BS: Seasonal garden sounds

Subject: BS: Seasonal garden sounds
From: Shanghaiceltic
Date: 23 Aug 05 - 01:02 AM

We have had a long hot summer here avg 35 C for nearly two months. As a result the cicadas bred like, well, cicadas. During the early morning I could here them starting to rev up as the sun rose. A sort of coughy splutter until they got warmed up, bit like a wee two stroke engine on watery fuel.

As late spring went into summer they bred and would make slightly more noise each day.

From one tree to the next they would start their buzzing, at times during the hottest part of the day it was deafening as there were thousands of them in the trees around where I live. Big sods they are too, but hard to see as they are dun coloured and well comoflaged.

Over the last two weeks the cicadas have gone quiet, now in the evenings I can hear the crickets chirruping in the garden and around the estate. A nice gentle noise and one that tell me for sure cooler weather is on the way.

Cricket markets have sprung up around town. Villagers from Zhejiang province apparently sell the best crickets. You can buy a cricket in a small bamboo basket for any thing from $1.20 to $5. The noise around the cricket markets is loud as the cricket vendors have an average of 500 or so little baskets to sell, all with a chirruping insect inside. Me, I prefer mine to be free in the garden so I dont buy. Some of these are fighting crickets, the vision of a cricket in martial arts garb or boxing gloves makes me smile. The Chinese like to bet on their fighting crickets. happily I dont think they are fighting in our garden, just looking for mates.

We will have the crickets in the garden until late October when the temperature gets to cool for them and they die off for the winter. Then the garden will be quiet again excpet for the birds.

So whats happening in your areas to tell you the season is about to change?

Subject: RE: BS: Seasonal garden sounds
From: open mike
Date: 23 Aug 05 - 02:01 AM

well, the sound i hear recently (besides the buzzing of bees and the humming of humming birds) was a little spooky--i heard a tiny squeak
and realized it was coming form a tiny brown bat clinging to the bark
of a pine tree in bright day light. Some rabid bats have been found around here...one even has bitten a neighbor, so this was very suspicious to see one acting so strange. It was sort of barking at me, it seemed. not my idea of a sound i like to hear near my garden!
There is one little squirrel, a chickaree, smaller than the grey
squirrels more commonly seen around here, who likes to scold my cats. He is loud and he (i guess it is a he--seems like some territorial thing)
shouts from the tree tops . I wouldn't be surprised if the cats have
either threatened or eaten some of his family members. he is probably justified in his scolding.
we have some camel-back crickets around here that are brown and have a
disc shaped "saddle" on thier backs. they sing the loudest. We have black ones too--sometimes these are used as fishing bait, i think.

Subject: RE: BS: Seasonal garden sounds
From: Kaleea
Date: 23 Aug 05 - 04:05 AM

Jeepers, Sganghai! Reading your sounds post brought back memories of this time of year when I was in South Korea 30some years ago. It was hot hot hot!! The air was filled with the pungent aroma of kimchee, diesel city busses & the outhou- er, well, the benjo, a out-not-exactly-house-ditch-thingie! I lived in a hospital compound across the road from the 2nd largest market in the country. And ah, August at the fish section of the marketplace in DaeGu. It took months before I could stomach the smell enough to actually go into that portion of the marketplace! Despite the fact that the shops & booths were closed, there could be quite a lively nightlife at the marketplace, not to mention the haunting "ghostmarket" a few blocks away. My little "garden" was barely a bit of grass-where it would grow, a few odd flowers, a couple of little trees, the clothesline, and about a thousand buzzing insects per square inch in the air. And in the evenings, crickets! The hotter the temp, the faster & louder they chirpchirpchirp rubbing those back legs together. And some loud frogs croaked about doing some serious bug hunting. The dog I bought "on the hoof"-uh, er, paw-at the deli (for real) to bark at the slicky boys NEVER barked, except once when I gave him some leftover pepperoni pizza. The most incredibly beautiful birds were there every day. I certainly never saw the like growing up in Oklahoma, but the crickets were just as loud.

Subject: RE: BS: Seasonal garden sounds
From: Gervase
Date: 23 Aug 05 - 06:35 AM

Here in west Wales the Canada geese started coming over in big skeins yesterday - a sure sign that autumn's on the way. The swallows are flocking in huge numbers over the yard of an evening and twittering like a girls' school outing, so they'll be off soon, and this season's lambs are being weaned so they're bleating out for the ewes, which are drying off in a neighbouring pasture.

Subject: RE: BS: Seasonal garden sounds
From: Mary in Kentucky
Date: 23 Aug 05 - 06:51 AM

The 17-year-cicadas are very loud this year. (It must be the 17th year) ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Seasonal garden sounds
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 23 Aug 05 - 07:06 AM

It's been around 70 F/20 C here for awhile in the daytime and getting cooler at night. I've heard crickets, other buzzing insects, a lone tree frog late at night. The usual chickadees, finches, bluejays, robins. Early this morning I heard a loon flying overhead, giving its territorial call, not at all the mystical call but more "loony".

