildlife garden!

The weather despite being very wet has been surprisingly mild to date with only a few frosts in October and since then it's been well above freezing... I'm sure cold crispy and sunny mornings have to arrive soon....

During the last weekend of October I finally got around to putting up the new bird table I got for Christmas last year - I must admit it has been fabulous during this wet weather in particular - it's on a metal pole which is great for keeping cats away, it has a wooden surround to the table and a fine mesh table which keeps the bird food from getting like a mush in this weather as the rain water drains away immediately... it's available from C J Wildlife in case you're interested. As most fellow bloggers have reported there has been a speedy arrival of many of the birds that have been missing from the garden during the summer months - I counted 5 thrushes alone one day which was really exciting!

These were two of the first brave visitors to the new table - please forgive the rather dark pictures as it was infact raining!

It's worth taking a wander round your garden at this time of year to check out any gaps you have in planting or just looking to see what could best be added for the coming year... it's invaluable to provide plants which will give birds and other wildlife a good supply of food - Cotoneaster is a really good one for this time of year - some fabulous berries and then the blossom in the spring time is great for the bees! We've also had some late raspberries this year which I'm sure the birds have been tucking into as they have been slowly disappearing over the last while. The other very popular food source this year has been the dying heads of the sunflowers which I grew - the Greenfinches in particular have enjoyed these - the photo of this isn't great as it's taken from an upstairs window but at least gives you an idea....

By request I've attempted to photograph our hedgehog nest in the flower bed which has proved very difficult and not easy to see from the photo - but here it is... best to click on it to blow up the size a bit!

Finally are a couple of pictures of the back garden during a dry moment - looking over towards the woodland... Here's wishing you a lovely weekend ahead.