Weeds, Feeders and a Spanish Procession

This oxalis is growing in our front garden, right on the street. It's putting on an amazing display of flowers this year. Those strap-like leaves are crocosmia that also grows there -- it has orange flowers that will appear later in the summer.

I took this picture while weeding the front garden the other day. I usually don't do much to that space, but since Mrs. Russia had it drastically trimmed last year, sunlight reaches the ground and weeds have appeared. I let them go for a while but I finally had to dial them back because we were starting to look like "The Munsters."

I've also made some changes to the back garden bird feeders. I removed the one on the patio because it was creating too much chaos out there -- mainly from pigeons flapping around and damaging plants, but also from squirrels and our unwelcome garden rat. The rodents are drawn by the seeds that birds throw out of the feeder. I moved the whole thing into the rose bed in the middle of the garden, near the other feeder. I want to keep that rat away from the house.

I'm also feeding a lot less in the hopes that less food will encourage the rat to find accommodation elsewhere. We shall see. I feel bad depriving the parakeets of their suet balls. They land on the feeder pole and squawk and stare morosely.

I read recently that the RSPB says we should stop putting out birdseed and peanuts between May 1 and Oct. 31 to reduce the risk of spreading trichomonosis, a parasitic disease that affects certain finches. Apparently it spreads more in the summer, possibly via bird feeders, and the theory is that birds don't need supplemental food then when so much is available in nature.  "Small amounts of mealworms or fat balls can still be offered safely through the year," the article said.

We don't get many finches here -- only occasional goldfinches, which usually don't use the feeders. (Trichomonosis primarily affects chaffinches and green finches, which we never see). I'm putting out a mix of mealworms and seeds mixed together, so I guess I'm only partially violating the advice. My general plan is to just put out less of everything, encouraging the birds to find more food naturally and hopefully discouraging pests.

I also trimmed the straggly alkanet in the back garden, and I started to cut the seedheads off the euphorbia, but then I found this little pupating ladybird (ladybug) on one of the stems. I carefully reattached its perch to a remaining stem with a tiny bit of tape, as you can see above. In a few days it will emerge as a full-grown insect so my repair job doesn't have to last forever. I'll keep an eye on it -- maybe I can catch it hatching.

I only found a couple of larval ladybirds, unlike the last time I removed alkanet stems. I think most of them have grown up by now.

Here are some more interesting pictures from my slide-scanning project. These come from Spain in 1964 -- some kind of parade or procession featuring large effigies, maybe for Semana Santa? I think they were taken in San Sebastian.

I'm not sure how racially sensitive they are by modern standards, but historically and culturally they're interesting. These are the kinds of pictures that I try to preserve with this project, to add to the record of people and events long past. Those little kids trotting alongside those figures above would be about 70 now!