Haven't yet heard the gees, but I see them gathering on the bog, telling each other of hte sunny south.

And I start back at school tomorrow!

Subject: RE: BS: Seasonal garden sounds
From: GUEST,UK gardener
Date: 23 Aug 05 - 07:22 AM

Oh how I envy all your exotic sounds! Here it is mainly the hum of a nearby lawn mower. And the magpies that seem to be taking over the area, manically laughing from the treetops.

Subject: RE: BS: Seasonal garden sounds
From: Essex Girl
Date: 23 Aug 05 - 09:28 AM

Apart from magpies & woodpigeons the noisiest birds around my garden are the parakeets, which have multiplied 10 fold in the past 2/3 years.They fly over in large flocks several times a day.

Subject: RE: BS: Seasonal garden sounds
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 23 Aug 05 - 09:33 AM

lawn movers & magpies - you're lucky. Here beside Sydney's CBD it's the noise of bulldozers & trucks in the building site out the back.

But sometime in the next few months the native bird with the topnot will come back I hope & chirrip away in appreciation of my neighbour's beautiful lush green garden below my windows.

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: Seasonal garden sounds
From: GUEST,UK gardener
Date: 23 Aug 05 - 09:35 AM

You're so right there! The first time I saw a huge 'flock' of those parakeets in the apple tree I rang the RSPB thinking they had escaped from somewhere. They head over this area at 5pm regularly to spend the night in the local cemetery. And what ever happened to sparrows??

Subject: RE: BS: Seasonal garden sounds
From: RangerSteve
Date: 23 Aug 05 - 09:42 AM

The cicadas are making their presence known right now, but not as bad as last year. At night the katydids take over. I rarely hear birds this time of year. I know they're out there, but the insects drown them out.

Subject: RE: BS: Seasonal garden sounds
From: Paco Rabanne
Date: 23 Aug 05 - 09:52 AM

The silence from my concrete yard is as impressive as ever.

Subject: RE: BS: Seasonal garden sounds
From: JennyO
Date: 23 Aug 05 - 10:27 AM

Ah Sandra - that's what you get for being close to the CBD! Out in the 'burbs of Sydney, there are signs of Spring.

I'm starting to hear currawongs again. There seem to have been a lot more of the sulphur-crested cockatoos around lately. They've been very noisy. I'll know spring is really here when I start to hear the "yark yark" of baby magpies, as the parent birds bring their babies around to feed on my cat food, and when I start to hear coels at night. Days are slowly starting to get longer - I am noticing the sun reaching spots in the garden that have been in shade for the last few months.

When I drive around, I can see lots of fruit trees blossoming with various shades of pink. My peach tree has buds but no blossoms yet. The jasmine on the fence is starting to bloom and there is a mass of dark pink where the flowers are just about to open. The snow pea plants are 2-3 feet high and about to start flowering. A new batch of mint is looking very healthy, and I am thinking of making some more mint sauce. The lemon tree is heavy with last season's lemons just about ready to pick, and almost every branch has fragrant flowers or buds, or small lemons at various stages of growth.

I like this time of year. It's not too hot for gardening, and yet you can see and hear things happening. Sometimes there are little surprises. I had a little native tree in a pot, which I thought had died - in fact John was going to use its skeleton for scenery in his model train setup. But we had trouble pulling it out, so we gave up. Now all of a sudden there are new green shoots all over it. And to think I nearly killed it!

There have been some rather unpleasant cold winds lately, but that's to be expected for August here. The weather has mainly been fine and sunny, and when it's not too windy, it's quite warm. Some days recently, I've even had to put the airconditioning on in the car to cool it down! Roll on Spring!

Jenny

Subject: RE: BS: Seasonal garden sounds
From: Metchosin
Date: 23 Aug 05 - 11:59 AM

Inside, the wolf spiders are on the prowl at night.... and outside orbs and newly hatched termites.

Ballet

Autumn's prelude
Arrives with the subtle change of afternoon light
Embracing an erratic dance
Of delicate wings.
From decaying logs beneath the duff,
Amber termites scramble
To begin their tremulous flight.
First one,
Then three,
Then finally a bustling host,
Wings newly flexed and fragile, fluttering into light.
Carelessly
They flit
To have their frail wings rent
Like Isadora scarves
On the spun wheels
Of awaiting fat chocolate spiders
With cream banded legs.
Or crash land,
Hurriedly abandoning their wings,
Ashamed they are not innately
Creatures of the air,
They scurry,
By twos
For hidden places
Where a novice troupe will make an aerial debut
Next summer's end.

Copyright©2000 S. Grieve

Subject: RE: BS: Seasonal garden sounds
From: Janie
Date: 23 Aug 05 - 12:23 PM

Lovely.

J.

