Whatsthisthen?

[mickthemaverick]

A Polly?

[Gibbo2286]

Renault Captur hybrid?

[CitroJim]

Renault Captur hybrid?

Absolutely right Eric Robyn's new car... I like it - a lot

[CitroJim]

One for you Bobins...

On my run today I noticed this very dead-looking hedge. The house is empty and I wondered if it had been deliberately killed as a prelude to tiding up the frontage.

Then, a mile or so away, I spotted another example of this dead hedge bordering a house very much occupied with a cared-for garden...

What is it? Is it really dead or is it just resting? For the life of me I can't recall how these hedges looked during the winter... I should as both are fairly local and I run past them nearly every day...

[mickthemaverick]

Interesting to hear from bobins on this as we have had similar issues with some of our shrubs!!

[bobins]

From where I'm standing, that looks like a very severe case of Box Blight which affects Buxus species. Not a great deal you can do about it..... or rather - it's not really worth tackling it !
The extremes of weather - drought, flood, etc are causing numerous shrubs to suffer these days, on top of that the lack of prolonged cold / freezing weather in winter 'down south' here is also allowing pests and diseases to thrive as either they don't get knocked back so much during the winter or they can start causing trouble earlier in the year.
As an aside - shrubs that suffer limbs or sections dying off whilst the rest of the plant looks ok might be due to Honey fungus.

[mickthemaverick]

Are there any other signs of honey fungus bobins? We have apparently healthy plants in some ways but with dead branches sheared off. I wondered if it may have been fox damage as we have had a fox come into the garden by running over te garage roof then down via the bush. I'll post a pic in a moment.

[mickthemaverick]

As above

MTMO

MTMO

MTMO

[bobins]

Yes - more plants dying !

You might find a white fungus mat just under flaking bark near the base of the tree and if you poke around in the soil around affected shrubs you might also notice it. You might also smell a strong fungus smell in the soil.
Honey fungus is more associated with sudden death of limbs or sections of plants suddenly dying, rather than limbs being broken.
Not a great deal you can do about it apart from wait until it passes on as it radiates away into other gardens. There are shrubs that are more resistant to honey fungus - mainly because they can outgrow it !

[bobins]

Ah ! Good old 'brain surgery down the phone line' as I call it

"My plant's karked it - what's caused it? "

Choisyas are definitely prone to honey fungus, but it could have been frosted during the winter if you had a particularly could snap up there, it could also have become waterlogged over the wet autumn / winter, or it could have just got old. Choisyas are normally reliable.... apart from when they're not

[mickthemaverick]

At least I know the proper name now, thanks bobins. We just call it Sundance!! It lives above the waterfall and may have suffered over watering during a period when the pumped filter house just below it developed a leak, now repaired. Have to see how it goes.

[NewcastleFalcon]

Well there is staggering wildlife photography, product of patience and a long lens. Then there is the Falcon point and shoot, with a little bit of a built in zoom and some opportunist snaps.

Still I think this one is a pleasing enough image in its own right, and can provide subject matter for the thread without too much head scratching for the answer...

Whatsthisthen
Small

Bigger


Neil

[mickthemaverick]

A bird with a long beak on the end of a tree bough!! Possibly a woodpecker or a nightingale?

[NewcastleFalcon]

A bird with a long beak on the end of a tree bough!! Possibly a woodpecker or a nightingale?

If it was a Nightingale we wouldn't be able to move for twitchers flooding into Northumberland. A few years ago we were down near Lincoln, near to Whisby Nature Park, which was up to then was the furthest North known breeding site. The time we were there was when the Nightingales were in full song and being spotted, and I recorded what could well have been the song on a video with my "point and shoot" very close if it wasn't.





A much more common bird than the Nightingale, not a woodpecker, but has its own a distinctive voice and profile, and more colourful than the silhouette shows.

Neil

[mickthemaverick]

A Jay?