No wonder our early broad beans struggled with pollination.  Apparently the bumblebee population is falling fast.  Like hedgehogs and hedge sparrows, nobody is quite sure why.  Which is why the Bumblebee Conservation Trust (www.bumblebeeconservationtrust.co.uk) is undertaking a major survey and is keen to hear which bees you have in your garden.  If you're not sure about identification, you can always email them a photo.

Thankfully our flowering chives seem to have brought the bumblebees back, at least for the time being.

Our witkeim broadbeans are flowering nicely now, but the dreaded blackfly is on the move.  I have today pinched out the tops, but I never find this makes a huge difference.  We have a ladybird house and plenty of ladybird friendly habitats, especially ivy, so we should be ok.  A ladybird eats around 5,000 aphids in its year long life, so they should be in for a feast here!

At last I've managed to photograph one of the inhabitants of our sedum birdbox, a blue tit.  There are branches near the entrance which means they are able to dive in with the briefest of pauses and their exit is far too fast for my tardy reactions.  But on this occasion, one of them kindly decided to pose for me.

So it is badgers who are responsible for the decline in the hedgehog population.  That's according to the NFU who has had badgers in its sights for a long time.  Apparently a recent study has shown that where there are large numbers of badgers there are low numbers of hedgehogs.  Is it just possible that badgers adpat better to intensively farmed land?

Whatever the reason, we can all do something to help.  Either buy a hedgehog house or make a hedgehog house out of a milk crate and some timber.  Leave it in a quiet part of the garden and then at least the hedgehogs stand a fighting chance.  And don't forget that hedgehogs like cat food, chopped peanuts and bacon rind, but not cows milk!

Our Colleen early potatoes which were planted 6 weeks ago are now well on their way.  They should be ready for lifting in another 6 weeks.  How come potatoes never come up in a straight line?

What would I do without my galvanized watering can?  The ground is so dry that there is no chance of anything germinating at present without a daily water.  And even then it is a struggle.  This is our first row of organic palco spinach, which despite regular watering is very patchy.  I will soak some more seeds now and sow seed them into the gaps this evening.  At least this drought means less weeding!