Subject: RE: BS: Seasonal garden sounds
From: Buddug
Date: 23 Aug 05 - 02:52 PM

Here in North Wales, the swallows are gathering too. I hate to see them leave! Pipistrelle bats are still very active around the eaves of the house as twilight deepens. Lots of butterflies in the garden - even seen some of the little blue ones that used to be endangered - they seem to be coming back in this part of the world. The wasps are starting to get a bit slower now - but haven't seen so many daddylonglegs this year. All the baby frogs we found in our little bit of woodland have grown into big teenage frogs... Though we're still getting hot days and beautiful Summer sunsets out over the Irish sea, there is a subtle difference - but it's Bridgnorth Folk Festival this weekend, and as we travel that bit further South, there is a definite climate change, so here's hopeing for an extension to Summer...

Subject: RE: BS: Seasonal garden sounds
From: Janie
Date: 23 Aug 05 - 03:21 PM

Here in North Carolina, USA we still have a lot of summer in front of us.

Janie

Subject: RE: BS: Seasonal garden sounds
From: Metchosin
Date: 23 Aug 05 - 04:07 PM

Thank you.

Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Seasonal garden sounds
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 23 Aug 05 - 04:23 PM

Not a lot but maniacal magpies, outward bound aeroplanes, git boy racers screaming up the road in clapped out VW Golfs, and the crunch of snails as they meet their doom under my sandal as I walk up the path.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Seasonal garden sounds
From: Shanghaiceltic
Date: 23 Aug 05 - 07:19 PM

Lol Liz, the French would be envious of crunchy snails.

Subject: RE: BS: Seasonal garden sounds
From: KateG
Date: 23 Aug 05 - 09:58 PM

Katydids. An elderly friend of mine once told me that when the katydids started up it meant that there were only six weeks left to the first frost.

Owls. Theres a screech owl down in the meadow below our house.

Coyotes. I know this is New Jersey (USA), but some nights the two bands of coyotes in our area get quite competative. Makes the dog nervous, and the cat stays in.

Subject: RE: BS: Seasonal garden sounds
From: Cluin
Date: 23 Aug 05 - 10:45 PM

I love it when the geese start making their practice flights in Autumn, my favourite time of year.

...a crispness in the air, under a cobalt blue sky, the geese flying in low vees overhead, honking hoarsely and shitting on our windshields.

Subject: RE: BS: Seasonal garden sounds
From: Janie
Date: 23 Aug 05 - 11:44 PM

The insect sounds are still pretty much the summer sounds--katydids, some cicadas, but we had our 17 year bout a year or so ago.

I am really starting to notice the fragrance of late summer flowers. Tuberoses, sweet autumn clematis, moonflowers, are just starting to bloom and to scent the night air. Why are so many fragrant flowers white?

I'm wondering why the swallowtail butterflies are not on my bronze fennel. Maybe they arrive to lay their eggs closer to fall and I just haven't noticed.

The golden orbs haven't gotten busy here yet either, but all summer I have admired the dew shimmering on the webs of the cape-and-doily spiders in the boxwoods.

The birds don't warble as much as when they were courting in spring, but love songs gave way to chirps of 'feed me' and now to squawks of 'get out of the house you lazy bum of a kid and feed yourself!'

J.

Subject: RE: BS: Seasonal garden sounds
From: GUEST,Bill the Collie
Date: 24 Aug 05 - 12:36 AM

Our dahlias are in for the Flower Show on Sunday. Fingers crossed.

Subject: RE: BS: Seasonal garden sounds
From: GUEST,UK gardener
Date: 24 Aug 05 - 03:45 AM

I am really starting to notice the fragrance of late summer flowers. Tuberoses, sweet autumn clematis, moonflowers, are just starting to bloom and to scent the night air. Why are so many fragrant flowers white?

Janie I think it is because they don't have the vivid colours to attract the insects to pollinate them, so what they lack in hue they make up for in attractive scent. I must google moonflower now, love the name but have no idea what they are.

Subject: RE: BS: Seasonal garden sounds
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 24 Aug 05 - 04:09 AM

"are just starting to bloom and to scent the night air. Why are so many fragrant flowers white?"


Ever seen a garden of white flowers in a dark garden, where there is no other light source but the moon? They glow!

I have a lot of white flowers in my garden, the biggest being a white flowered buddleia that attracts the most amazing moths. If I look out of my back bedroom window, over the garden, when the moon is full, its flowers are practically luminous!

The scent is released in the cool or damp air, it attracts the insects and the glow of the white flower completes the directions for them. As a result of this, I've seen several bats over my London garden too... they are attracted by the moths coming to feed. Soon I shall have my great and blue tits back, as they come for the seeds that are forming.

But at the moment, it's just the scrunch of snails and the yowls of cats as they realise the kitten is growing fast......

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Seasonal garden sounds
From: JennyO
Date: 24 Aug 05 - 10:59 AM

Two more spring things I noticed today. Magnolias are flowering everywhere, and freesias are popping up all over. I picked a few today - love the scent of them!